Polish prime minister formally resigns

WARSAW, Poland, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski officially submitted his government’s resignation Monday to his twin brother President Lech Kaczynski.

The resignation formally ended the two-year rule of the Kaczynski brothers’ conservative Law and Justice Party, which lost parliamentary elections Oct. 21, Polish Radio said Monday.

The Law and Justice party, which won elections in the fall 2005, was forced into the early elections after the collapse of its coalition Cabinet due to disagreements with junior parties.

The liberal pro-European Union Civic Platform won the October elections and its leader Donald Tusk is expected to form a coalition government, with the Kaczynskis' Law and Justice becoming the biggest opposition party in the Polish parliament.

President Lech Kaczynski, whose five-year term expires in 2010, is expected to accept Tusk’s nomination as a new prime minister this week.