Kaczyński appeals to President Nawrocki to unify Poland’s right-wing opposition ahead of elections

Keep our news free from ads and paywalls by making a donation to support our work! Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support. Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of Poland’s largest opposition party, the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS), has called on opposition-aligned President Karol Nawrocki to help unify the country’s various right-wing opposition forces ahead of next year’s parliamentary elections. His appeal comes as PiS, which for the last two decades has dominated the Polish right, is in crisis, amid falling polling numbers, a split by a breakaway faction, and a growing challenge from far-right parties that have long been critical of PiS. That has created a fragmented opposition, with parties competing against one another as much as or more than with the Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s ruling coalition. Some on the right hope that Nawrocki, who enjoys good relations with various parts of the opposition, could act as a unifying figurehead bridging those divides. 🔴 Jarosław Kaczyński revealed what he personally asked Karol Nawrocki for. During the Smolensk monthly commemoration, PiS president referred to divisions on the right and admitted that he sees an especially important role for the president: to help unify the conflicting circles. “I asked my president at the time… pic.twitter.com/qwXhmccun2 — Super Express (@se_pl) August 10, 2026 Speaking on Sunday at a monthly commemoration of the 2010 Smolensk air disaster that killed his identical twin brother, then-President Lech Kaczyński, Jarosław was reported by a variety of Polish media outlets as saying that he had asked Nawrocki to act as a “patron” for a unified right. “I asked the president some time ago, and I hope he will do it,” said Kaczyński, quoted by newspaper Fakt. “It would be very good if the president took up this matter energetically.” “We could continue to develop – as we did during our years of government – not only in terms of achieving GDP growth, but also by undertaking major investments, by undertaking everything that would truly change Poland.” Kaczyński was referring to the period between 2015 and 2023 when a PiS-dominated coalition, known as the United Right (Zjednoczona Prawica), ruled Poland. In the latter year, it was ousted from power by a more liberal coalition led by Tusk, Kaczyński’s great rival. Since then, the landscape on the Polish right has changed dramatically. One of PiS’s partners in the United Right, the hard-right Sovereign Poland (Suwerenna Polska), merged with PiS in 2024. The other, the centre-right Agreement (Porozumienie), is now defunct. Meanwhile, support for PiS itself has collapsed. Having won 35% of the vote at the 2023 elections, it now averages only around 20% in polls – the party’s lowest figures for almost 20 years. To make matters worse, last month, around a fifth of the party’s MPs formed a breakaway group in parliament led by PiS deputy leader and former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. They plan to soon form their own, separate party, Development Plus (Rozwój Plus), with a more moderate, centre-right agenda than PiS. At the same time, PiS has found itself challenged by a growing far right. Confederation (Konfederacja), which won 7% of the vote in 2023, is now polling around 12-13%. The even more radical Confederation of the Polish Crown (KKP), which broke away from Confederation last year, is at 9%. The split in PiS is a blow to the party and its leader, Jarosław Kaczyński. But the potential emergence of a new centre-right party led by Mateusz Morawiecki could actually help the opposition win a majority at next year's elections, writes @danieltilles1 https://t.co/xMP7e4rOFf — Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) July 31, 2026 That has resulted in a much more fragmented right, with four separate entities not only opposed to Tusk’s government but also competing with one another for overlapping electorates. With parliamentary elections scheduled for autumn 2027, there have been questions over whether and to what extent the opposition should seek to cooperate with one another. One option would be an agreement not to stand candidates against one another for seats in the upper-house Senate, which are contested on a single-member-district system rather than through the proportional representation that decides the share of seats in the more powerful lower-house Sejm. Current polling averages for Poland’s main political groups (source: eWybory.eu) Parties in Tusk’s current ruling coalition themselves formed such a “Senate pact” at the 2019 elections, helping them win control of the upper house, then repeated that in 2023, when they retained control. Although the Senate has a limited legislative role, it would be a significant prize for Nawrocki and the opposition, especially if Tusk’s coalition wins the Sejm, because the Senate has the power to approve or reject national referendums proposed by the president. An even more ambitious plan that has been rumoured is for some elements of the right-wing opposition to run joint electoral lists for the Sejm. That would require a far greater degree of programmatic consensus and longer negotiations over how to distribute places on lists. The government's majority in the Senate has, for the second time, rejected a proposal by opposition-aligned President Nawrocki to hold a referendum on whether Poland should continue implementing the EU's climate policies, which he argues are too costly https://t.co/Idm6dnzQEH — Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) August 6, 2026 Nawrocki is seen as key to any such plan coming to fruition. He was elected last year to the presidency as an independent, but with the formal backing of PiS. Ahead of the second-round run-off vote, he also received endorsements from defeated first-round rivals Sławomir Mentzen, one of the leaders of Confederation, and Grzegorz Braun, the leader of KKP. Since taking office, Nawrocki has continued to cultivate good relations with PiS and Confederation, as well as with Morawiecki’s new breakaway faction. However, he has kept his distance from Braun, whose anti-Americanism, antisemitism and sympathy towards Russia makes him something of a pariah. The European Parliament has again voted to strip Polish far-right leader Grzegorz Braun of immunity to face further charges for Holocaust denial as well as various antisemitic, anti-Ukrainian and anti-LGBT incidents during last year's presidential campaign https://t.co/4EHVEuSDnM — Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) March 26, 2026 Media reports have suggested that Nawrocki is planning to play a role in creating a “broad patriotic camp” among the opposition ahead of next year’s elections. Last week, during an event celebrating the first anniversary of his swearing in, the president also hinted at this role. He noted he will, in the coming months, be presenting “a presidential development strategy”, which “I believe will become a point of reference in the upcoming parliamentary elections for all those who aspire to govern Poland, a real plan for the future of the republic”. The strategy would be aimed in particular at “patriotic forces” who are “ready for dialogue between the offices of the president and future prime minister”. Given that Nawrocki and Tusk’s government are bitterly opposed to one another, that was a clear reference to opposition parties. A report on Sunday by Newsweek Polska, based on unnamed inside sources, claimed that Kaczyński is hoping to form a single electoral list for the Sejm elections compromising PiS, Development Plus and all or parts of Confederation, under the patronage of Nawrocki. 💥 Nowa obsesja Jarosława Kaczyńskiego, in what way to regain power. PiS president is pushing Karol Nawrocki to create a “Nawrocki list” for the right-wing to the Sejm. This is the most risky, but also the one with enormous stakes, decision of the president.https://t.co/sqRPFUuiZ7 — Jacek Gądek (@JacekGadek) August 9, 2026 Other leaders on the right have expressed varying degrees of willingness to work with one another. Speaking to broadcaster TVN on Saturday, Krzysztof Bosak, another of Confederation’s leaders, expressed support for the idea of a Senate pact. On Friday, Morawiecki said that he can “fully imagine working with Sławomir Mentzen”, who “I believe is absolutely part of the patriotic camp”. However, Mentzen himself quickly ruled out the idea, tweeting that he’d rather “quit politics than join this gang leading Poland to disaster”, adding that Tusk, Kaczyński and Morawiecki are “one and the same”. Whereas Bosak represents a nationalist faction of Confederation seen as more compatible with PiS, Mentzen represent’s a libertarian wing that is bitterly opposed to the former PiS’ government’s high social spending, support for Ukraine, and the restrictions it introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic. I’d rather my hand wither than support further social programs. I’d rather give up politics than join this gang leading Poland to disaster. Tusk, Kaczyński, Morawiecki, Czarzasty, same dog. For all of them, poll numbers are more important than the future… — Sławomir Mentzen (@SlawomirMentzen) August 7, 2026 Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support. Main image credit: Mikołaj Bujak/KPRP Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.