Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski refused the resignation of Prime Minister Marek Belka on Friday, a decision that should keep the unpopular governing party in office until after fall elections.
Belka offered his resignation to Kwasniewski in fulfillment of a promise to head a caretaker government for only one year.
But the president exercised his right to keep Belka at the helm for several more months, saying that trying to forge a new government with elections so near would create unnecessary complications.
"I have decided to reject the resignation of the Cabinet submitted by Prime Minister Marek Belka," Kwasniewski said at a news conference after a meeting with Belka.
"The time until the elections is not far off and forming a new government today is pointless and would be complicated for procedural reasons."
Kwasniewski said that as a result, "Belka will work until a new parliament starts its term and until a new government is appointed" following fall elections.
He reaffirmed that the ballot would fall according to a constitution-dictated schedule on a Sunday between September 25 and October 16. He said he will announce the exact date by July 21.
The president has said he wants to avoid a power vacuum when Poland hosts a Council of Europe summit in Warsaw on May 16-17.
On Thursday, the 460-seat Sejm, or lower house, fell short of a two-thirds majority required to dissolve the legislature in a vote on a motion from the conservative opposition. Had the motion succeeded, it would have forced elections in six weeks' time.
The strongest support for dissolution came from Poland's center-right opposition parties, including Law and Justice and Civic Platform.
In polls, both are ahead of the Democratic Left Alliance -- which Belka has made clear he plans to leave for a new centrist party once out of government. He plans to attend the new party's first convention on Sunday.
Belka, who had favored early elections, said he would hand in his resignation to fulfill a promise that he made when he succeeded Leszek Miller in May 2004 to govern for only one year.
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