( AP ) - Jaroslaw Kaczynski - one half of the twin team that has led Poland for nearly 16 months - resigned as prime minister on Monday, making way for the new pro-business party that defeated the conservatives in elections last month.
Kaczynski presented his resignation to his brother, President Lech Kaczynski, in a ceremony at the presidential palace.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski said he and his Cabinet were stepping down following an "exceptionally difficult" tenure, outlining his government's achievements in economics, domestic and foreign affairs but lamenting that the public failed to fully understand what had been accomplished.
"We can finish our term with our head held high," he said. "The results, not just in words but in reality, are good."
The president accepted the government's resignation and asked the Cabinet to continue its duties until a new government is sworn in, according to a statement from his office.
Lech Kaczynski - whose term as president runs until 2010 - now must ask the man who defeated his brother, Donald Tusk, to form the next government.
Tusk, head of the pro-market, EU-friendly Civic Platform, defeated Jaroslaw Kaczynski's Law and Justice party on Oct. 21, winning 209 seats in the 460-seat lower house of parliament.
Civic Platform lacks an outright majority and two weeks ago opened coalition talks with the centrist Polish People's Party.
Among Tusk's choices for the new Cabinet is Radoslaw Sikorski for foreign minister, the Gazeta Wyborcza daily reported. Sikorski had served as defense minister in Kaczynski's government but resigned in February after falling out with the Kaczynskis.