If this fails, the Sejm has two weeks to find a prime minister of its own.

ECONOMIST: An empty seat for Poland at the next EU summit?

Mr Komorowski is also speaker of the Sejm, the lower house of the Polish parliament.

ECONOMIST: Poland's President Lech Kaczynski dies in a plane crash

His support is volatile, but he may squeak past the 5% threshold to enter the Sejm (parliament).

ECONOMIST: Polish politics

After also rejecting the Sejm resolution, Mr Belka said his government would try to put a figure on Poland's wartime losses.

BBC: NEWS | Europe | Poland rejects reparations call

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder - who has condemned the German claims - said earlier on Tuesday the Sejm resolution "must be rejected".

BBC: NEWS | Europe | Poland rejects reparations call

But the nominee must win a vote of confidence from the lower house of parliament, the Sejm, with an absolute majority of its members.

ECONOMIST: An empty seat for Poland at the next EU summit?

All parties represented in the Sejm, the lower house of the Polish parliament, are now ostensibly in favour of holding an early parliamentary election.

ECONOMIST: Poland's government has collapsed