School starting age referendum vote defeated
PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle
09.11.2013 08:53
A motion to force a national referendum on government plans to reduce the school starting age to 6 years-old in Poland was defeated in the lower house of Poland on Friday.
MPs vote against referendum motion, Friday: photo - PAP/Leszek Szymański
The motion was defeated by 232 MPs voting against to 222 opposition MPs voting for.
Eugeniusz Kłopotek and Andrzej Dąbrowski, two MPs from the junior coalition partner, the Polish Peasants Party (PSL), broke ranks with the government and voted with the opposition.
The Civic Platform/PSL coalition has a slim majority in the lower house of parliament and head of PSL in parliament, Jan Bury, said after the vote that the rebel MPs had apologised to colleges and had been reprimanded.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who leads largest opposition party in parliament, Law and Justice (PiS) said he would continue to campaign for a referendum on the issue. (pg)