Although it is pretty clear that the Polish Sejm will meet on September 7th for the last time in order to enable the early elections in October, the prospects of post-election development in Poland remain blurry. Only one thing is positive, namely that the Fourth Republic project in such a shape the Polish left presented prior to the 2005 elections went awry. Political scandals disclosing the real essence of the regime in post-communist countries called “political capitalism”, however, are the cause why the discussion on substantial issues concerning the political and economic development of Poland fades into the background.

The Fourth Republic project was formed in Polish liberal and conservative environment in response to the revelation of the nepotistic linkage of political and entrepreneurial structures which appeared after 1989 and rose to the surface in full strength during the rule of the post-communist Democratic Left Alliance (SLD). The project was supposed to be a reaction to several fundamental challenges that not only Poland did face, but also other former communist countries which joined the EU in 2004. The primary challenges were to overcome social differences leading to the disruption of social cohesion within the society, to form anew the national and state identity of the country under the conditions of its integration into the EU accompanied by a necessary weakening of the national state’s task and its power elites and finally to restore the state authority in order to increase the of law enforcement after a long period of economic transformation and deregulation. The national conservative branch of the Polish right, represented by the current governmental party Law and Justice (PiS), promoted the model of a centralist state in which the tool of the political consolidation of the society would be a powerful state authority intervening also in economy and the private life of an individual as well as the strengthening of the Catholic Church’s influence and a patriotic indoctrination of the society boosted by a confrontational style on the international scene including the EU. On the contrary, the liberal conservative Civic Platform (PO) used to promote its concept of a minimal state that would be neutral as to the values and which would restrict its responsibility for economic development and the social status of the citizens. According to its inventors the room for the creation of a corrupt environment would be curbed in this way. Both blocs shared the objective of smashing the nepotistic coalitions close to SLD and they used to identify for pragmatic reasons with the post-communist bloc after 2001.

The shortcomings of the Fourth Republic

The failure of the right coalition project, caused not only by the policy divergence between both main blocs, but also by their irreconcilable power ambitions necessitated a first correction as regards those who put it into practice. “Moral Revolution” was undertaken by PiS along with populist coalitions whereas the Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland often relied on people of dubious reputation. Moreover young skinheads from the League of Polish Families (LPR) youth organisation did not hesitate to use violence against their opponents.

Theoretically if one of the Fourth Republic’s objectives should have been the disintegration of nepotistic structures and the de-politicisation of state administration, practically only the SLD staff nominees in the state administration or state-owned enterprises were replaced by the nominees of coalition parties. Instead of the dialogue with various parts of the civil society, new coalition only strived to gain control over them and to enforce an absolute obedience. Thus, in the course of one and a half year, it entered a conflict with not only the opposition, but also with a significant part of judges, teachers, lawyers, not to speak of journalists and the student body. Conflict sparking manners were rife with the coalition in terms of its internal activities as well.

Sharp conflicts were under way within the coalition parties, the leaders of which perpetually kept on disposing of opponents and rivals, but particularly between the strongest governmental party PiS and its weaker partners. On one level the Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński pursued their electorate on another level they were a bit of a burden for him due to his claims and compromising appearances on domestic as well as international scene.

Thus the rule had been steadily confined solely to unceasing battle for power retention and the negotiation of new conditions under which the coalition could stick together. PiS perceived the coalition a necessary evil and did not hide the intention to take control of smaller partners, or rather, integrate them into its structures. Furthermore, PiS utilised the fight against nepotistic links in favour of power concentration and the legitimising of its struggle to assume the power sector.

Not only did the conceptual layout of the building of the Fourth Republic, or rather, the Poland of Solidarity as it were, fade into the background, but also the fulfilment of practical goals like the preparations for Eurozone entry, the construction of motorway infrastructure, the “cheap state” project, the launch of the low-cost flats construction project and, last but not least, the preparations for Euro 2012, the European Soccer Championship, in cooperation with Ukraine the organisation of which Poland perceives first of all as a part of its “Eastern” as well as “Western” policy. Failures in this field used to be attributed to the necessity of fighting against “układ” i.e. the phenomenon which used to be dubbed “old structures” in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. These were accused of the collapse of the Third Republic established in 1989.

The dissolution of military intelligence services should have been the token of the defeat of the Third Republic and the smashing of nepotistic links having its roots yet in the pre-1989 period. The report on their activities submitted by Antoni Macierewicz, however, did not prove the thesis according to which these services had had a decisive effect on the control over the society and that they had lain behind the largest corruption scandals, on the contrary, it turned out to be a disgrace to the authors as well as those who ordered it. In a similar way did the struggle with the corruption deteriorate to the level of an “effective” disclosure of doctors arrested in front of television cameras. At another time, for instance in the case of the former SLD deputy Barbara Blida, it resulted in a tragedy when she committed suicide in her flat during a house search. Additionally, the report turned out that the prosecuting authority had had no concrete accusations and her prosecution had been ordered by the Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro himself who is considered one of the most prominent members of PiS. The same tools were used in the lustration issue. These hadn’t become a means of dealing with the past but an instrument for the elimination of political adversaries.

Summer political crisis

A process that will most probably be terminated by the announcement of early parliamentary elections was launched in June by a supplement to the coalition agreement which set the incompatibility of the tenure of public office with criminal persecution. The recall of the Vice Prime Minister and Agriculture Minister Andrzej Lepper followed in July along with the exclusion of both coalition partners, the co called annexes, from the Kaczyński Cabinet. Both predictable development variants, namely the establishment of a minority government and the announcement of early elections, seemed to suit the PM who wanted to get rid of coalition partners.

It seems, however, that the revelation of circumstances, under which Lepper was supposed to sign the dubious decision on the removing of estates from the agricultural land funds based on certain documents fabricated by Central Anticorruption Bureau (CBA), wasn’t planned. After the opposition left, Self-Defence and LPR had put in a demand for the establishment of a special committee for the investigation of the CBA activities compared to political police, Sejm stepped up its effort to call early elections. After the coalition split on August 9th, a meeting of the President Lech Kaczyński with the leader of the oppositional PO Donald Tusk followed. Both politicians agreed on the inevitability of early elections.

However, this was no surprise since similar development had been expected since the coalition split. Much more important was the information from the Media Policy Advisor Michał Kamińsky according to whom it was of interest to both sides that the situation in Sejm remained till the elections “a situation of peace and earnestness” and that Sejm wouldn’t become “a playground for activities which could or are supposed to discredit or ridicule Polish parliamentarism and democracy.” (1)

PO acted in similar vein when it rejected the proposal for the establishment of a committee for the investigation of CBA activities and the suicide circumstances of the former SLD deputy. Particularly Jan Rokita, the former PO candidate for Prime Minister and the representative of the party’s conservative wing, opposed the demand for the establishment of special committees. Like some PiS representatives, also he argued that their establishment would have delayed the early elections and proposed that they were to be established yet by the new parliament. Nevertheless, the PM Kaczyński wanted Rokita to become the head of the parliamentary committee for constitution amendment. It was not until the media begun to exert pressure that Civic Platform was forced to a shift in attitude. Even if the opposition succeeded to push through the establishment of both special committees, the Marshal of the Sejm Ludwik Dorna sometimes called “the third brother” of the Kaczyński twins has the powers to postpone their establishment by up to half a year.

Janusz Kaczmarek’s revelations

During the outline of the coalition partners exchange scenario, the PM Kaczyński relied on the loyalty of his ministers and the members of his party. Probably he didn’t expect the Vice PM Lepper to learn of the planned provocation in the Agriculture Ministry and thus not to sign the trustworthy looking documents fabricated by CBA. He accused the Interior Minister Janusz Kaczmarek of information leak and immediately he pushed through his recall. Subsequently A. Lepper stated that minister Zbigniew Ziobro informed him of the provocation that should have lead to his accusation of corruption and the recall from office. Minister Kaczmarek compared the current governmental practices to the conditions in a totalitarian state.

The grotesque attempt of LPR and Self-Defence to recall the PM and to form a new government with the involvement of opposition lead by Kaczmarek was doomed to failure, because it would have meant a discredit for opposition parties. Kaczmarek’s statements that the Blida action realised in the absence of tangible evidences was contrived by minister Ziobro himself despite the fact that he had originally denied his involvement, along with the fact that it was aimed at obtaining compromising materials against the former PM Leszek Miller (SLD), incumbent in the period from 2001 to 2004, made the dissolution of Sejm impossible to run smoothly.

In the aftermath of these statements, neither the coalition, nor the strongest opposition party could put on a brave face. The appearances of the already former Interior Minister before the Parliamentary Committee for the Control of Secret Services literally aroused shock. The minutes of the committee negotiation at a closed meeting of Sejm was read in the night from August 24th to August 25th by the Marshal of the Sejm Dorn himself and his claims disgusted even the governmental PiS deputies (2). According to Kaczmarek the Attorney’s General Office in charge of the Justice Ministry and secret services, particularly the mentioned CBA and eh Polish Internal Security Agency (ABW), prosecuted and made up cases not only against opposition politicians, but also against opposition media and even against the closest family of the President Lech Kaczyński and Jaroslaw Walesa, the son of the former President Lech Walesa, with the aim of discrediting the founder of “Solidarity”. The Committee for the Control of Secret Services suggested only the recall of the Secret Services Control Minister at the beginning of Kaczmarek’s appearance, after rendering the first part of the report before the Sejm’s plenary session, however, the opposition wanted already also the head of Minister Ziobro. While the PiS deputies were discussing the rumours and half-truths, the PO deputy Pawel Gras stated that he felt as if he “was listening to a report on Stasi activities in GDR” (3) Ziobro was allegedly behind the recall of L. Dorn from his seat of the Interior Minister (4). Under the given circumstances it is very probable that nothing will hinder the establishment of two special investigatory committees required by SLD deputies.

Unpredictable post-election development

Kaczmark’s appearances are sure to influence the post-election arrangement in Poland. From the meeting of Tusk with the President it was evident that the supposed election winner, i.e. Civic Platform, didn’t wish a complete discredit and the weakening of PiS, because this would curb its room for manoeuvring. PO would thus become dependent on the coalition with the Left and Democrats bloc dominated by SLD, since the preferences of the next potential partner, namely the agrarian Polish People’s Party (PSL), are around the boundary of entering parliament. PO shared also some other common interest with PiS. Both parties were involved in the marginalisation, or rather, the forcing out of smaller political formations which would enable them a comfortable control over the Polish political scene even in the case of failing to form a coalition. Both parties were therefore interested in a controlled dissolution of the PiS – LPR – Self-Defence coalition. Not only is the revival of the Po – PiS coalition concept desirable for the President Lech Kaczyński, but also for liberally oriented PiS representatives, for instance, the former PM Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz (5), and a part of the media, above all the daily Dziennik and the right tabloid Fakt.

This alternative sparks indignation even in rightist environment. For example, the editor in chief of the already non-existent right daily życie Warszawy called for the settlement of conflicts emerging from different relation to the past and also for the establishment of a coalition between PO and the post-communist left (6). After Kaczmarek’s appearance, however, the PO leaders toughened up their hitherto mild statements addressed to PiS. D. Tusk, the leader of this party and former presidential candidate, deemed the current Government pathologic. According to him it is of Poland’s interest to deprive it of power (7). Shift in the deliberation of the ideologically heterogeneous PO is confirmed also by the words of the party’s Head of Deputy Club Jacek Zdrojewski: “I used to be a calm and moderate adherent of PO – PiS coalition. That night I ceased to be.” (8)

The PO leadership, however, keeps on distancing themselves from SLD by setting the election win and the establishment of a homogenous government as their primary objectives. After Kaczmarek’s scandalous disclosures, Tusk put PiS, Self-Defence and the opposition partners from SLD at the same level (9). Although the poll conducted by the TNS-OBOP agency at the beginning of August, i.e. prior to Kaczmarek’s appearance, confirms that PO was able to obtain 32 per cent of votes, that means 230 seats in the 460-member Sejm (10), the definite post-election structure of Sejm isn’t decided on at all. The reason is a low rate of election results predictability due to shrinking participation in elections. By the way, this did a lot of harm to PO in the previous 2005 parliamentary elections, when it suffered a double defeat despite the triumphal pre-election rhetoric. Moreover, the poll mentioned is meanwhile the only one which authorised PO to similar optimism and was conducted via telephone which diminishes its reliability. That’s why it cannot be ruled out that the issue of a coalition partner will be relevant again after the elections.

Election preferences according to opinion polls (in %)

* – in the case of a common candidate list the overall gain would amount to 10 per cent; ** – along with LPR votes; *** – along with LPR 5 per cent.

Moods change, interests linger

Statements, made at the beginning of the election campaign in an atmosphere full of emotions like was the negotiation of the country-wide leadership of PO on Saturday August 25th after J. Kaczmarek rendered the first part of his speech, quickly sink without a trace. That’s why it is necessary in the interest of post-election development to carry out an in-depth analysis of the interests of particular subjects involved, i.e. political parties, but also those of their splinter groups and representatives characterised by longer continuity, as current moods.

Law and Justice is though the only party the deputy club of which expanded after the 2005 parliamentary elections thank to those who joined them from coalition parties, its problem remains the political isolation deepened after Kaczmarek joined the party. The position of the PM J. Kaczyński, the party’s founder and main strategist, seemed to be unfaltering in the past. He succeeded in the elimination of potential rivals like, for instance, the former PM Marcinkiewicz or the Sejm’s former Head of the Foreign Committee Pawel Zalewsky. The first defeat to come was the vote on a constitution amendment. Marek Jurek, the Marshal of the Sejm, upheld the formulation on provisions concerning the Protection of Life Before Birth pushed through by LPR instead of a more moderate version pushed through by PiS. Although Jurek and a group of his following left PiS and founded a new party the Right of the Republic, this dissension didn’t result in the loss of parliamentary majority. Inside the party, however, there was a fresh blood growing, namely the Justice Minister Ziobro who won the trust of people by means of a vigorous statement about the fight against corruption and owing to his young age of 35. As the events in Sejm proved, Ziobro poses a threat to Kaczyński also due to information he has thank to his contacts with secret services.
A ministerial seat is not the final destination for Ziobro and his ambitions. In the past, he didn’t rule out his candidacy for president and in July 2007 certain speculations appeared that his 2010 candidacy might be supported by the ultra-catholic Radio Maryja that deserved of the PM’s brother Lech being elected president two years ago. PiS is interested in Lech’s re-election, because its presence in the office of the president increases the chance to succeed in the oncoming parliamentary elections. Willy-nilly, Jaroslaw has therefore to support Ziobro in order not to lose grip on him.
The weakening of PiS positions is reflected in its internal stability. Several groups are competing with each other for the influence in regions. This fight is reflected in the top level policy as was the case of the Small Poland. That conflict between Ziobro and the Minister of Special Forces Zbigniew Wasserman lead to medial attacks against Wasserman according to Kaczmarek. The decision on early elections literally wrought panic among international officials who dreaded the loss of influences after the defection to opposition. Lastly, this may enfeeble their almost utter devotion to the Kaczyński brothers. The courage of possible malcontents may be stepped up by those politicians who had to leave their offices and the party owing to the conflicts with the PM. For example, the former Defence Minister Radoslaw Sikorski that is a non-party man in the PiS club now.
In terms of the left PiS has lost the support by clerical nationalistic forces gathered around LPR and Radio Maryja that cannot forgive it the refusal of attempts to make the Act on Interruption stricter. The current President Lech Kaczyński has thus lost the chance to win Radio Maryja’s support. Neither the recent governmental decision, adopted despite the discontent of the new Education Minister Ryszard Legutko and approximately 60 per cent of Polish citizens, will help the Kaczyński brothers. Since the next academic year, the marks in religion won’t be calculated into the pupils’ weighted average according to it (11).
Although Radio Maryja and the blocs connected with it won’t engage themselves in this year’s elections in any noticeable way, the establishment of a new clerical nationalistic formation is not to exclude. Such a formation could successfully, maybe already during the 2010 presidential elections, address the voters of LPR, the preferences of which have been oscillating around the threshold of votes necessary for the parliament entry, as well as the up-to-date voters of PiS. Therefore it is a matter of PiS’ concern to search for allies in the centre of political spectrum.

Civic Platform has nowadays the biggest coalition potential. Meanwhile, it has stuck to the principle of “equal distance from PiS as well as SLD”. Like in 2005, also at present it sees itself in the role of an election winner. However, it is under threat of disintegration as far as its opinions on the post-election development are concerned. Conflicts have been under way primarily between the party co-founders Tusk and Rokita. Whereas Tusk represents the party’s liberal wing, the conservatives lead by Rokita considered to leave the party yet in November 2006. It thus means that the prospect of early elections consolidates the party from the inside as well. Rokita disparages the PiS policy, but mainly from the position of an economy liberal, as to the issue of power abuse he is more restrained. He confirmed it also in the night from August 24th to August 25th when he was absent on an extraordinary meeting at which the Marshal of the Sejm Dorn presented a report by the Committee for Secret Services Control and subsequent declarations according to which he was going to push through the strengthening of the position of CBA.
Apart from Rokita, whose wife abandoned Civic Platform as early as 2006, also some people around the former Mayor of Warsaw and current deputy of the European Parliament Pawel Piskorki weighed up the withdrawal. Piskorski supports the cooperation with SLD and the creation of a Polish parallel to the Italian bloc of left centric forces called “The Olive Tree”. In 2006, the former Foreign Minister Andrzej Olechowski left PO. This is connected with the goal of the establishment of a new bloc in cooperation with the former President Aleksander Kwasniewski. Its origin was scheduled at September 2007, anyway, the early elections postponed if not prevented the withdrawal of the PO left wing (12).
Besides the issues that bring PO and PiS at odds, there are also other factors connecting the parties. First of all it is the common genesis of both parties from the anti-communist movement Solidarity. Interestingly, the cooperation with former communists in terms of the coalition is unacceptable for many PO representatives. The Platform has supported several political initiatives after 2005. Apart from other things it enabled the expansion of the Lustration Act concerning several thousands of citizens as well as the dissolution of military intelligence services and the establishment of CBA. Primarily J. Rokita took up position close to that of the current government as far as the opinions on the future of the EU are concerned. We have to remember the fact that he is the author of the creed “Nice or death”. The preservation of the voting system in the EU institutions as it was adopted at the Nice summit in 2005 was one of the causes of Polish negative attitude to the adoption of the EU Constitution Treaty. That’s why the plan for the establishment of the PO – PiS coalition is still not to be completely buried despite Tusk’s statements. Furthermore, possible coalition with SLD is complicated by the internal instability of this strongest Polish left party and its internal disintegration. The origin of the so called “small coalition” of the Civic Platform with PSL is not to exclude.

Left and Democrats (LiD): The power concentration in PiS’ hands triggered a partial consolidation of left centric forces. Not only did the post-communist SLD manage to overcome the resistance of other left partners from the Social Democracy of Poland and Labour Union, it even integrated the left liberal Democratic Party, the heir of the former Freedom Union unifying a considerable part of former dissidents, into the joint bloc. The LiD bloc associates its hopes of the return to the centre of political activity mainly with A. Kwasniewski who accepted the offer of becoming its election leader. This bloc has in fact no other alternative than to strive for the establishment of a coalition with PO (13), or possibly with the addition of PSL.
Paradoxically, the greatest handicap of the bloc is his strongest part, namely SLD which is unacceptable due to its communist past as well as vast corruption affairs in the period from 2001 to 2004 when Leszek Miller, the former Union leader, was the prime minister. In addition to this, the process of the internal differentiation of SLD is not completed. Although the party leader is a young politician Wojciech Olejniczak who is not compromised by the participation in the communist regime structures, former nomenclature officials prior to 1989 have been still preserving a considerable influence within the party also by means of the so called Socialist platform. The defence of the former regime heritage is one of its main programme postulate bringing it closer to the former PM Miller who, in the economy and social area, pushes trough solutions close to the liberal right (14). Despite the fact that Miller and his rule is considered the primary cause of the SLD debacle two years ago by a large part of the left, the former PM is interested in being on the LiD candidate list in the elections in spite of Kwasniewski’s disfavour (15). On the one hand LiD wishes the end of PiS rule, but on the other hand its policy contributes to the consolidation of the disintegrated left and therefore it would welcome a delay of the early elections by a couple of months. Kwasniewski’s decision on the return to top politics came rather late, namely in a period when almost nobody doubted the early elections(16) and the left is not ready for an election campaign anyway.

Self-Defence and League of Polish Families: In the course of nearly two years of its presence in the ruling coalition, PiS managed to acquire an important part of the personalities of its former coalition partners. The parliament entry of LPR is endangered in particular. After the recall of Lepper from the government, both Parties united into a new subject called League and Self-Defence (LiS) which exists, however, only on the paper for now. Both parties preserve their organisational independence and are plagued also by a programme gap. Whereas LPR, as clerical nationalistic movement, subscribes to the traditions of the pre-war Národná demokracia, Sebaobrane glorifies the Edward Gierek’s “Goulash Communism” of the 1970’s. They are connected by the rejection of the Western capitalism, but LPR declares its affiliation to the Western political circle despite regarding Germany a traditional enemy of Poland. In the past, the primary agenda of Self-Defence was the social populism and Lepper is even nowadays not willing to pay attention to cultural and ethnic aspects which are the priorities of the LPR leader Roman Giertych. Yet before the 2005 elections Giertych claimed that the programmes of both parties were like “fire and water” and ruled out the possibility of the cooperation with Self-Defence. Despite the fact that both parties came together after 2005 and Lepper subscribed to the social doctrine of the Catholic Church, a joint candidate list of both Euro-sceptical parties is not definite up to now (17). LiS marginalisation is the reason why both parties try to suspend the early elections and attempt to form a new government headed by Kaczmarek. Thus this is the most advantageous variant of the reinstatement of the coalition with PiS, but without the PM Kaczyński. For PiS, however, such a scenario would be unacceptable.

Polish People’s Party: Although the agrarians succeeded in obtaining a part of the Self-Defence voters, the long-lasting problem of PLS remains the position on the boundary of the parliament entry. Agricultural agenda appears to be too narrow also in the case of Poland. That’s why the party faces the necessity of searching for a new identity. In this case it means the search for new political partners. In the periods from 1993 to 1997 and from 2001 to 2003 it took part in the coalition with SLD, prior to 2005, it attempted to cooperate with PiS and nowadays it pursues the establishment of a pre-election bloc with the Polish right.

Conclusion

The Fourth Republic project, which became the domain of the Kaczyński brothers, failed to establish itself as a conceptual alternative. It was the immanent attributes that were the cause of its failure. The reliance on authoritative solutions presupposed the isolation of power elites as well as irreconcilable internal dissensions. Nevertheless, the 2005 vote signalled the necessity of paying more attention to social issues. The success of authoritative populism in Poland and its internal political consequences were supposed to be a warning for other new EU members as well. The problems Poland faced prior to 2005 have remained and will remain the source of the citizens’ discontent. Among these were, or rather, are above all the growing and hard-to-overcome social differences, widespread corruption, the lingering of nepotistic links and low law enforcement rate. The concept of radical economic reforms leading to the weakening of the state’s social function doesn’t meanwhile seem as an acceptable alternative and also the strongest opposition party Civic Platform didn’t point out this aspect on the eve of the elections, despite not renouncing it.

The pre-election arrangement of political powers confirms that the Polish party system is still not to be deemed as consolidated, although since 2001 the composition of political parties represented in parliament hasn’t altered. Political parties as well as blocs and coalitions originate on the basis of staff relations or historical genesis of party elites rather than on the basis of programme similarities. Therefore it cannot be ruled out that the disintegration processes within existent political parties along with the establishment of new blocs will proceed in the future.

From the viewpoint of the shape of the future ruling coalition it appears that the constitution of the government will be in the hands of the most powerful opposition bloc, i.e. Civic Platform. Considering the long-term prospects as the optimum variant looked a coalition with PiS, at least for their top representatives. Their voters, however, would rather prefer a coalition with the left bloc (57 per cent of voters), solely 35 per cent of voters spoke out in favour of a coalition with PiS according to the poll conducted at the beginning of August 2007. The situation started to change also in the whole Polish society among which the proportion of the adherents of a coalition of liberals and the left begins to exceed the proportion of the right coalition following (35, or rather 34 per cent) (18). If PO decides in favour of one of the coalition variants in question, its disintegration cannot be excluded. In the case of a coalition with PiS, however, the dissension will be much more severe and is sure to result in at least a political coalescence of both subjects. The unwillingness of both subjects to accept the role of a weaker partner is an obstacle to the PO – PiS coalition as well. That’s why D. Tusk will pursue either the constitution of a homogenous government, or a less problematic variant of a coalition with PSL. From the point of view of stability, the worst variant will be the constitution of a minority government which has to focus on a perpetual quest for its own existence.

The summer political crisis in Poland is not just a usual governmental crisis anyway. If only a mere part of the former minister Kaczmarek’s statements proves, this case is going to be one of the direst affairs with regard to state bodies abuse during a political clash in the entire history of European democracy. The affairs in the Polish case turned out to be not just sporadic. The power abuse performed by PiS had a systemic character.

Before power assumption, PiS used to disparage the system of particracy and power abuse aimed at the pursuit of particular economic interests. After 2005, it was PiS itself that used to abuse the same system of particracy in the fight against political rivals. However, this means the peril of the very essence of democracy.

Notes:

2) Z „nocnego czytania”: Ziobro to 35-latek o mentalności 25-latka. Onet.pl, 25. 8.l 2007.

3) Butkiewicz, Tomasz – Zieliński, Robert: Janusz Kaczmarek oskarża PiS. Haki na polityków, media, a nawet prezydenta? Dziennik, 23. 8. 2007.

4) Co Kaczmarek powiedział speckomisji? Gazeta Wyborcza, 25. 8. 2007.

5) Marcinkiewicz, Kazimierz: Czas, by Kaczyński i Tusk się dogadali. Dziennik, 15. 8. 2007.

6) Wołek, Tomasz: Straszny sojusz PO z PiS. Gazeta Wyborcza, 4. 8. 2007.

7) Rada Krajowa PO: w interesie Polski leży odsunięcie PiS od władzy. Onet.pl, 25. 8. 2007.

8) „Byłem stonowanym zwolennikiem PO-PiS, po tej nocy mi przeszło.” Onet.pl, 25. 8. 2007.

9) Dziennik, 26: 8. 2007.

10) Platforma rządzi sama. Sondaż TNS Obop dla DZIENNIKA. Dziennik, 15. 8. 2007.

11) Religia do średniej, skarga do Trybunału. Rzeczpospolita, 20. 8. 2007.

12) Zgoda w Platformie do wyborów. Rzeczpospolita, 17. 8. 2007.

13) Kwaśniewski: Koalicja LiD i PO byłaby naturalna. Gazeta Wyborcza, 23. 8. 2007.

14) Kaczyński to etatysta, twierdzi Leszek Miller, polityk. Dziennik, 18. 8. 2007.

15) Gnacikowska, Wioletta: Miller chce, Kwaśniewski mówi „nie”. Gazeta Wyborcza, 23. 8. 2007.

16) Kwaśniewski na czele Komitetu Wyborczego LiD. Gazeta
Wyborcza, 20. 8. 2007.

17) Waszkielewicz, Bernadeta: Akrobacja polityczna Leppera i Giertycha. Rzeczpospolita, 18. 8. 2007

18) Pacewicz, Piotr: Sondaż „Gazety”. Koalicje, jakich chceme. Gazeta Wyborcza, 13. 8. 2007.