Capturing the centre-ground of Polish politics

I couldn't see any threads on the recent European election results or discussion about who might win the next general elections in Poland and how.

Law and Justice lost again. Their supporters might argue that they didn't lose by much but in European elections I think you'd expect the opposition to win fairly easily, especially against a party who's been in government for seven years (a very long time in Polish politics).

We could compare the situation with the Labour party in Britain in the early 1990s - I would argue that PiS need to abandon the "one more heave" approach and try to win over voters from the centre-ground.. but how? What kind of policy emphasis would win them the election?

Another problem they might have is that it's very difficult to see who they'd go into coalition with after the election bearing in mind they don't just need to beat PO, they probably need to beat a fairly formidable combination of PO and the SLD.

Also, what would happen if they lost again? Would Jarosław Kaczyński step down from the leadership and if so who would take his place?

"Would Jarosław Kaczyński step down from the leadership"
Only with the assistance of a size 45 boot placed firmly in the small of his back, which is what should have happened last time he got trounced. PiS will never win a General Election with this man as leader.

If he does, I would wonder if PiS continues to exist. It is unlikely to, in my view, without JK.

The British political scene is different than Polish. Our parties except the SLD and the PSL are still ephemeral. If Poland did not loose independence in the 18th century, we would have most propably a similar dual-party system just as basically the UK has at present. Our parties would have been deeply rooted in the past and firmly established for a long time. One of them would have certainly arisen from the the "Society of Friends of the Constitution" formed in May 1791, shortly after the adoption of the Constitution of May 3, the other would have been formed by their opponents and would most certainly adopt the word "republican" in its name.

We would have also had a constitutional monarchy which, similarly to the British one, would be taking its origin from a German House, here the House of Wettins (member of this House was named by the Constitution of May 3 as hereditary King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania). But, as history took a different course, we have neither of these and all our parties are subject to change, defragmentation or split as it happened in the near past with AWS (Akcja Wyborcza Solidarność) or KDL (Kongres Liberalno-Demokratyczny).

The party would probably die a death. It has an aging electoral base, some undesirable characters in its ranks and the public against it.