President proposes new “coalition of Polish interests” from centre-right to far right after election

President Andrzej Duda has proposed the creation of a new coalition combining a variety of parties from the centre-right to far right. His call comes days before Sunday’s run-off election, as he seeks to drum up over 50% of the vote to defeat rival Rafał Trzaskowski and win a second term.

The president addressed his appeal to the leaders and supporters of the conservative-agrarian Polish People’s Party (PSL), the far-right Confederation (Konfederacja), as well as the right-wing anti-establishment Kukiz’15 movement.

Duda’s idea, which he dubbed “The Coalition of Polish Interests” (koalicja polskich spraw), was, however, downplayed by the ruling national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, which said that it is not a formal coalition proposal.

It has also been met with a lukewarm response from leaders of the other right-wing parties that the president hopes to include in the arrangement.

“I think that people in Poland simply expect us to [rise] above all divisions, forget our slight differences, to create such a coalition,” said Duda. “This is the dream of many people who voted for PSL, for Paweł Kukiz’s movement, for the Confederation.”

The president proposed that the various groups “meet calmly after the 12 July”, the date of the presidential election, to discuss cooperation “from the highest level [down] to local government activity”.

He added that the current situation creates “a unique opportunity” to forge such an alliance. With Poles anxious about the coronavirus pandemic and what will follow, it is particularly important that there be unity.

“I know that there are differences between us, but it is about common interests,” said Duda. “We need calm, stable policies, cooperation and the creation of solutions that will help develop our country” and “protect the most important Polish values”.

Duda was asked if his idea was completely his own initiative, or whether he had also discussed it with the ruling United Right (ZP) coalition, which is made up of PiS and junior coalition partners Agreement (Porozumienie) and United Poland (Solidarna Polska).

The president answered simply that “this is something everyone understands”, reports wPolityce. “I think there is no doubt within the United Right that a movement which would cause more political forces to focus around pro-state, pro-social activity is very necessary in Poland”.

Jarosław Gowin, the leader of Agreement, praised Duda’s idea as an attempt to “connect everyone who has a more conservative, traditional, Christian moral sensitivity”.

However, PiS spokesman Radosław Fogiel emphasised that what the president had put forward “is not a coalition proposal”, but rather an attempt “to create a broader front for cooperation between groups that often have similar views on many issues”.

In response, the president’s spokesman, Paweł Mucha, made clear today that Duda is offering “a serious political proposition”. If the president wins a second term on Sunday, he will have “a huge mandate” to act as “an independent political entity” in forging greater cooperation, said Mucha, quoted by wPolityce.

Duda’s proposal has met with a sceptical response from its intended recipients. “I won’t let PSL get involved in Andrzej Duda’s campaign,” wrote the party’s leader Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, who stood unsuccessfully in the first round of the election, getting only 2.4% of the vote.

“Instead of firing political blanks, I advise you to deal seriously with Polish matters [such as] collapsing healthcare, rising unemployment and bankrupt firms,” wrote Kosiniak-Kamysz. “That is the president’s responsibility, not an imaginary coalition.”

Meanwhile, PSL’s deputy leader, Adam Struzik, today endorsed Trzaskowski for the presidency and called on his party’s members to do the same. Kosiniak-Kamysz admitted to TVN24 that “most of my voters will probably vote for Trzaskowski [and] I am also closer to this direction”.

Janusz Korwin-Mikke, one of the leaders of Confederation, said that “we would have believed in [Duda’s appeal] if it had been a few years ago, or at least a few months ago”. But he added that his party was always open to working with any president, a position repeated by two of its other MPs.

Paweł Kukiz, leader of Kukiz’15, told RMF FM today that he had not received an invitation to join the coalition. He also repeated his mantra that PiS, from which Duda hails, and the centrist opposition Civic Platform (PO), whom Trzaskowski represents, are as bad as each other.

Donald Tusk, the former PO prime minister and head of the European Council, took to Twitter to mock the president’s idea: “At the end of his term, Andrzej Duda wants to become ‘the patron of Polish interests’. One dreads to think whose interests he has been the patron of for the last five years.”

Polling suggests that Sunday’s election run-off will be extremely close. Duda finished comfortably ahead in the first round on 28 June, getting 43.5% to Trzaskowski’s 30.5%. However, among voters of the eliminated candidates, a majority appear set to switch allegation to Trzaskowski.

The last ten days have seen the two candidates seek to broaden their appeal. Both have sought to attract votes from across the spectrum, appealing to supporters of Confederation’s Krzysztof Bosak as well as those who voted for left-wing candidate Robert Biedroń.

Main image credit: Eliza Radzikowska-Białobrzewska/KPRP/Prezydent.pl

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.