PiS uses Euro election result to purge regional party leaders

Law & Justice (PiS) leader Jarosław Kaczyński has demanded that all his regional party leaders resign due to the worse than expected results of the party in the elections to the European Parliament. As Kaczyński’s position in the party is unquestionable, all the regional leaders immediately conformed with the order. Perhaps the most painful aspect of the result was that PiS came in far behind the Polish Family League (LPR), a party who it is normally usually well ahead of in opinion polls. Kaczyński appears to have heeded the opinion that the poor result was due to the weak regional party structures which is also riddled with petty squabbles over power. By forcing all regional leaders to resign, Kaczyński probably hopes to be able to make a clean sweep and to cure many of these problems. (Rzeczpospolita, July 3-4, p. A3, Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 9) A.F.