“Civic Platform is neither our sister nor Law and Justice our brother,” says Cezary Przybylski of the Nonpartisan Local Government Representatives

Bartłomiej Kubicz of the Nonpartisan Local Government Representatives, together with Łukasz Koncewicz and Artur Wróblewski, registered a party under the name “Nationwide Local Government Coalition—Yes!For Poland!!” (original spelling). The application was submitted on February 6, 2023, and the court issued a ruling ordering the entry on June 20 (it is not yet legally final).

An uproar erupted on Tuesday. Other opposition local government officials—including the mayors of Wrocław, Poznań and Sopot—who had previously formed the “Local Government Movement YES! For Poland” are outraged.

On Wednesday, Cezary Przybylski, Marshal of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship and leader of the Nonpartisan Local Government Representatives, commented on the situation during a visit to Bolesławiec.

“This was in no way consulted with me. I also learned about it from the press,” said Cezary Przybylski. “On Monday, I am meeting with the new chairman. I absolutely want to make it clear that we are running as the Nonpartisan Local Government Representatives. It is not true—and I do not know what purpose those announcing this have—that we want to use the ‘Yes! For Poland’ label and run in the elections. I believe, and this is actually the case, that the Nonpartisan Local Government Representatives label is much better, a much stronger label, more recognizable and more authentic than ‘Yes! for Poland.’”

Marshal Przybylski also addressed the allegation that the Nonpartisan representatives are simply an appendage of Law and Justice.

“I often repeat what is an obvious truth for us: Civic Platform is neither our sister nor Law and Justice our brother,” Przybylski said.

“We implement our program with anyone who carries out our program—above all, a program for the region and our local homelands, while of course maintaining other priorities. I also cannot imagine the two largest public entities on the political and economic stage—the government and local government—not cooperating with each other,” Przybylski added.

In the opinion of the Marshal of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, if someone accuses the Nonpartisan representatives of cooperating with Law and Justice, “that is probably not normal.” Przybylski declared that the Nonpartisan representatives are striving for Poland to be a normal Poland for everyone.

“At this moment, the two dominant parties have caused such powerful, one might say horrific, polarization of society that I think a great many Poles—a definite majority of Poles—do not agree with it. However, this narrative leads to a situation in which, often against their will, people have to take one side or the other. We do not want that. We want Poland to be for everyone,” Marshal Cezary Przybylski concluded.