Jarosław Kaczyński has told reporters that if the Law and Justice (PiS) party congress is willing to see him continue as leader, he will not insist on resigning.
This is a reversal of the position Kaczyński adopted after last October’s parliamentary elections when, upon PiS losing power, Kaczyński said that he would be retiring from his leadership position in 2025 at the latest after having reached the age of 75, the age at which he noted that Catholic cardinals retire.
In his remarks to reporters, Kaczyński said that he did not want to insist on being the leader of his party in the way Jean Marie Le Pen did in France after most of the party held different views than its leader. He promised he would listen to his own party but felt that 2025 might not be the best year to make the break.
He added that he has to give the matter extensive thought given the situation that is unfolding in Poland and that all will depend on whether the party congress is willing to see him continue.
Kaczyński said that there was a fight taking place with the new government in Poland and that “I am not a deserter by nature.”
While he agreed with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk that the situation in Ukraine was critical, he also felt that the internal situation shows that Tusk is engaging in a “war, breaking the constitution and the law” in a way that was blatant and which should see Tusk eventually go to prison.
Commenting on the internal situation in his party, where voices have materialized concerning mistakes that were made in the run-up to the election and what this meant for the future of the leadership of the party, Kaczyński said the party suffered from bad press.
“We don’t get the same degree of cover and protection from the media that Tusk has,” so any differences that occur within PiS are always amplified by a hostile media.
