Former Polish PM Morawiecki leads 44 lawmakers out of PiS

Published Jul 24, 01:17 PM UTC

Poland's largest opposition party, the national-conservative PiS, fractured on Friday as 44 parliamentarians led by former prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki quit the party. The breakaway group includes members of Morawiecki's Rozwój Plus association and several PiS MEPs. The split follows months of internal criticism over PiS's strategy ahead of the 2027 parliamentary election, with Morawiecki advocating for recapturing centrist voters against the party's shift toward the far right. Tensions escalated after PiS chairman Jarosław Kaczyński named Przemysław Czarnek, a Eurosceptic former education minister, as the party's candidate for prime minister in next year's election. Political analyst Daria Krotoska said the split was driven by a succession struggle rather than ideology, noting Morawiecki had presented Kaczyński with an ultimatum to become his political heir. The departure gives Morawiecki an independent parliamentary base to compete for leadership of Poland's right, weakening Kaczyński's decades-long dominance.