Unity and strength hallmark PiS' party conference

The President of Poland, Lech Kaczyński, resigned from his party membership in order to become the "president of all Poles". Jarosław Kaczyński gave a speech on the party's future program in which he criticized the media for distorting the real image of Poland, called for speeding up economic growth and argued that PiS was an ally of the inteligentsia. According to Kaczyński, PiS supports the idea of a civil society and a strong state. Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz praised the results of the government and severely criticized the Civic Platform (PO) for fighting with PiS instead of building a coalition. The party convention elected Jarosław Kaczyński to lead the party for a successive term and appointed the political council of PiS, almost 100% of which consisted of the closest allies of Jarosław Kaczyński. (Rzeczpospolita, pp.A1, A3) J.L.