WARSAW — One of the groupings making up Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s ruling coalition is splitting in the wake of a disappointing presidential election that saw the candidate backed by the nationalist opposition win.
However, the split between the Polish People’s Party (PSL) and Poland 2050, which formed an electoral alliance in 2023 called the Third Way, doesn’t endanger Tusk’s hold on power as neither party is quitting his coalition.
Karol Nawrocki’s victory on June 1 shook the government; Tusk attempted to rally his backers by holding a vote of confidence last week.
The Third Way’s presidential candidate, parliament Speaker Szymon Hołownia, won just 5 percent of the vote in the first round of the election, exacerbating tensions both inside the Third Way and within the broader coalition. His candidacy was seen as having undermined Tusk-backed liberal Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski.
Tusk’s government now faces a reinvigorated Law and Justice (PiS) party backed by Nawrocki in the next general election in 2027.
Since February, polls have shown the Third Way on the verge of the 8 percent threshold a coalition needs to win seats in the Polish parliament. Individual parties face a lower 5 percent threshold.
“We are preparing for a solo run. We have our own potential, our values and programs,” PSL leader and Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz told Radio Zet on Wednesday.
Kosiniak-Kamysz described the Third Way’s brief existence as a success that helped remove PiS from power in 2023. He also acknowledged that discussions about the split had been ongoing.
“The perspective of running independently brings us genuine political joy,” Hołownia wrote on X, adding that Poland 2050 would agree on its political direction at a meeting on June 28.
The split applies only to the 2027 election campaign. In parliament, both parties operate separate parliamentary clubs and remain members of Tusk’s coalition government.
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