Prime Minister Waldemar Pawlak resigned Thursday, unable to resolve differences with parliament on forming a Cabinet. But President Lech Walesa rejected the offer and asked Pawlak to try again.
Pawlak was the fourth prime minister since Solidarity took power from the Communists in 1989, and he had held the post for less than one month.He announced his resignation in a brief speech to lawmakers, summarizing his fruitless search for a governing coalition within a parliament divided among 18 parties and numerous independents.
Pawlak, 32, is the leader of the Polish Peasants Party, which once was aligned with the Communists. Other parties have refused to cooperate with him because he was not from the Solidarity movement.
A communique from Walesa's office said he did not "intend in the near future to put forward a motion to dismiss" Pawlak. Without the motion, parliament cannot vote on the resignation.
Walesa has hinted that if Pawlak fails to form a Cabinet, he may put together a caretaker government and call early parliamentary elections.
Pawlak's most likely coalition partner - a pro-reform bloc led by former Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki - failed to agree with him on the composition of the Cabinet.