I will run for the Senate from my own committee, and after the election I will run for the leadership of Nowoczesna, which I co-founded eight years ago, the party’s former leader Ryszard Petru said Wednesday.
Petru will run for Senate
During the press conference, Petru announced that he would “run for the Senate of the Republic of Poland from District 43 in Warsaw, which includes the districts of Mokotów, Wilanów, Ursynów and Wawer”. He stated that he knew “much of the problems of the residents of these neighborhoods”.
I have often reported that I can run under the senate pact, but I will run from my own committee. I believe it is critical today that the opposition have a liberal free market offer – for those who want to vote for opposition parties
He explained the reasons for his decision to participate in the election.
The battle for leadership in Nowoczesna
Petru recalled that he is a member of Nowoczesna, but believes that the party is not using all its potential in parliament.
Therefore, after the elections, I will run for the leadership of Nowoczesna, which I co-founded eight years ago
he announced.
The former leader of Nowoczesna said important elections are coming up in which Poles will decide the future of democracy in the country, including whether Poland will have a strong economy. He added that the challenge for the opposition is to win over PiS and the Confederacy.
Ryszard Petru is the founder and first leader of Nowoczesna. On May 31, 2015, the founding congress of the NowoczesnaPL Association was organized in Warsaw; On August 25, a party called Nowoczesna Ryszard Petru was registered, winning 7.6% of the vote in October’s parliamentary elections. vote, giving it 28 seats in the Sejm. At that time, the chairman of Nowoczesna was Petru, and his deputies included Joanna Schmidt and Katarzyna Lubnauer, among others.
After initial successes (in early 2016, some polls gave her support as high as about 30 percent), Nowoczesna gradually began to weaken. The biggest crisis was caused by Ryszard Petru’s trip abroad with the party’s then Vice-President, Joanna Schimdt, in late December 2016, during the opposition protest in the Sejm, where MPs from PO and Nowoczesna spent the night in the meeting room. Meanwhile, the media circulated a joint photo of both politicians taken by one of the fellow passengers on board a plane flying to Portugal.
In November 2017, Petru lost the position of the head of Nowoczesna to Katarzyna Lubnauer, who resigned as leader of the group after two years, and Adam Szłapka won the election (beating Krzysztof Mieszkowski in the vote).
On May 11, 2018, Petru left the party. To justify his decision, he ruled that Nowoczesna was no longer a party of “reforms, common sense, which did not agree to mediocrity and conformity”. As he added, he cannot take responsibility for a party over which he has no influence, both programmatically and politically. On November 17, 2018, he announced the creation of a new party – Teraz! then MPs: Joanna Schmidt and Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus (currently MP from left).
In January 2022, Petru announced his return to Nowoczesna.
Nowoczesna is part of the Civic Coalition, which he co-founded with PO, the Greens and Initiative Poland. It has six deputies in the Sejm: Adam Szłapka, Katarzyna Lubnauer, Monika Rosa, Krzysztof Mieszkowski, Barbara Dolniak and Witold Zembaczyński.
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wkt/PAP
Source: wPolityce