The former Transport Minister in the Law and Justice government Jerzy Polaczek confirmed that he stepped out of the party.
According to him, is resignation is a protest against the actions taken by the party towards its former deputy chairmen. “I want, as an independent member of parliament, to represent the voters in a free and unhampered way,” said Polaczek during his press conference.
The three former PiS deputy chairmen Ludwik Dorn, Kazimierz Ujazdowski and Paweł Zalewski were suspended as party members because they called on chairman Kaczyński to change the decision making process within the party; then disciplinary proceedings were conducted against them and they were banned from the party convention; the last two have since resigned from party membership.
”There should be a discussion at the beginning, then a decision and discipline at the end. Not the other way around, as we saw in the past weeks,” said Polaczek and added that he is not urging anyone else to leave, but that some party members from Silesia might decide to do that.
According to the “Polska” daily, even 200 members from Lower Silesia might step out.
Wojciech Starzyński, a councilor from Warsaw, resigned from PiS membership on Friday, because he wanted an internal reform in of the party
Jolanta Szczypińska, a party member loyal to Chairman Kaczyński, commented that Polaczek resigned from opportunistic reasons.