Star Waltz

Though the Warsaw City Council, dominated by the Civic Platform (PO), Leftist and Democrat coalition, voted against annulling her mandate as Mayor of Warsaw last week, Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz still faces the possibility of being ousted due to her failure to provide her husband's asset declaration on time. The head of Mazowieckie voivodship, Jacek Sasin from Law and Justice (PiS), said that in the first days of March he would remove Gronkiewicz-Waltz from office and install a commissioner to act in her place until elections are held.

However, Gronkiewicz-Waltz remains unmoved. "Only a court verdict, not the Prime Minister, can remove me from this position," Gronkiewicz-Waltz told the press. But PiS representatives are convinced that the Mayor should resign, especially since her own party, PO, voted in favor of the regulation of which she was in breach. 

As the conflict continues, it becomes more and more bizarre. A debate of the Council last week was even more heated than usual, after a member of a PO youth organization Wolna Warszawa (Free Warsaw) entered the room dressed up as Darth Vader, who, in his view, represented the potential commissioner of Warsaw to be appointed.

"I think that the end to the impasse will be the court verdict," the Chairman of the Warsaw City Council, Lech Jaworski told WBJ. "I am optimistic that the conflict will end soon. The City Council should not forget that it has been chosen to serve the citizens, not to play politics," he added.