Warsaw--Poland's centrist Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz was scrambling Thursday to limit damage from a lumbering eavesdropping scandal just four months ahead of a general election which polls show could usher the conservative opposition into power.
Three Polish government ministers and the speaker of parliament resigned Wednesday over the high profile scandal that first broke last year and Kopacz has vowed to purge anyone else tainted by it from her government.
"It's a necessary and inevitable move, but it all comes a bit late," political analyst Aleksander Smolar said Thursday, describing the predicament of the governing Civic Platform (PO) as "dramatic".
The party scored a second term in office with a November 2011 landslide, but high unemployment -- especially among young people -- and the scandal have since taken a heavy toll on public support.
Meanwhile, the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) opposition party has gained significant ground in opinion polls, with many suggesting it could win the autumn general election.
PiS candidate Andrzej Duda, a relative political novice, scored a surprise victory in last month's presidential election, edging out veteran politician and PO ally President Bronislaw Komorowski.
Pawel Kukiz, an anti-establishment rock star who is new to politics, took an unexpected third spot in the presidential race with 20 percent of the vote and has vowed to run for parliament this fall.
Opinion polls suggest he could also make a dramatic debut there by mustering up to 20 percent of the popular vote on promises of jobs and electoral reform designed to cut the number of MPs.
"Today the PO is a sinking ship," political analyst Kazimierz Kik told AFP.
Kopacz is paying the price for the "eight years when Tusk was in power", he said, referring to former premier Donald Tusk who became president of the European Council last year.
Sociologist Ireneusz Krzeminski told AFP that the PO was experiencing an "earthquake", but one that could bring changes needed to save it.
AFP
