Tensions escalated after PiS chairman Jarosław Kaczyński named Przemysław Czarnek as the party’s candidate for prime minister in next year’s election
WARSAW – Poland’s largest opposition party fractured on Friday as 44 parliamentarians quit the national-conservative PiS, escalating a succession struggle between Jarosław Kaczyński and former prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
The breakaway group is led by Morawiecki and includes members of his Rozwój Plus (Development Plus) association, among them former Digital Affairs Minister Janusz Cieszyński, former Deputy Foreign Minister Paweł Jabłoński.
The split also involves PiS MEPs Piotr Müller, Michał Dworczyk and Waldemar Buda, who would retain their European Parliament seats but cease to represent the party if their departures are confirmed.
Politicians associated with Rozwój Plus had for months criticised PiS’s strategy ahead of the 2027 parliamentary election. Morawiecki argued that the party should seek to recapture centrist voters, opposing what he regarded as its continued shift towards the far right.
