How Poland's president is taking control of the opposition and what consequences this will have
Poland’s key opposition party, Law and Justice (PiS), has faced a very difficult challenge. The victory of Karol Nawrocki in the presidential election, effectively the PiS-backed candidate, not only failed to give the right-wing conservatives a "second wind," but also exposed long-simmering internal contradictions.
The reason is not only internal fatigue with the "eternal leader" Jarosław Kaczyński and internal competition for influence, but also the figure of the new president, who is increasingly and boldly forming his own political center of gravity. Some of Nawrocki’s decisions already contradict the line of the party leadership.
Read more about the open split emerging in Law and Justice in the article by by Stanislav Zhelikhovsky, PhD in political science and international expert: Nawrocki vs. Kaczyński: How Poland’s president is splitting the right-wing opposition.
After Karol Nawrocki’s victory in Poland’s presidential elections, the political landscape of the right-wing camp began to change faster than expected.
A new catalyst for conflict emerged from information about personnel decisions inside Law and Justice.
It became known in late November that the team of former prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki had been removed from preparing the party’s platform for the next parliamentary elections. This is not just an organisational step but an attempt to change the balance of power inside the party.
Two distinct factions have formed within Law and Justice.
The first is the "old guard," which includes Tadeusz Bocheński, Jacek Sasin, Przemysław Czarnek, Mariusz Błaszczak, Patryk Jaki and also Zbigniew Ziobro, who is currently hiding from justice in Hungary.
This wing advocates tougher conservative decisions and maintaining the party’s traditional course. However, the scandal surrounding Ziobro has dealt a significant blow to them.
The second faction consists of "Morawiecki’s people" – a technocratic wing oriented toward more pragmatic policy. This group was weakened by Morawiecki’s "false start," when he announced intentions to seek leadership of PiS.
However, renewed discussions about Jarosław Kaczyński’s imminent "retirement" give them hope for a comeback.
Especially now that they can count on a powerful ally – President Karol Nawrocki.
Against this backdrop, the meeting in the presidential palace between Nawrocki and Morawiecki, initiated by the latter, does not seem to be merely a discussion of the 2026 budget bill, which was only the official reason for their talks.
Rather, it is an attempt by the former prime minister to regain some political influence through the president – an institution not controlled by Kaczyński.
The clearest sign of the new balance of power was President Karol Nawrocki’s decision that was perceived as a personal slap in the face to PiS chairman Jarosław Kaczyński.
This refers to his veto of the so-called chain law – an amendment to the animal protection law that, among other things, would have banned keeping dogs on chains.
Kaczyński, well known for his love of animals, publicly asked the president not to veto the law. Nawrocki did exactly the opposite.
There are increasing signs that the Polish right is entering a phase of reconfiguration.
The picture looks like this: Kaczyński is losing his ability to influence political decisions, Morawiecki is actively seeking ways back into major politics, and Nawrocki himself is gradually but confidently building his own political pole of influence.
And most importantly, the Polish right has a leader capable of posing a real challenge to Jarosław Kaczyński’s authority for the first time in many years. And one whose leadership part of PiS is already prepared to acknowledge.