WARSAW - Poland's pro-European coalition has the mandate to govern, Prime Minister Donald Tusk told lawmakers on Wednesday ahead of a vote of confidence he has called to regain the initiative for his cabinet after it was shaken by a presidential vote defeat.

Rafal Trzaskowski from Tusk's Civic Coalition was defeated by nationalist Karol Nawrocki in the June 1 ballot, unleashing recriminations from smaller partners in government and casting doubt over the administration's future when a hostile president wields the power of veto.

While the ruling alliance's majority means it is almost certain to win Wednesday's vote, a SW Research poll for Rzeczpospolita daily showed that around a third of Poles thought Tusk's government would not survive until the end of its term in 2027.

"We have a mandate to take full responsibility for what's going on in Poland," Tusk said. "Governing Poland is a privilege."

Tusk listed higher defence spending and a cut in his government's visa issuance for migrants as major achievements since he took power in October 2023 from the nationalist Law and Justice party, known as PiS.

Analysts say that many voters are disillusioned with the government's failure to deliver on promises including liberalizing abortion laws, reforming the judiciary and raising the tax-free limit.

In an interview published on Wednesday, Nawrocki told Dziennik Gazeta Prawna daily that he would sign a law to raise the tax-free limit and would even submit such a bill himself if the government did not.

In an apparent swipe at the government's failure to implement the 100 promises it made for its first 100 days, he said he would "do (them) for Donald Tusk. Isn't that conciliatory?"

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President Andrzej Duda, an ally of PiS, that backed Nawrocki, has stymied elements of the government's program that aim to roll back PiS reforms that the European Union said undermined judicial independence.

The government had hoped for a Trzaskowski victory that would give it the freedom to fully implement its agenda.

Critics say that since it took office in December 2023, Tusk's government has done too little to implement change, with initiatives put on hold in the ultimately futile hope that a sympathetic president would be elected.

'New momentum'

It was against this background, and with voices in smaller coalition parties and normally sympathetic media outlets raising questions about his leadership, that Tusk called the vote of confidence.

"This vote of confidence is not an attempt to continue everything we have been doing because we know well after this year and a half that some things can be done better, faster and this vote of confidence should be a new beginning," he told a government meeting.

"I would like you to know that for the entire... coalition, this is to be a day of new momentum and I am convinced that you will live up to this task."

After the vote of confidence, Tusk has said there will be a government reshuffle, which is likely to be in July. Meanwhile, members of the administration say that their coalition agreement will also need to be renegotiated, a process that could lead to conflict.

PiS has relished the situation.

Party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski proposed that a "technical government" made up of experts should be put in place immediately to restore calm.

Former justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro, the architect of the judicial reforms Tusk's government has sought to overhaul, was more direct.

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"The lost presidential election is the end of Donald Tusk," he told reporters. "His fate is already sealed."