Polish ruling party strikes agreement with Kukiz’15 group

Poland’s ruling national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party has formally announced an agreement with small right-wing group Kukiz’15. The deal will bolster PiS’s slim parliamentary majority to help push through the government’s economic stimulus package in exchange for concessions on fighting corruption and judicial reform.

Paweł Kukiz, a former rock star who leads the eponymous group of four MPs, hailed the agreement as “one of the most important days in my life”. PiS chairman Jarosław Kaczyński said it would serve to “broaden the political spectrum” of the ruling camp both in parliament and among voters.

Kukiz made a political breakthrough in 2015 as a populist, anti-establishment candidate, finishing third in that year’s presidential elections with 21% of the vote and then seeing his Kukiz’15 group win over 40 seats in parliament.

Since then, however, he and his movement have endured a significant decline, and he has become more willing to work with parties that he once condemned as being part of the system he was fighting against. That included a period in coalition from 2019 to 2020 with the centre-right Polish People’s Party (PSL).

For PiS, the agreement helps shore up support for its “Polish Deal” economic package. The party has recently suffered from fraying relations with its existing coalition partners, Agreement (Porozumienie) and United Poland (Solidarna Polska).

At yesterday’s press conference, Kaczyński assured that, with the support of Kukiz, his party would “do everything that is needed for the current political system in parliament to last”.

In return, PiS has committed to support anti-corruption measures that would prevent parliamentarians and local politicians from working in state-owned companies. Moreover, anyone with a past conviction for corruption will be barred from working in the public sector.

Moreover, PiS has reportedly agreed to the introduction of magistrates who could adjudicate quickly on minor cases, with the aim of streamlining Poland’s judicial system.

Kukiz said that the “extremely beneficial” deal was the “first time” that the group had “a chance to introduce key systemic changes in Poland”. He noted that “the United Right [ruling coalition] is the only option at the moment capable of introducing these key changes”.

However, according to Onet, Kaczyński did not agree to the introduction of a first-past-the-post electoral system for the lower house of parliament, which has long been a flagship issue for Kukiz. Nevertheless, PiS has reportedly agreed to set up a working group to look into amending the electoral code.

Kukiz also thanked PiS for implementing policies that had been previously pushed by his group, including raising the tax-free income threshold and consulting policies with citizens online.

One of Kukiz’s MPs, Jarosław Sachajko, told RMF FM that the programmatic concessions made the deal worthwhile, even if their group is being “used” by PiS. He added that he can imagine members of the group running for parliament on PiS electoral lists in future “if our demands are met”.

Main image credit: Prawo i Sprawiedliwość/Twitter

Maria Wilczek

Maria Wilczek is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She is a regular writer for The Times, The Economist and Al Jazeera English, and has also featured in Foreign Policy, Politico Europe, The Spectator and Gazeta Wyborcza.