Political crisis turns into open conflict in Poland – A restoration of the rule of law or a coup d'état?

Pic.: publics

President Karol Nawrocki's refusal to swear in judges elected by parliament, triggered a dramatic showdown in front of the country's constitutional court on Friday. With legislative elections a year away, no compromise appears in sight, Le Monde writes.

The crisis that erupted on the night of Friday, October 30, surrounding Poland's Constitutional Tribunal in Warsaw drew starkly different interpretations from rival political camps in a country more divided than ever. The sudden escalation began in the late afternoon, when one of the tribunal's judges, Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, announced the suspension of the institution's president, Bogdan Swieczkowski, and its vice president, Bartlomiej Sochanski. She also asserted her right to take over as president of the court, citing her seniority in the judiciary.

Soon after, Justice Minister Waldemar Zurek, who also serves as prosecutor general, announced at a press conference that he had requested the lifting of both judges' immunity, opening the door to criminal proceedings. "This tribunal has become private property. We must restore its proper functioning," he said.

Protesters immediately gathered around the court's headquarters, soon joined by figures from the right-wing and far-right opposition to Donald Tusk's centrist government. Police quickly repelled attempts to force entry into the building, but tensions remained high. Chairs and bottles were thrown at officers. Meanwhile, incendiary statements from political leaders multiplied in front of the institution and on social media.

'Gang of thugs'

Former Polish president Andrzej Duda (2015-2025) and a member of the Law and Justice (PiS) party wrote: "Mr. Tusk and his men (…) have today shown themselves to be a gang of thugs." PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski described the situation as a "coup d'état," adding: "This is a world first. As of today, Poland has become a police state, and from there, the road leads straight to authoritarianism, then totalitarianism." Conversely, Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski declared: "The Constitutional Tribunal is back in the hands of the sovereign [people]! The rule of law is restored in Poland, and the Constitution must be respected!" Prime Minister Donald Tusk echoed this view earlier in the evening: "Restoring the rule of law is our duty. After years of illegality under PiS, this is a difficult, sometimes painful process that requires decisive action. There is no other way."

Poland's Constitutional Tribunal has long been at the center of accusations of illiberalism leveled against PiS, which governed from 2015 to 2023. The appointment of politicized judges whose independence was called into question, along with rulings and court decisions that conflicted with EU law, turned the court into a symbol of PiS's break with the rule of law and the source of repeated conflicts between Poland and the European Union. Since becoming prime minister in December 2023, Tusk has sought to resolve the issue. His parliamentary majority in the Sejm, Poland's lower house, has elected eight new judges to the tribunal.

However, these appointments can take effect only if the president swears in the judges. But nationalist Karol Nawrocki, elected in June 2025 with PiS support, has refused to accept the oaths of five of the new judges, turning what many constitutional scholars saw as a formality into a veto. The new judges have nevertheless proceeded, taking their oaths in his absence, while declaring they did so "before the president." The Venice Commission, an advisory body of the Council of Europe, deemed this procedure valid in an opinion published on October 13.

Spotlight on the president

Although the legal proceedings target two judges, the political spotlight is on Nawrocki, whose decisions played a key role in triggering the crisis. On Friday evening, he was on a flight to Senegal for an official visit. Upon learning that a crisis had erupted, he decided to return to Poland, landing shortly before 10 pm and heading to the presidential palace. There, he received Swieczkowski and Zbigniew Kapinski, the first president of the Supreme Court, who had just condemned the suspension decision.

Meanwhile, Judge Korwin-Piotrowska had suggested a meeting at the presidential palace with Nawrocki, but opposed his visit to the Constitutional Tribunal for security reasons. The president refused to follow this advice. Shortly before 1 am, he arrived at the tribunal's headquarters and forced his way to the building's entrance. Witnesses accused him of shoving Korwin-Piotrowska, while the president's spokesperson claimed it was the judges gathered around her who endangered Nawrocki's physical safety by blocking his way. In a recording, Nawrocki can be heard telling these judges: "You are not judges of the Constitutional Tribunal."

Whatever the precise nature of the scuffle, which remains unclear, this statement underscores just how much the situation has escalated, with both sides entrenched and no compromise in sight. By adding open confrontation to a long-running crisis and raising fears that protesters might storm the Constitutional Tribunal, Friday night further deepened divisions in an already highly polarized Polish society. With legislative elections a year away, which could see PiS return to power, the political debate now resembles a civil war.

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