Four Polish government ministers and the parliamentary speaker resigned on Wednesday amid a revived 2014 scandal over secret recordings made of them and other officials.
In an unexpected political shake-up, the ministers of health, sports, the treasury and security, and parliamentary speaker Radek Sikorski, said they were stepping down for the good of the ruling Civil Platform party just four months before a general election.
Four junior government officials also resigned in a major crisis for the pro-business party, which has been in power for almost eight years.
Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz accepted Wednesday’s resignations, her spokeswoman Malgorzata Kidawa-Blonska told The Associated Press. Kopacz will probably name replacements for the four ministers on Monday.
Kopacz said in announcing the resignations.As long as I am the prime minister, I will not allow for political games over the tapes during the electoral period
“Today, on behalf of Civic Platform, I extend my heartfelt apologies” to party supporters who for the past year “listened to the tapes with disgust, irritation.”
The resignations were prompted by the illegal publication this week on Facebook of files from the still ongoing probe into the eavesdropping that raised questions about security procedures during sensitive investigations and about data protection.
The publication released personal data and addresses of officials who were questioned in the probe to the public.
