Beleaguered Polish government scrambles to hold on to power

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.

- 'Waitergate' -

Polish media was awash this week with news of the online publication of leaked transcripts from a probe into a government eavesdropping scandal that rocked Poland last year.

The transcripts are evidence in an ongoing investigation by justice authorities.

Last June, the news magazine Wprost released a secret recording of the central bank chief purportedly cutting a deal with the then interior minister to support the government's economic policy if the finance minister quit.

The magazine later released transcripts of other wiretapped conversations, including one in which then foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski allegedly calls Poland's US ties "bullshit" and blasts British Prime Minister David Cameron as "incompetent on EU affairs".

The private exchanges took place at swish Warsaw restaurants over a period of several months.  

The bugging affair resulted in charges against several people, including a restaurant manager and waiters -- prompting some to label the affair "Waitergate" on social media.

Zbigniew Stonoga, the blogger who posted the leaked files to Facebook this week, was questioned by police on Tuesday. He claims to have found photocopies of the transcripts on a Chinese Internet server.

Stonoga was released from custody after being charged with publishing the documents regarded as evidence in an ongoing investigation. If found guilty, he could spend up to two years behind bars.

Kopacz went so far as to apologise to those PO voters angered by the backroom deals that have emerged in the eavesdropping affair.

"On behalf of the Civic Platform, I ask your forgiveness," she said.