This article is a part of Poland Unpacked. Weekly intelligence for decision-makers
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The group of MPs that, until the Sejm's previous sitting, belonged to the Law and Justice (PiS) parliamentary caucus has announced the formation of its own caucus—the third largest in the chamber. Mateusz Morawiecki said the new grouping would comprise 40 MPs and one senator. Although PiS has, for now, stopped short of formally expelling the breakaway faction from the party, tensions continue to escalate. One of them concerns the deputy speaker.
Morawiecki's movement looks ahead
The ambitions of the Sejm's third-largest parliamentary caucus may extend to securing a seat on the chamber's presidium. Even before the split within Law and Justice (PiS), there had been speculation that the Rozwój Plus Association would seek a deputy speaker's post.
Speaking at a press conference in Piaski on Tuesday, July 28, Mateusz Morawiecki confirmed that the association's evening meeting would include discussions on selecting a potential candidate for deputy speaker of the Sejm.
"I want to bring more democracy to party life, and we will make this decision collectively," Morawiecki said.
Until now, media speculation has centered on Marcin Horała as Rozwój Plus's likely nominee. The newspaper Super Express reported on his candidacy on Tuesday.
Horała is one of the leading figures in Morawiecki's political circle. In Morawiecki's government, he served as deputy infrastructure minister and as the government's plenipotentiary for the Central Communication Port (CPK) project. Until his removal from PiS, he also headed the party's regional organization in Pomerania. He currently chairs the Council of Parliamentarians attached to President Karol Nawrocki.
PiS puts forward a new candidate for deputy speaker
Mateusz Morawiecki also announced that the MPs aligned with him would support PiS's new nominee for deputy speaker of the Sejm. Mariusz Błaszczak, the party's parliamentary leader, said the candidate would be Marcin Ociepa, a former deputy defense minister who served under him.
Presenting the nomination, Błaszczak described Ociepa as a representative of pro-development, moderate conservatism. The choice of words was no coincidence. Morawiecki's allies have sought to position themselves in much the same way, contrasting their approach with that of the current PiS leadership.
Ociepa demonstrated his loyalty to the PiS leadership as early as 2021, when he and a group of MPs left Jarosław Gowin's Agreement (Porozumienie) party to remain in the PiS parliamentary caucus. He did not, however, join PiS itself. Instead, he founded the OdNowa Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej Association. Notably, the party ultimatum requiring politicians to relinquish membership in other associations did not apply to Ociepa or his associates.
"I see this candidacy as entirely separate from what is happening inside PiS. The fact that it has the backing of both Jarosław Kaczyński and Mateusz Morawiecki speaks for itself," Ociepa said on Tuesday in an interview with RMF FM radio.
Speaking to TV Polsat News on Tuesday, Morawiecki joked that he felt like the "father" of Ociepa's candidacy, given that the politician is himself a member of the association.
Since the start of the current parliamentary term, PiS has repeatedly nominated Elżbieta Witek for a seat on the Sejm presidium. Witek served as speaker of the Sejm during the previous term, but the current governing majority consistently refused to support her appointment.
Politicians from the governing coalition criticized Witek for the way she presided over parliamentary proceedings, accusing her of favoring her own party. One of the most frequently cited examples was her decision to order a repeat vote on the controversial lex TVN bill after the original result proved unfavorable to PiS.
Not just the right wants their deputy speaker
The seat on the Sejm presidium traditionally allocated to PiS has remained vacant throughout the current parliamentary term. The party decided to nominate a new candidate for deputy speaker only after it became clear that a politician aligned with the breakaway faction might also seek a place in the chamber's leadership.
Morawiecki's caucus is not the only new parliamentary grouping with ambitions to secure a deputy speaker's post. Since February, around half of the lawmakers formerly affiliated with Poland 2050 have formed the Centrum parliamentary caucus and, in recent weeks, launched a new political party, Union of the Center (Unia Centrum). Its members also want representation on the Sejm presidium, although they plan to pursue the matter only during the chamber's September sitting.
Czarzasty is waiting until September
Sejm Speaker Włodzimierz Czarzasty has made it clear that no changes to the chamber's presidium will be made during the final sitting before the summer recess. Speaking to RMF FM radio on Tuesday 28 July, he indicated that the issue would have to wait. Those with an interest in the outcome are not expecting any acceleration either.
"The deputy speaker issue won't come up during the current sitting of the Sejm. From our perspective, it is not the most pressing matter," a politician from Mateusz Morawiecki's circle told us.
Czarzasty has not, however, ruled out revisiting the issue altogether.
"Once everyone has sorted themselves out, we'll return to the matter at the September sitting—either the first or the second. At the moment, the Sejm's resolution provides for six deputy speakers. That resolution would have to be amended. I don't currently see political forces willing to increase the number of deputy speakers. […] This is a message to the right: whether the resolution on the number of deputy speakers is changed will be decided by the October 15 Coalition. We'll probably meet at the beginning of September, discuss the matter, and I will most likely propose a solution," the speaker said.
Unofficially, however, there are indications that the issue could return after the summer recess. Sources close to Czarzasty insist that expanding the presidium has not been ruled out.
"The matter is not definitively closed," one source said.
"Morawiecki will have to come with his team in September, and then we'll see what comes of it," another source in the speaker's circle told us.
For now, the issue remains unresolved. It is unclear whether MPs from Union of the Center (Unia Centrum) can be confident of securing a deputy speaker's post for their own representative. Nor is it certain that Marcin Ociepa will ultimately be elected, as PiS hopes.
What appears far less likely is that the governing coalition would agree to appoint both a PiS representative and a politician from the Rozwój Plus Association to the presidium at the same time. That would require increasing the number of deputy speakers and would dilute the coalition's majority within the chamber's leadership.
Key takeaways
- Rozwój Plus is considering fielding its own candidate for deputy speaker of the Sejm. According to media reports, Marcin Horała is the leading contender to represent Mateusz Morawiecki's movement.
- In response, PiS has nominated Marcin Ociepa for a seat on the Sejm presidium. The Centrum parliamentary caucus, formed by former Poland 2050 lawmakers, is also seeking representation in the chamber's leadership through its own deputy speaker candidate.
- Speaker Włodzimierz Czarzasty has ruled out any changes to the Sejm presidium before the summer recess. The issue is unlikely to be revisited before September. Even then, it appears improbable that both Marcin Ociepa and a Rozwój Plus representative will secure deputy speaker posts. Czarzasty has stressed that any changes to the presidium will be decided by the governing October 15 Coalition, which has little incentive to expand the chamber's leadership in a way that would strengthen the opposition at its own expense.