Law and Justice Party

People take a selfie with rainbow Pride flags before the start of the Equality Parade in Warsaw, Poland, in June 2023. The Equality Parade was celebrated under the slogan "We predict equality and beauty!"

World News

After years of legal discrimination, Poland's same-sex couples await civil union law

4:55pm March 08, 2024

by Rob Schmitz

The new government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk has promised to introduce legislation that would legalize civil unions in Poland, one of the few nations in Europe that doesn't recognize them.

Donald Tusk (center), then in the opposition, marches with Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski (left) and former President Lech Walesa (right) in a protest last year organized by Civil Platform, the coalition of political parties now running Poland's government.

World News

Poland's judiciary was a tool of its government. New leaders are trying to undo that

12:16pm February 26, 2024

by Rob Schmitz

Poland's far-right Law and Justice party spent eight years stacking the courts with allies, destroying the judiciary's independence. The new government is finding it's tough to undo the damage.

Supporters of the outgoing Law and Justice party protest outside the headquarters of Poland's state-owned TVP broadcaster after the new government took control last December.

World News

Poland's new government deprograms its once far-right public media

5:10am February 19, 2024

by Rob Schmitz

Under Poland's Law and Justice party, the country's public broadcaster was turned into a propaganda tool for the far-right government to use as it wished. That era has come to an end.

Hubert Sobecki is a spokesperson for Love Does Not Exclude, an association that represents Poland's LGBTQ+ community. Sobecki says while he's encouraged that Polish voters have rejected the ruling right-wing Law and Justice party, he's not convinced that Donald Tusk's Civic Coalition represents a big change for the LGBTQ+ community in Poland.

World News

As Europe applauds Poland's election results, civil rights groups prepare to fight

5:30pm October 21, 2023

by Rob Schmitz

LGBTQ+ and abortion rights advocates are thrilled Poland's ruling, right-wing Law and Justice party is unlikely to form Poland's next government. But they are skeptical of the commitment of who will.

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Presidential candidate and Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski flashes a victory sign at the end of election day in Warsaw.

World News

Poland's Nationalist President Narrowly Wins Reelection

8:39am July 13, 2020

by Mark Katkov

President Andrzej Duda's victory further empowers Poland's ruling Law and Justice party, which has worked to weaken the country's independent judiciary and free press.

Polish Supreme Court Justice Malgorzata Gersdorf (foreground) attends a demonstration in Warsaw Tuesday protesting the removal of Supreme Court judges because of a new law lowering their mandatory retirement age to 65. The legislation means 27 of 72 judge

Poland's Government Forcing Supreme Court Justices To Step Down

8:44pm July 03, 2018

by Vanessa Romo

Justices, including the highest-ranking member of the court, have united in defiance of a new law that would force nearly 40 percent of the court's judges into early retirement.