Civil war in PiS. Morawiecki is building his own army, Kaczyński is threatening to be removed from the lists
The meeting of the PiS Political Committee presidium showed that most of the party authorities expressed concern about the initiative of former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki's association – PiS spokesman Rafał Bochenek told PAP. According to PAP information, the association is to be registered by the end of April.
At the beginning of April, in an interview for wp.pl, Morawiecki confirmed media reports about establishing his own association bringing together people who “don't like something in each of the political parties on the right: PiS, Confederation, or Braun's Crown of Poland.” After the interview was published, on the same day, a meeting was held between PiS president Jarosław Kaczyński and Morawiecki, during which they discussed, among others, situation within the group. According to PAP information, the meeting was intended to “discipline” the former prime minister, whose recent actions – as we hear inside PiS – were not in line with the party's line.
On Tuesday, a meeting of the presidium of the PiS Political Committee was held, which – according to the media – concerned, among others, Morawiecki's plans regarding the association.
– The course of yesterday's meeting of the Presidium of the Political Committee showed that the vast majority of the party authorities expressed their concern about the association's initiative, especially now when unity is particularly needed – Bochenek told PAP. In his opinion, “participation in this project does not serve the good of the party.”
PAP sources identified with Morawiecki's faction informed that the association “has already been constituted” and includes about 40 PiS MPs. However, the politician emphasized that the initiative does not aim to create a separate political party. He said that the association would probably be registered by the end of April.
– The association must be registered in court, and the documents in this matter are already in the registration process. There is already a name for the association, which is ambitious and pro-development, but it will probably be announced after registration, the source told PAP.
On Wednesday, Morawiecki informed wp.pl that his association had been founded.” “Our goal is to create additional space for dialogue, exchange of experiences and initiating activities supporting the social and economic development of Poland,” he added.
PAP's interlocutor, asked about Bochenek's statement, who emphasized that “participation in Morawiecki's project is not for the good of the party”, said that the party authorities do not want to allow a split, but “there is no will on either side for a split to occur.”
According to information from TVN24, during Tuesday's meeting of the Presidium of the Political Committee, Kaczyński announced that “PiS politicians registered with Mateusz Morawiecki's association will not be included in the electoral rolls.”. A politician associated with Morawiecki's faction, asked by PAP about these reports, said with a laugh that “such announcements would then apply to all associations, including those related to Sovereign Poland, so it would turn out that 3/4 of PiS parliamentarians cannot run in the elections.”
Another parliamentarian who was one of the supporters of the former prime minister, when asked about the presidium meeting and the reception of the initiative by the PiS leadership, emphasized that any allegations regarding the association are “artificially raised” by a group of so-called the buttermen, i.e. a group of Morawiecki's opponents, gathered, among others, around PiS candidate for prime minister Przemysław Czarnek, former head of MAP Jacek Sasin and PiS vice-presidents Tobiasz Bocheński and Patryk Jaki.
– This is an attempt, let's call it, to suggest to parliamentarians that they should not fully participate in this initiative, but it is rather being spun by this group of “mobs” – added the politician. In his opinion, the atmosphere at the meeting was “very good”, and Morawiecki was to present ideas for expanding PiS's electorate during his 40-minute speech.
According to Morawiecki's announcement, the association is to operate as a think tank and will deal mainly with economic matters.
At the beginning of April, PAP's sources from the PiS leadership emphasized that Morawiecki's association was being created in opposition to the party, and his recent actions caused him to lose the trust of PiS members. Politicians associated with Morawiecki claimed that the aim of the initiative was to win center voters for PiS.
Since the end of November last year PiS politicians unofficially admit that there is an ongoing conflict within the group between Morawiecki's supporters called “scouts” and a group of his opponents called “maslarz”, or the faction of former Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro.
Katarzyna Lendzion (PAP)
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