“Successive instances of lawbreaking and attempts to arrest individuals associated with the previous government, instead of boosting popularity, have made this administration the least liked and accepted since the post-communists took over the Council of Ministers. Many within its ranks claim that the reason for this is that the settling of accounts has not gone far enough—meaning that no significant figures have been imprisoned. I am not aware of any detailed studies on this issue, but I have the impression that this is a slippery slope”, writes Tomasz Sakiewicz in the latest issue of Gazeta Polska.
“There is certainly a faction within the ruling camp’s electorate that dreams of inflicting serious harm on well-known figures from the previous administration.”
“I do not have sufficient public opinion research on this matter, but it is certainly not a majority group. The mere fact that someone answers positively to the question of whether the irregularities of the previous government should be accounted for does not automatically make them part of the electorate of revenge. Just as many people who voted for PiS as for PO would likely answer in the affirmative. A more telling survey would need to ask a different question: Should people be imprisoned regardless of legal arguments? No one will conduct such a study, and even if they do, they will not publish it because it would be highly discrediting. Therefore, I can only rely on intuition and the information already available in the public sphere.”