Parliament of Poland

Tusk's announcement is important because it means the liberal opposition has received support from maverick politician Pawel Kukiz, whose four MPs are currently key to PiS maintaining its parliamentary majority. To support the opposition request, Kukiz has asked for the commission to have a broader remit, investigating surveillance under several governments, including Civic Platform ones.

Gowin, go lose

On the eve of the adoption of the most controversial act of the current Sejm (elected in 2019 for the term until 2023), Poland's three-party coalition broke apart.

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Speaker's corner

The opposition held its breath until the last minute on Tuesday evening to see whether its candidate, Tomasz Grodzki, would get the speaker seat in the Senate.

The centrist Civic Coalition got 27.4 per cent while the left-wing Lewica alliance scored 12.6 per cent. Next came the PSL-Kukiz'15 alliance of agrarians and populists with 8.6 per cent and the far-right Confederation with 6.8 per cent.

Deputies from the Polish opposition have ended the blockade of the Sejm which started four months ago due to the restricted access of the media to the work of Parliament.

The chairman of the liberal Civic Platform Grzegorz Shetina, however, announced that the opposition remains ready to continue the protests.

Polish President Andrzej Duda on Dec. 19 announced that the governing conservatives have scrapped controversial proposals to restrict media access in parliament that had set off an opposition outcry and street demonstrations.

Following protests by tens of thousands of women, Polish lawmakers on Oct. 6 rejected plans for a near-total ban on abortion, in a hastily arranged vote that marks the first major domestic setback for the conservative government. 

Lech Walesa, a national hero 26 years ago for his role in ending Communist rule in Poland as the leader of Solidarity, has little political power in the country today, but he still has his voice. Last week he raised it, to condemn the new Polish government that emerged from last October's election.