Miller tells regional party leaders to face the music over election defeats

The ideal picture of the Democratic Left alliance's party discipline may be somewhat tarnished after a mini rebellion following party leader Leszek Miller's request that leaders resign in areas where seats had been lost, or where they had failed to win a seat. The request was met with reluctance from party members who are unwilling to lose their lucrative position, as well as those members who hold top positions in the regional party organization, and at the same time are members of the government. Krystyna Lybacka, the Education Minister and Grzegorz Kurczuk the head of the Justice Ministry, both refused to toe the line and said they would rather be verified during the party conference, scheduled for the middle of December. Their intransigence to comply with Miller's demands made President Aleksander Kwasniewski say, "Accepting ministry portfolios should mean withdrawing form senior party positions. You cannot rule the party organization by phone. I said this a long time ago". (Zycie, p. 3) J.K.