Five members the Left parliamentary club have decided to leave the alliance and launch a Polish Socialist Party parliamentary circle. The group includes Deputy Speaker of the Senate Gabriela Morawska-Stanecka, senator Wojciech Konieczny, as well as MPs Joanna Senyszyn, Robert Kwiatkowski and Andrzej Rozenek.
The current chairman of Polish Socialist Party, senator Wojciech Konieczny, has become chief of the circle. Joanna Senyszyn and Andrzej Rozenek have joined the party, while Gabriela Morawska-Stanecka and Robert Kwiatkowski have remained unaffiliated with any party.
The circle members declare their willingness to cooperate with the opposition, and with left-wing politicians both sitting in the parliament, as well those outside.
As a result of Morawska-Stanecka and Konieczny's departure, the Left alliance has lost its only two senators, as well as a seat of deputy speaker of the upper house.
Conflict with chairman Czarzasty
In recent months, the media have been reporting about a conflict that broke out between chairman of the New Left party Włodzimierz Czarzasty and Rozenek and Morawska-Stanecka. In September, part of the Left MPs signed a request to discipline Rozenek for his media comments, in which he was criticising the party leadership for holding "secret negotiations" with the ruling PiS party regarding ratification of the recovery fund. At the time Rozenek was facing being removed from the club.
In May, "Gazeta Wyborcza" published an interview with Morawska-Stanecka in which she spoke about a telephone call she had with Czarzasty. She claimed he had warned her to stop "going to media" or he would "get rid of her". She added that "verbal attacks" had happened on more occassions. "I thought that another boundary has been crossed and I decided to act. I did everything by the book - I reported the issue to the club presidium and addressed the chairman in writing" - Morawska-Stanecka told "GW".
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, PAP