By Henrietta Billings - 14th May 2004
Polish prime minister Marek Belka lost a parliamentary vote of confidence on Friday, plunging the biggest new EU country's government into political turmoil.
The parliament voted 262 to 188 against the former finance minister who was appointed to replace Leszek Miller after Poland joined the European Union on May 1.
Belka, 51, will stay on in a care taker capacity, giving parliament two weeks to appoint a new candidate.
If parliament fails to come up with an alternative, president Aleksander Kwasniewski can propose a final candidate before dissolving the parliament and calling early elections, Reuters reports.
The 'new left' economist had asked parliament to give him a year to introduce fiscal reforms needed to take Poland into the euro zone and had promised greater transparency in government.
Belka's predecessor Leszek Miller stepped down after support for the ruling Democratic Left Alliance slid from a high of 42 percent in 2001 to just eight per cent this year.
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