A small rural-based party raised the stakes on Tuesday in efforts to build a new governing coalition in Poland, saying it would demand substantial concessions to join the conservative-led government, according to Reuters. With 25 deputies in the 460-member parliament, the Peasants' Party (PSL) can play kingmaker after the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) ditched leftist partners Self-Defence in a row over the budget and a decision to send troops to Afghanistan. "Law and Justice should ask themselves if they are ready to change the style and substance of their policy making," said Peasants' Party leader Waldemar Pawlak. "The main problem in our relations with Law and Justice is the lack of trust," he told reporters before coalition talks on Wednesday. Coinciding with anti-government protests in Hungary, the political crisis in Poland has worried investors, concerned that reforms may stall in ex-communist states that joined the European Union in 2004. But the zloty, underpinned by strong economic growth, has recovered most of the losses it suffered after the coalition collapsed last Thursday. The conservatives initially said they would call snap polls, possibly in late November, if they were unable to form a new majority by parliament's next meeting on Oct. 10. But senior party figures appeared to backtrack on Tuesday, saying the electoral law should first be altered to include changes designed to benefit election winners -- a move that could be difficult to push through the legislature. "If we were to have early elections without changing the electoral law there would be a probability that we will have a similar deadlock, threatening the country's stability," said Tadeusz Cymanski, deputy head of their deputies in parliament. It was not clear whether this meant the conservatives could carry on as a minority cabinet if the coalition talks failed. Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski has ruled this out. Analysts believe both sides want to avoid early elections and that this will push them to strike a deal. "I'm pretty convinced that PSL will join the coalition," said Marek Migalski at Silesia University in Katowice. "Both parties can only lose by calling early elections". Law and Justice and its partner, the nationalist League of Polish Families, have 183 seats and would still lack a majority if joined by the Peasants' Party. They hope to persuade some 15 Self-Defence MPs to quit their party and independent members of parliament to back them too.
