Rejected former SLD Prime Minister joins Self-Defense
The news was confirmed by party leader Andrzej Lepper during a press conference yesterday morning, which he held together with the former PM. Lepper declared that Miller will head Self-Defense's election list in Łód. Miller had originally wanted to stand in the elections for the SLD but he was rejected by his former colleagues. Lepper said that all the members of his party have a common goal of caring for Poland and Poles, especially workers. The Self-Defense leader added that the SLD is no longer a leftist party, and that this role was taken over by Self-Defense. Former PM Leszek Miller explained that he is not joining Self-Defense as a permanent member, but instead wants to create a new party called the Polish Left (PL). Referring to the suicide earlier this year of the former construction minister in his government which is under investigation by Justice Minster Zbigniew Ziobro, Miller said: "I want to be a member of a Parliamentary Commission that will probe into the death of my friend Barbara Blida. There I will face Mr. Ziobro" (Rzeczpospolita, p. A1; Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 1; Polish Radio)
