In the parliamentary elections, there will most likely be three opposition lists: KO, Left and PSL with Poland 2050 – this is the opinion of politicians of different groups after the events of the past week. The only thing to be decided is whether Poland 2050 will definitely start with PSL, or maybe with KO.
“We’re going alone today.”
Last Monday, the Civic Coalition club gathered outside the Sejm. The meeting was attended by the leader of the Po, Donald Tusk. He announced that he had instructed 16 presidents of the civic platform regions to prepare preliminary lists for the Sejm. He said the idea of a joint opposition list cannot be completely abandoned, but there is less and less time, and it may not be known until the end whether other opposition groups are “mature” enough to decide on joint lists.
The delegates present at the club’s meeting saw these words as a clear signal that the Civic Coalition would participate in the elections on its own, and not as part of a single opposition bloc, as postulated by Tusk last year. The decisive factor was the loss of confidence in Poland 2050 by Szymon Hołownia, whose circle withdrew from the common opposition front at the last minute and voted against the amendment of the Supreme Court law, instead of abstaining.
For today we go alone, although we cannot completely rule out that if Hołownia has support on the border of the electoral threshold in May or June and reports to us, we will take it with us
– told PAP a prominent PO politician.
“Common to-do list
For the time being, Poland 2050 can handle PSL well. The day after the KO club meeting, on Tuesday, Szymon Hołownia spoke at a joint conference with PSL president Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz. Both stated that they were preparing a “joint list of issues to be addressed”, but most observers saw the joint conference as an announcement of the preparation of common lists, which Kosiniak-Kamysz had been talking about openly for several months. On Friday, both leaders spoke again at a joint conference in Olsztyn.
Nevertheless, according to some politicians, the electoral alliance between Poland 2050 and PSL is not a foregone conclusion.
Hołownia’s main problem is that the polls are too good, around 10 percent, while the PSL has much worse polls, averaging around 5 percent. This can lead, for example, to Hołownia wanting to have twice as many single people as farmers, which they cannot agree to in any way.
– says the opposition politician. This, he admits, may separate the two groups, although, as he adds, if Hołownia’s ratings fall, it will likely strengthen Poland’s alliance with PSL for 2050.
Gill-Friday Departure
For now, the victim of the rapprochement of Poland 2050 and PSL is the head of the circle of the Hołownia group Hanna Gill-Piątek, who announced on Wednesday that she would leave Poland 2050. She did not even hide that it was the result of the fiasco of the idea of a single opposition list and bringing Poland closer to PSL 2050. Gill-Piątek is the first MP to join the then new party of Szymon Hołownia in 2020. In 2019, she was elected from the lists of the left, and she never hid her views close to the left, for example support for the liberalization of abortion or same-sex marriage. Therefore, her departure from Poland in 2050 was assessed by one of the PSL leaders as having a greater chance of a joint start of the peasant party with the Hołownia group.
Baba of the chariot, that’s easier for the horses
– he said in an interview with PAP.
What about the left?
Unofficial information indicates that Gill-Piątek will most likely join the lists of the Civic Coalition, similar to, for example, Senate Deputy Speaker Gabriela Morawska-Stanecka, who is currently a member of the parliamentary circle of the democratic left. This used to be the PPS circle, but the latter party withdrew its permission to use its name last Sunday. This is the result of rapprochement between the PPS chairman, Senator Wojciech Konieczny and his party, and other leftist groups – Nowa Lewica, Razem and the union. It was these four formations that signed a declaration on a joint start of the parliamentary elections and, as politicians from the opposition parties unanimously admit, will draw up their own separate list of the left in the elections.
The PAP’s interlocutors also admit that this could be a problem for other members of the former PPS circle, and now the Democratic Left Circle – Joanna Senyszyn, Andrzej Rozenek and Robert Kwiatkowski. At the end of 2021, they left the club of the Left after a conflict with the deputy chairman of the Sejm and the leader of the New Left, Włodzimierz Czarzasty.
It will certainly be difficult for them to +go to Canossa+ and ask for places on the leftist lists now, although it will also be difficult to get them on the KO lists. Rozenek may still fit, but there could be a problem with Senyszyn or Kwiatkowski
– says a prominent PO politician to PAP. Rozenek, recently asked by PAP, admitted that he would like to see himself on joint lists of the entire opposition. When asked if he excludes from the lists of links, he added that it depends on whether the lists of links are made because left-wing groups do not want a joint list or because they are forced to start from their own list.
The exotic alliance of the Deal with AgroUnia
Last week, another new political entity was announced – the announcement of the merger of the agreement with AgroUnia. The leader of the agreement, Magdalena Sroka, spoke at a joint conference with the head of AgroUnion, Michał Kołodziejczak.
It looks like an attempt by the Covenant to get on the PSL lists with the help of AgroUnia
– says KO politician to PAP. Another points out that Magdalena Sroka has been negotiating for weeks about a joint start with PSL, but that the talks have not been successful.
So she decided that by merging with AgroUnia she would increase her chances, because PSL would probably like to put Kołodziejczak on the list, because it’s always a few percent extra
says the politician.
The citizens’ coalition itself will start, it seems, in a form similar to the current one (PO, Nowoczesna, Inicjatywa Polska, Zieloni), although the final decision to choose the lists of the KO or, for example, the left is still before the Greens. The KO lists, as stated in the Platform, will also include the best-known MEPs of this party, although, as the leaders of this party assure, it is not yet known exactly who.
Certainly, media reports that Radosław Sikorski already has a guaranteed number one from Bydgoszcz are not true
– told PAP a prominent PO politician.
kk/PAP
Source: wPolityce