Polish PM to step down

Polish premier Leszek Miller is to resign on May 2 after a break-away faction ripped his ailing socialist party apart at the seams.

President Aleksander Kwasniewski will select a successor on Monday who will then be put to the test in a parliamentary vote.

Miller had seen 27 members of his Democratic Left Alliance defect to a rival socialist party, putting even more strain on his minimal popularity.

"I informed the president that, taking all circumstances into consideration and using my constitutional rights, I will resign on 2 May," Miller announced alongside Kwasniewski.

"If my departure is to serve Poland and Poland's left, my choice is to resign from leading the government."

His decision to hang around until his country’s accession to the EU is being seen as a wistful attempt to reserve a place for himself in Poland’s annals as the man who was flying the flag on May 1.

Miller had already stepped down as leader of his party in February, but deeper dismay among the electorate over scandals, budget cuts and unemployment seem to have hammered shut his political coffin.

Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza claims deputy prime minister and finance minister Marek Belka will step into Miller’s shoes on May 2.

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