Former Law and Justice (PiS) vice-chairmen Kazimierz Ujazdowski and Paweł Zalewski have issued a statement in which they announce their resignation from the membership of the party.

The most high profile of the rebels, Ludwik Dorn has not made clear his status within Law and Justice, however.

On Wednesday afternoon Law and Justice leader Jarosław Kaczyński met with all three members to discuss further cooperation. 

After the meeting they announced that they will neither join any other party nor initiate a new formation, but will act as non affiliated deputies. According to Kazimierz Ujazdowski, in this way they will be able to do more politically.

“The history of the Polish parliamentarianism shows that a non affiliated deputy can do a lot, whereas little can be done when parties resemble militarised troops,” Ujazdowski said.

The third ‘rebel’ Ludwik Dorn, according to Ujazdowski, shares the diagnosis that there has been a crisis in Law and Justice and that all three will co-operate politically in future, but only Dorn himself should inform about his decision.

Ujazdowski and Zalewski stressed their aim was to transform the party into a modern formation that would positively influence the shape of State’s politics.

“We hoped that the conservatism that binds tradition with modern values and a vision of an effective state with citizens’ freedom will have right to exist in PiS. Unfortunately, the reform plans we presented were rejected,” former vice-chairmen wrote in their statement.

Dorn, Ujazdowski and Zalewski resigned from their posts as PiS deputy chairmen at the beginning of November, after an attempt to start up an internal discussion about the way the party is led and wrote an open letter to Jarosław Kaczyński.