Warsaw: A former Polish premier on Tuesday confirmed that his breakaway movement will set up a new political party, accelerating the largest realignment on Poland's political right in more than two decades, Polish media reported.
According to Anadolu Agency, Mateusz Morawiecki said the party would be created no later than Oct. 15, when the Development Plus (RP) movement is due to hold a convention and unveil its program. The declaration follows the formation last week of a separate parliamentary caucus consisting of around 40 MPs and one senator formerly associated with the national-conservative Law and Justice party, or PiS, which was the ruling party until fall 2023.
The split has weakened PiS's position as the dominant force on the Polish right and opened a struggle over voters ahead of parliamentary elections expected next year. The RP was initially presented as an internal policy association intended to broaden PiS's appeal towards centrist and economically focused voters. Relations deteriorated after PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski demanded that members sign declarations of loyalty to the party. Morawiecki and dozens of his allies refused.
Morawiecki argues that PiS has moved too far towards nationalist and what he called 'hard-right' politics while failing to attract younger, urban, and economically liberal conservatives. His group is seeking to present itself as more pragmatic, pro-development, and capable of reaching voters beyond the traditional PiS electorate.
The former premier has ruled out any future cooperation with current Prime Minister Donald Tusk, describing opposition to Tusk as the overriding principle for future coalition-building. Asked about a possible government involving PiS and the nationalist party Confederation, Morawiecki said the central rule was 'anyone but Donald Tusk,' effectively leaving open the prospect of a broad right-wing alliance after the next election.
Morawiecki ruled out working with the agrarian junior coalition party PSL while its leader, Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, as defense minister, is a member of Tusk's governing coalition. The split could reduce PiS to the second-largest caucus in parliament and intensify questions over the future leadership of the party founded and controlled by Kaczynski.
The emergence of the new party reflects the growing fragmentation of Poland's conservative electorate. An early poll suggested that RP could clear Poland's 5% electoral threshold, giving it the potential to determine the composition of the next government.