Hungry for more

Standing without a challenger, Kaczyński received 1,231 out of 1,258 votes. However, Polish President Lech Kaczyński, Jarosław's twin brother, turned in his PiS membership.

"The fact that today I resign from being a member does not mean that I abandon the idea that bound us together," he said. "But I want to be a representative of all Poles," he explained.

Formed only five years ago, PiS already holds the posts of Prime Minister and President. Nevertheless, Jarosław Kaczyński stressed that PiS needs to grow in order to be large enough for the elections in 2010. He said that PiS now has 12,500 members, which, compared to the original 50 founders, shows successful growth. "But if we bear in mind the needs of a party that rules a large European country, and Poland is such a country, we have to say: it's too little, too little, way too little," he emphasized.

In his keynote speech, Kaczyński promised far-reaching changes, claiming that after 1989 a "post-communist monster" had been born. He also stressed that PiS supports the idea of the civil state and is not an anti-intelligentsia formation. Nonetheless, Kaczyński vehemently attacked the media, which, according to him, propagate a false image of Poland, showing a country torn apart by crises with democracy in grave danger.

While Jarosław Kaczyński did not explicitly refer to opposition party Civic Platform (PO), Prime Minister Marcinkiewcz was critical of his party's rivals. Pointing to a fall in unemployment, raised spending on health and the establishment of the Central Anti-Corruption Office, Marcinkiewicz praised the achievements of his government, and chided the opposition: "[Civic] Platform has done nothing, it just keeps calling for war against us. Folks, come to your senses," he said.