When asked about the reasons for invalidating the vote for the president of Poland 2050, Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said that he “does not want to rule out any scenario.”
Let us remind you that on Monday, over 800 eligible activists of Poland 2050 elected the leader of the group in the second round. Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz, Minister of Funds and Regional Policy, and Paulina Hennig-Kloska, Head of the Ministry of Climate and Environment, applied for the position. However, the vote, which took place online, was invalidated – as the group said at the time – due to technical problems. Later, information appeared that there may have been external interference.
Deputy Prime Minister Gawkowski commented on this situation in Polsat News. “It's hard for me to answer what happened. I think there is a specific group of people in Poland 2050 who knows,” noted the head of the Ministry of Digital Affairs, adding that he looked at it with a distance. “I don't want to rule out any scenario, because maybe something actually happened that had some external influence,” he added.
According to Krzysztof Gawkowski, the party's statement issued on Tuesday evening cuts it all. “I don't think a renowned company would want to enter a conflict with one of the largest parliamentary parties in Poland and speak with a different voice. But I won't offend anyone. I respect my colleagues from Poland 2050. I keep my fingers crossed for them,” Gawkowski said. He added that such “failures” sometimes happen and you have to get over them somehow. “Maybe it's an attack, maybe it's a mistake, maybe it's a technical error. I have no idea because I wasn't involved in this process either. The state didn't monitor it either,” he said.
“I feel so”
“I know one thing, I think Szymon Hołownia is coming back as party leader. That's what I feel after his statements,” said Deputy Prime Minister Gawkowski.
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On Tuesday, the leader of Poland 2050, Szymon Hołownia, was asked by journalists whether he would take part in the elections for the party leader if the elections were repeated, and he replied that he had not made that decision yet. When asked about this issue, he said that the decision must first be made by the National Council convened on Friday. “If it turns out that this is a solution that will help Poland by 2050, I will not avoid any solution. However, today I am thinking primarily about how to ensure the democratic course of the elections and the undisputed leadership of this party,” he noted. “If the party wants, I'm ready to talk about anything. But the party has to want it, not me,” he added when asked about a possible candidacy.
The candidate for the head of Poland 2050, Paulina Hennig-Kloska, said on Tuesday on TVN24 that she currently sees no grounds for repeating the first round of elections for the head of the party. The second candidate, Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz, also said in Polsat News that the legal status in the party is such that the first round took place and this first round is valid today.
On Tuesday evening, Poland 2050 announced that it would contact the Internal Security Agency regarding the invalidated second round of Monday's elections for the chairman of the group. According to the group, there is a high probability that there was an external attempt to interfere in the party's internal electoral process.
Five of its members originally ran for the leadership of the party after Szymon Hołownia. The first round was held on Saturday. In turn, on Saturday, January 17, the group's National Council was to be held in Warsaw, where the new leader's first official speech was planned. On the same day, the council was also to elect four members of the National Management Board from among all members of the National Council, which currently consists of 57 people.
