Time Will Tell
Is The Polish Law And Justice Party Losing Poland?
Warsaw, Poland - 18 December, 2007 Poland's ex-Prime Minster Jaroslaw Kaczynski's party is bleeding members as he settles into his new role as opposition party leader following his party's loss in the past Polish elections. And as he works to silence internal party debate, he may be creating conditions for more.
After the Prime Minister's party, Law and Justice (PIS) lost the elections, Kaczynski set himself up for future problems by alienating some of his most loyal supporters when he failed to hold accountable those who managed the losing campaign Moreover, Kaczynski refused to allow debate on the loss.
Three Vice Chairmen of PIS, Ludwik Dorn, the "Third Twin" and ex-Speaker of the Parliament, Kazimierz Ujazdowski, ex-Minister of Culture, and Pawel Zalewski, ex-Cchairman of the Sejm Committee on Foreign Affairs did not accept his decision to limit discussion and resigned from their positions.
Kaczynski did not take their comments well.
And after going public about their complaints, they were suspended as party members.
Dorn's seat in the Parliament was changed from the front row to the back row.
The others left PIS. And Kaczynski demanded that they resign their positions in the Parliament - which they have not.
They had proposed to make the PIS and its decision-making processes more democratic. For example, they wanted regional leaders to be elected by regional party organizations instead of being appointed by the PIS Chairman.
And to cut the Chairman's power to limit dissent, they proposed that the Chairman could only suspend someone's party membership only in "sudden and urgent cases". All other suspensions would require party executive board approval.
But those proposals would cut into Kaczynski's personal control. And that he has shown he will not accept.
Kaczynski has his problems with the makeup of party membership.
Any political party has its factions and Law and Justice Party is no different. The Kaczynski brothers have their supporters that have been with them for a long time. And Jaroslaw is said to be rewarding his old supports by giving power to those members of the faction who were in his old political party Porozumienie Centrum (1990-1998). And that is alienating more people.
And he is accused of exercising strong, centralized control of the party. According to one commentator, "Instead of consulting decisions with the party's statutory bodies, the chairman takes them on his own or in consultation with non-statutory bodies, that is, Adam Bielan and Michal Kaminski"
As he centralizes control, people leave.
About 200 party activists left PIS in Southern Poland.
They were followed by ex-Minister of Transportation Jerzy Polaczek.
And he by the ex-Deputy Minister of Culture Jaroslaw Sellin.
There have some who predict that this group will eventually affiliate with ex-Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, and two MP's, Maciej Plazynski and Longin Komolowski who were elected to Parliament on the PIS list but who chose not to join the PIS Parliamentary Club.
Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz has his supporters whose history lies with the past political party ZCHN. This group joined the Law and Justice Party but their loyalties lie with Marcinkiewicz.
When asked, in the context of the dissension in PIS, about a new party being formed, Marcinkiewicz responded that it is something that is to be talked about.
Kaczynski has lost some very senior people. They are sure to have their own personal supporters. It remains to be seen if they follow on their own or wait until Marcinkiewicz makes some definite decision before they finalize theirs.
Whether Kaczynski will make changes to stop the loss of members or continues to alienate people by centralizing power in the Porozumienie Centrum faction of his party remains to be seen.
He is just off losing elections. Now he might be in process of losing Poland.
References in Polish
http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/Wiadomosci/1,80269,4762949.html PiS zaczyna pekac w regionach
http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/Wiadomosci/1,80269,4763383.html Posel Jerzy Polaczek odchodzi z PiS
http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/Wiadomosci/1,80269,4770971.html Zalewski: PiS przegralo przez "system Kaczynskiego"
http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/Wiadomosci/1,80269,4770013.html Jaroslaw Sellin: Odchodze z PiS, bo to partia ludowa
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