Keep our news free from ads and paywalls by making a donation to support our work!
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Poland’s largest opposition party, the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS), has been thrown into turmoil amid efforts by more moderate figures, led by former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, to form a new internal group.
The party’s spokesman, Rafał Bochenek, has threatened “disciplinary consequences” against dozens of MPs who have joined an association formed by Morawiecki, while leader Jarosław Kaczyński says they will not be allowed to stand as PiS candidates in next year’s parliamentary election.
Prezydium Komitetu Politycznego @pisorgpl zwróciło uwagę członkom partii na obowiązywanie art. 6 ust. 1 pkt 3 Statutu @pisorgpl .
➡️ Zgodnie z nim zakazane jest (bez zgody władz partii) członkostwo w organizacji, której cele są sprzeczne z celami, zasadami ideowymi, programem lub…— Rafał Bochenek (@RafalBochenek) April 16, 2026
Internal tensions have long been brewing within PiS, which has seen its support in polls collapse from around 32% at the start of 2025 to around 25% now, which is its lowest level in 14 years.
In particular, there has been a division between more hardline elements – who believe that the party should move even further to the right to compete with two surging far-right parties – and more moderate figures, who argue that ceding the political centre ground would be disastrous.
The hardliners were given a boost at the start of March, when Kaczyński announced that one of their leading figures, Przemysław Czarnek, would be the party’s prime ministerial candidate in next year’s parliamentary elections.
However, since then, PiS has seen no significant boost in the polls, prompting growing frustration from the moderates. This week, their figurehead, Morawiecki, who is a deputy leader of PiS, announced the formation of a new association intended to represent and promote their position.
Its founders insist that the association, called Growth Plus (Rozwój Plus), is meant to operate within PiS, not to compete with it, and to focus on promoting plans for Poland’s economic development put forward by Morawiecki, a former banker who served as PiS prime minister from 2017 to 2023.
“PiS always won when it was able to be broad, when we united diverse groups around a common goal,” wrote Morawiecki on social media. “We cannot let ourselves be pushed out of the centre of Polish politics. That is where the most important decisions are made today.”
Around 40 of PiS’s 188 MPs are reported to have joined the association, including former government ministers such as Michał Dworczyk, Janusz Cieszyński and Waldemar Buda.
One of the members, former deputy foreign minister Paweł Jabłoński, said that the association would provide “a new formula…that will strengthen the centre-right and help push the disastrous government of [Prime Minister Donald] Tusk out of power”.
Polska potrzebuje dziś czegoś więcej niż tylko zmiany władzy. Potrzebuje odpowiedzialnego działania, współpracy i zdolności do budowania szerokiego porozumienia wokół spraw najważniejszych.
🇵🇱
Prawo i Sprawiedliwość wygrywało zawsze wtedy, gdy potrafiło iść szeroko – z programem… pic.twitter.com/MAEAFwQmIP— Mateusz Morawiecki (@MorawieckiM) April 16, 2026
However, the new association has been met with a frosty, and at times hostile, reception by many other party figures.
“Whoever wants to seek enemies on the right, whoever wants to divide us, whoever puts their own interest above the good of Poland – that person will find neither my support nor my approval…It is a betrayal,” wrote Czarnek on social media, without naming Morawiecki or the association directly.
On Thursday evening, following a meeting of PiS’s leadership, party spokesman Rafał Bochenek announced that the activities of the new association are “contrary to PiS’s statute”, which bars “membership of any organisation whose goals are contrary to the goals, principles, programme or interests of PiS”.
“PiS members cannot be members of another political organisation” and any such “activities…will result in disciplinary consequences”, said Bochenek, quoted by news website Onet.
My, Polacy, mamy przed sobą wielkie zadanie, za którego wykonanie zostaniemy rozliczeni przez dzieci i wnuki: czy w tych trudnych czasach uczynimy Polskę bogatą, bezpieczną i pomyślną. Myśl o tym celu przyświeca mi w polityce od samego początku, ale dziś nabiera szczególnego… pic.twitter.com/eo0NqhkpRf
— Przemysław Czarnek (@CzarnekP) April 15, 2026
In response, Morawiecki told broadcaster Republika that he “certainly will not withdraw” his association and instead hopes to “clear up any misunderstandings”. He insisted that his only actions “serve to expand PiS, so we can reach groups that are harder for us to reach”.
However, late on Friday morning, Kaczyński held a press conference at which he warned of tough measures against those who have joined Morawiecki’s association. “If this activity continues in its current form…there will be no places on the PiS party lists for the people involved,” he declared.
In Polish elections, each party puts forward a list of candidates in each voting district. Exclusion from those lists means no possibility of being elected to parliament.
In his remarks, Kaczyński praised Morawiecki, saying he “was a great prime minister”. However, he warned that he cannot allow “one party to grow out of another” like a form of “parasitism”.
Support for PiS has fallen to its lowest in 14 years, as the party grapples with internal division, the rise of far-right challengers, living in President Nawrocki's shadow, and the unpopularity in Poland of PiS ally Donald Trump, writes @danieltilles1 https://t.co/QRScBpEQQG
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) March 2, 2026
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: KPRM (under CC BY-SA 4.0)
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.
