Who runs Bolesławiec’s PSL? The hospital director. But is it legal?

In June 2019, Kamil Barczyk was appointed director of the county hospital in Bolesławiec. Since then, the director has also been developing his political career in the city of ceramics. In 2023, he ran for the Senate from the Non-Party Local Government Members’ list. And in March 2024, as a PSL (Third Way) candidate, he won nearly 9,000 votes and became a councillor of the Lower Silesian Regional Assembly.

“Since June 2024, I have been the head of the PSL county club in Bolesławiec,” says Kamil Barczyk. “As a relatively young organisation, we are building new structures and a new organisation. This information probably has not reached anyone yet,” the PSL leader told istotne.pl.

The PSL office in Wrocław confirmed the information, but we did not receive an answer to the question of when the previous chairman, Mateusz Mikołajewicz, was dismissed as head of the Bolesławiec PSL structures.

“If the chairman was replaced, there would have had to be a meeting of members from the entire county,” says Mateusz Mikołajewicz. “I have not heard that such a meeting took place. No one informed me or my friends from the PSL about such a meeting. I was not informed that my PSL membership had been suspended, but since the local elections I have not participated in any activities of this party either,” Mikołajewicz says.

In Bolesławiec County, the PSL consisted of several local branches with around 30 members. This was the situation until the elections in March 2024. A branch of around 10 people in the municipality and city of Bolesławiec, a branch of around 8 people in Nowogrodziec, Osiecznica, where a young organisation of around 10 people operated, and one person from the Warta Bolesławiecka municipality.

We asked Kamil Barczyk who elected him chairman of the Bolesławiec PSL structures. Did members of the PSL from the municipality and city of Bolesławiec and from the municipalities of Nowogrodziec, Osiecznica and Warta Bolesławiecka have any say in this election? When was this decision made, and what happened to the previous chairman, Mateusz Mikołajewicz?

“I was unanimously elected chairman of the Bolesławiec PSL structures in June 2024, in accordance with the provisions of the statute of the Polish People’s Party,” Kamil Barczyk replied. “The meeting was convened by the plenipotentiary of the regional board. In accordance with the resolution adopted during the meeting, Mr Mateusz Mikołajewicz is no longer chairman of the Bolesławiec PSL structures,” Barczyk added.

Paweł Gancarz, whom we also asked who elected Kamil Barczyk as head of the Bolesławiec PSL, replied… that the plenipotentiary appointed by the Regional Board is Mieczysław Zatylny.

“We elected the new, reliable and dynamic chairman before the local elections (that is, before April 2024 – ed.),” says Mieczysław Zatylny. “At present, he is assembling an increasingly larger group of people. We are taking action to expand the structures and revitalise the PSL, which is why a young person was elected. The group of PSL members from Osiecznica did not participate in Kamil Barczyk’s election,” Zatylny adds.

When asked again whether Kamil Barczyk had in fact not been elected head of the PSL until June 2024, Mieczysław Zatylny strongly denied this and confirmed that the election had taken place before the April local elections.

In a conversation with an informant who is well acquainted with the local PSL structures, we learned that there was a division in Bolesławiec between members who supported and opposed Kamil Barczyk’s candidacy because they considered him a representative of the Non-Party Local Government Members and Piotr Roman. This faction was reportedly represented by PSL members from Osiecznica. This would be confirmed by Mieczysław Zatylny’s information that Osiecznica did not participate in the vote on Barczyk. According to the informant, Kamil Barczyk was not a member of the Bolesławiec PSL structure before the 2024 elections.

“If some PSL members from Bolesławiec County were unable to participate in the body that elected the county board, this decision could be questioned,” Mateusz Mikołajewicz comments. “Nevertheless, if a party with a history of more than a hundred years elects random people unrelated to its community as its chairmen—in this case, I mean the community of the agrarian movement—then this is rather the party’s downfall. Such an ‘electoral tactic’ is very harmful. It is a tactic aimed at strengthening the position of particular people rather than creating genuine social strength,” adds the former head of the agrarian movement in Bolesławiec County.