After the outstanding engagement and a record turnout of 74% in the October election in Poland, the preparations for a political revolution started taking place. The Polish president, Andrzej Duda, delayed the process for two months, nominating Mateusz Morawiecki to form a new government, in hope to potentially find a coalition party and save the situation. However, his efforts failed.
As the former Polish Prime Minister, Morawiecki, lost the vote of confidence, his political rival, Donald Tusk, has been appointed the new Prime Minister. He announced his new government programme, in which he stated that he will strive to improve the country’s relation with the European Union, relax the abortion restrictions and continue the support for Ukraine. Although many in the parliament have been celebrating and cheerfully shouting his name, Jarosław Kaczyński took the podium and shouted that Tusk is a German spy, following his usual anti-German and anti-European Union narrative.
As the former Polish Prime Minister, Morawiecki, lost the vote of confidence, his political rival, Donald Tusk, has been appointed the new Prime Minister
Another incident has taken place in the Polish parliament as Grzegorz Braun, a far-right wing member of the Konfederacja party and a member of parliament, has disturbed the ceremony of lighting of the menorah that has been taking place for 17 years because of Hanukkah- a Jewish holiday. He opened a fire extinguisher in an attempt to disturb what he described as an act of ‘satanic worship’. The politician’s outburst is an action condemned by the Western and Polish media and described as anti-Semitic and unacceptable. He has been suspended for six months and his salary has been halved. Grzegorz Braun has been known for his controversial beliefs, such as that Jewish people are trying to overtake Poland or being pro-Russian.
Needless to say, the Polish political scene has been very vibrant recently. It has become a very common habit to watch the parliament meetings online and in cinemas, surprisingly attracting a lot of younger audiences. Many memes have been made about the new speaker of the parliament, Szymon Hołownia, who has remained calm through the most chaotic moments of the parliament meetings and he has been gaining a lot of respect of the audience.
Another spectacular takeover has taken place recently. The state-owned news channel, that has been known for practicing biased journalism for the past eight years, is now being challenged and the parliament has declared to restore the impartiality of the well-known TVP television channel. There have been some protests from the PiS politicians who are now expressing their harsh opinions on revolutionising the main channel, suggesting that Polish media needs to maintain a conservative voice, that would balance out the rival television station TVN. However, according to World Press Freedom Index, under the rule of PiS, Poland dropped from 18th to 57th place. Because of that, the new government swore that they would take care to broadcast impartial and unbiased news.
The parliament has declared to restore the impartiality of the well-known TVP television channel
The past few weeks have been eventful for Poland and the new media revolution has begun. The engagement of young people has been very noticiable in the current political changes and the increased role of social media in politics could pose new challenges and methods of leading political discourse for the years to come.
