Support for Polish ruling party plunges amid corruption scandal

Support for Poland's governing Law and Justice (PiS) party fell sharply, a survey published late on Tuesday showed, as it scrambles to contain fallout from the country's biggest corruption scandal in years.

Support for the eurosceptic PiS in the Kantar Millard Brown poll, compiled this week, fell by five percentage points to 33 percent, while it rose by the same amount to 26 percent for the opposition centrist Civic Platform, private broadcaster TVN said.

Financial regulator Marek Chrzanowski quit last week over corruption allegations made by Polish billionaire Leszek Czarnecki, who controls two troubled banks, Getin Noble Bank and Idea Bank.

Chrzanowski, who denies any wrongdoing, was appointed by the PiS.

Shares in Getin Noble have fallen by more than 87 percent and Idea Bank by 92 percent this year, raising questions about the stability of Poland's financial system. Opposition groups have called for a parliamentary inquiry, which PiS has rejected.

Jacek Sasin, a senior ministerial aide in the prime minister's office, dismissed speculation that the PiS might call a snap election.

"Nothing has happened to discuss this at all," he told private Radio Zet on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Marcin Goclowski; additional reporting by Agnieszka Barteczko and Pawel Florkiewicz; editing by John Stonestreet)

(With inputs from agencies.)