If Szymon Hołownia, founder of the centrist Poland 2050 party, thought that he had already experienced the worst in politics, he will soon find out how wrong he was. Only now will he see what the hatred of Donald Tusk and his resources means.
Poland 2050 and the Polish People’s Party (PSL) have announced they are joining forces. In a published agreement signed by the leaders of both groups, they outlined a list of common issues to be dealt with after the elections and a declaration of equal sharing of places on the electoral lists and positions in the election committee.
Today, it is worth noting the political process we are witnessing. A fierce competition has begun on the opposition side, which may be a key factor in shaping the balance of power in the new Polish parliament (the Sejm).
At this point, the biggest enemy for Donald Tusk’s Civic Platform (PO) is not the ruling Law and Justice (PiS), but Poland 2050, which is now joined with the PSL. Of course, in the coming months, we will be inundated with numerous mirages of “openness to cooperation with all democratic forces,” compliments to competitors, etc. But let no one be deceived by them.
When it turned out that Poland 2050 and the Polish People’s Party would run in the elections as a coalition — they must win a minimum of 8 percent of the votes to enter the Sejm — the destruction machine with the PO logo will now ramp up even further.
For the leaders of Poland 2050 and PSL, Szymon Hołownia and Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, the fight for their lives has started. Hołownia is fighting for survival in politics; he probably knows that his result in the presidential elections was exaggerated, just like the old polls giving his group over 20 percent of the vote share. Meanwhile, Kosiniak-Kamysz is fighting for the survival of his party. I remember, of course, that the PSL is a master of efficiency in renewing the existence of the parliamentary club in successive terms, but now it may have an even more difficult task than four years ago when Paweł Kukiz saved the agrarians.
Surveys indicating today’s support for the new PL2050-PSL alliance of around 12 percent will soon become a thing of the past, and crossing the 8 percent electoral threshold will not be decided until the very end of the election race.
Even if Civic Platform’s activists continue to pretend that Hołownia and Kosiniak-Kamysz are their future coalition partners to whom they wish well, non-party opinion leaders will do their part.
I won’t say that I sympathize with Mr. Szymon or Mr. Władysław. They know that politics is an unpleasant game in which blows come even from the side of your supposed allies. And when a reckless crowd is incited with arguments about betrayal and favoring a mortal enemy, the blows may be too many to count. Let’s prepare for the opposition’s Hunger Games.
