At a meeting with Jarosław Kaczyński in September 2013, Adam Lipiński berated local Law and Justice activists. He was dissatisfied that the PiS structures in Bolesławiec consisted of just a dozen or so people. He said there had been splits and disputes here, and that with such limited human resources the party would not win elections. Several PiS supporters sitting in the front rows muttered that Lipiński was distorting reality. But the fact is that PiS has no strength in Bolesławiec, and its electorate is being steadily poached.

This electorate is diverse. These are people who are fed up with the rule of Civic Platform. Some of them call its government the rule of traitors and enemies of the nation. They also include people who regard Lech Kaczyński as Julius Caesar butchered by Russian lackeys and their subordinate Tusk. There are quite a few people fighting for the “purity and normality” of the Polish family. They also include people who dislike the new, democratic reality and need someone to express their disappointment with greater force.

Until recently, all these people were Piotr Roman’s electorate. He parted ways with PiS long ago but has right-wing roots. These were the people drawn to him and directed to the ballot boxes from church pulpits. But this electorate has split, and a radical group has broken away from him, one closer to the views of the far-right Korwin-Mikke. Piotr Roman, a moderate conservative, is no longer enough for them.

Someone else will compete for this group, which marches in nationalist demonstrations and in defense of the Polish family against same-sex relationships: Maciej Małkowski. This candidate recently marched in the “March for Life and Family,” when its participants were handed newspapers containing an interview with the new presidential candidate. On the internet, Małkowski has already presented his position on bad gender. He is more radical in his views than Roman and has an appetite for voters who go to the polls as a matter of duty because they are motivated by the fight against liberal evil in the world.

Piotr Roman will be left with those who are not attracted to fanaticism. He will retain people who want to punish Civic Platform and strip it of power and influence. And if they go to the polls and vote for Roman and his people, then in Bolesławiec they may actually bring Civic Platform’s rule to an end.

Grażyna Hanaf