Donald Tusk has dissolved the Małopolska Voivodeship structures of the Civic Coalition. The information was confirmed by Dorota Niedziela, who has been appointed as the regional commissioner. The move is said to be a punishment for Aleksander Miszalski’s defeat in the Kraków referendum.
On May 24, in a referendum, the residents of Kraków dismissed Aleksander Miszalski from his position as mayor. More than 176,000 people took part in the vote. For the referendum to be considered valid, a turnout of nearly 160,000 voters was required.
Commentators assessing the referendum result emphasized that Miszalski’s defeat symbolizes a setback for the leader of the Civic Coalition, Donald Tusk. Responding to the decision of Kraków’s residents, the Prime Minister stated that “this is democracy.”
“Sometimes decisions turn out to be misguided, sometimes they are unpopular. This is the nature and, of course, the risk associated with the principle of direct elections of mayors and city presidents. That is life,” the head of government said two days after the referendum.
Dissolution of the Małopolska structures
However, it appears that despite the measured tone of his statement, the Civic Coalition leader is drawing far-reaching consequences. Tusk has dissolved the party’s Małopolska structures. According to Onet, this is meant to be “a punishment for the regional authorities of the Civic Coalition for losing the referendum.” The position of commissioner has been entrusted to Dorota Niedziela, who serves as Deputy Speaker of the Sejm.
“Niedziela is to rebuild the Civic Coalition in the region from scratch until a new chairman is selected in elections. Tusk’s decision to appoint her as commissioner gives her an advantage in this race – and constitutes a vote of no confidence from the Prime Minister toward Miszalski. By losing his position as head of the Małopolska Civic Coalition, Miszalski also drops out of the national board of the Civic Coalition, where regional leaders sit automatically,” the article states.
“Why Stop at Małopolska?”
The reports were commented on by the Vice President of Law and Justice (PiS), Przemysław Czarnek.
“Mr. Tusk, why limit yourself? Time to bring out the party banner” – he wrote on the X platform.
What about the rest of Poland?
It is worth noting that after Miszalski’s defeat, many political commentators suggested that authorities associated with the Civic Coalition could also be dismissed via referendums in other cities. This view was also shared by a significant portion of respondents in a poll conducted by SW Research.
When asked, “Do you believe that the dismissal of Aleksander Miszalski as Mayor of Kraków signals the beginning of problems for the Civic Coalition and Donald Tusk in other cities as well?”, the largest group of respondents – 42.1 percent – answered in the affirmative. A different opinion was expressed by 25.6 percent of those surveyed, while as many as 32.3 percent were unable to clearly assess the consequences of the situation surrounding Kraków’s mayor.