Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka said on Wednesday he will offer to resign on Friday but conceded he may be forced to stay on until elections due in October. Belka was speaking a day ahead of a vote on an opposition motion to end the current term of parliament and hold early elections. The motion is widely expected to be defeated, Reuters reported . "If the Sejm (lower house of parliament) does not dissolve itself and the president does not accept my resignation ... then the government will continue to function," Belka told a news conference. President Aleksander Kwasniewski has repeatedly said he would not accept Belka's resignation. The political standoff has paralysed parliament and made it impossible to pass major new legislation, including fiscal reforms needed for Poland to adopt the euro. Belka had long promised to step down after completing 12 months in office in May -- a pledge he made in return for parliamentary backing for his minority government in the course of the year. He is keen to leave the ruling Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) and start a new centrist party. But the SLD wants him to stay on, since the party would have difficulty mustering enough support in parliament to appoint a new prime minister.
