Leading left-wing MP defects to join Poland’s conservative ruling camp

A leading left-wing MP has quit her party and joined one of the coalition partners in Poland’s national-conservative ruling camp. Though defections between parties are quite common in Poland, a transfer so far across the political spectrum is rare.

Monika Pawłowska was the deputy head of the parliamentary caucus of The Left (Lewica), an alliance of three left-wing parties. She had also been a leading figure in one of those parties, Spring (Wiosna), a centre-left group led by MEP and former presidential candidate Robert Biedroń.

Yesterday, Pawłowska unexpectedly announced that she was leaving The Left and joining Agreement (Porozumienie), a centre-right group led by deputy prime minister Jarosław Gowin.

Agreement is seen as the most moderate of the three parties that make up Poland’s United Right (Zjednoczona Prawica) ruling coalition, which is dominated by Law and Justice (PiS).

In a series of tweets announcing her decision, Pawłowska claimed that Agreement is “the only group sincerely interested in cross-party cooperation for the good of Poland”. She added that, while she was joining Gowin’s party, she would sit as an unaffiliated MP rather than joining PiS’s parliamentary caucus.

The Left, which is Poland’s second-largest opposition group, last month set out a policy programme including abortion on demand, creating a secular state, and improving workers’ rights. Pawłowska herself has campaigned for women’s reproductive rights, including wearing a t-shirt saying “We demand legal abortion”.

By contrast, the PiS-led ruling camp has generally supported restrictions on abortion (though Gowin himself recently called for a referendum to decide the issue) and favours a prominent position for the Catholic church in public life. Agreement is seen as the most business-friendly part of the ruling camp.

Before aligning himself with PiS, Gowin had served in the previous government led by the centrist Civic Platform (PO), which is now the largest opposition party. Last spring, amid a political crisis over holding elections during the pandemic, he held talks with opposition groups, leading to speculation he could seek to join an alternative governing coalition.

However, in the autumn, Agreement, PiS and United Poland (Solidarna Polska) – the third party in the ruling camp – renewed their coalition agreement. But tensions have remained within the ruling camp over various issues, feeding continued speculation about a potential split and early elections.

Agreement itself has also recently suffered internal divisions. The president of its national congress, Adam Bielan, claims that he is the legitimate leader of the party rather than Gowin. Inside sources have suggested that PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński supported the coup, though that has been denied by PiS.

News of Pawłowska’s defection was met with surprise and criticism from her former colleagues in The Left. Maciej Gdula, a fellow MP, suggested that she may have been “blackmailed” into the transfer. If not then “all that remains is infamy” for her, he wrote.

Anna-Maria Żukowska, another MP and former spokeswoman for The Left, said that they “apologise to our voters for Pawłowska failing your trust”. But she expressed hope that, while “days like these are full of bitterness, they consolidate people around values”.

Pawłowska’s critics were also quick to dig up her previous tweets criticising the ruling camp. Only last month, she accused the “pseudo-united right of making Poland a party state”. Another tweet in December criticised Gowin by name, suggesting that he was among those to blame for the government’s violations of the rule of law.

However, in a new interview with the Rzeczpospolita daily explaining her defection, Pawłowska called Gowin “an effective politician and upright person”. She praised him for his role in preventing PiS from a hastily organised attempt to hold presidential elections by postal vote amid the pandemic last year.

Pawłowska also dismissed suggestions that she was moving to Agreement for personal benefit. “I’m not getting a job at a ministry or a position at a state company,” she said.

Gowin himself tweeted a welcome to his new party member. “This is a well-thought-out decision, preceded by many conversations,” wrote the deputy prime minister. “I am glad that the group of people who pursue politics without ideological obstinacy and bitterness is expanding.”

However, MP Kamil Bortniczuk, one of the rebels in Agreement who was expelled from the party for opposing Gowin’s leadership, criticised the arrival of Pawłowska.

It shows that “in the part of Agreement led by J. Gowin there is no room for conservatives”, tweeted Bortniczuk last night, attaching a series of screenshots showing Pawłowska supporting the abortion rights.

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.