On Saturday, the congress of the Law and Justice (PiS) party, which leads the Polish government coalition, re-elected party chairman Jarosław Kaczyński with an overwhelming majority. Ryszard Terlecki, leader of the PiS faction and vice president of the Sejm, announced at a press conference that 1,245 delegates supported the re-election of the party president, 18 voted against it and five abstained.
Jarosław Kaczyński, former prime minister and current deputy prime minister, has held the position of chairman of the national conservative party without interruption since January 2003. He replaced his twin brother, the later head of state, Lech Kaczyński, who was the president of PiS between 2001 and 2003. The mandate of the party chairman is for four years.
The 72-year-old leader is considered the most influential politician in Poland. He confirmed several times that if he is re-elected, this will be his last term as party president, and he will not undertake any more. He repeated this in his speech following his re-election.
In his morning speech at the opening of the reform congress, Kaczyński summarized the successes of PiS, but also talked about the mistakes, without eliminating which there is no chance of winning the next election. In this context, he mentioned the contradictions within the party, as well as nepotism, which, according to him, is not very widespread, but which is grist for the opposition.
Referring to the recently announced country development government program, the Polish agreement, he underlined: thanks to this, at the end of the current decade and the beginning of the next, Poland can reach the average of the European Union in terms of living standards, and a few years later it can also reach the level of the richer EU countries. He also announced the development of a new program aimed at the development of the countryside and agriculture.
He also mentioned the role of the media in promoting government programs, judging that the predominantly anti-government Polish press spreads fake news and affects the party's popularity, which has decreased compared to the last election results. He stated that he is determined to overcome the "small crises" that weaken the party, and to win the election. The next parliamentary election is due in 2023 in Poland.
In the last elections in 2019, PiS won 43.6 percent of the votes. In June surveys, it had an average of 36.5 percent support, i.e. 15 percent more than the currently second most popular party, the Poland 2050 party.
Source: Hungarian Nation
Featured image: MTI
