Ex-PM Morawiecki Challenges Kaczyński With New Faction

Former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki is challenging the established leadership of his own party, Law and Justice (PiS), by forming a new parliamentary faction. Named "Development Plus," the group comprises 40 deputies and one senator, all formerly aligned with Kaczyński's party.

Morawiecki, who served as prime minister from 2017 to 2023, launched the "Development Plus" association in mid-April. This faction reportedly includes more EU-friendly, reform-oriented members who aimed to attract new and younger voters to PiS amid declining poll numbers. The move effectively ends a months-long internal conflict within the once-dominant government party.

The split has significant implications for Poland's political landscape, particularly as the country approaches the 2027 parliamentary elections. By shedding its more Brussels-friendly reform bloc, PiS is expected to move further to the right than it was during its 2015-2023 governing period. This internal division follows a period where party leader Jarosław Kaczyński had threatened Morawiecki's group with expulsion but ultimately refrained from taking action for tactical reasons.

Kaczyński, who had previously not made personnel changes after the government's electoral defeat in autumn 2023, also did not support Morawiecki's presidential ambitions two years later. Instead, Kaczyński backed the independent historian Karol Nawrocki as the PiS candidate. The formation of Morawiecki's new liberal-conservative faction marks a definitive end to the internal power struggle, positioning the former prime minister as a direct rival to Kaczyński within the party.