Jan Rokita, a prominent member of the largest opposition party in Poland, Civic Platform, announced on television Friday night that he will not be standing in the parliamentary elections on October 21. Rokita said that he would be retiring from politics and that his decision was final.
Rokita said that he is not leaving the party and will vote for it in the elections.
The party’s leader, Donald Tusk, believes that the motive for such a decision is personal not political. Tusk said that he respects Rokita’s decision and understands the motivation behind it.
Yesterday Rokita’s wife announced that she would be working for the President of Poland, Lech Kaczynski, as an advisor on women’s issues and said that she might stand in the coming general election for the ruling Law and Justice, Civic Platform’s great rival.
Tusk appealed to the media to give his friend Jan Rokita ‘two days of peace’.
Tusk said that he did not know who would replace Rokita at the top of the election list in the Krakow constituency to replace Rokita.
It has been a rollercoaster ride for the Civic Platform party in the first week of the election campaign.
Mid week they announced that former defense minister in the Law and Justice government, Radek Sikorski would be standing for them in the election – a move seen as a great coup for the party.
And now at the end of the week they have lost one of the party’s founding members.
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