He promised salvation for a country “in ruins” — an end to immigration, a civil service stripped of entrenched left-wing opponents, a judiciary purged of meddlesome judges and a news media giving voice to the people instead of elites.
Those campaign pledges — similar to ones made by Donald J. Trump during his successful bid for a second term as U.S. president — helped bring Jaroslaw Kaczynski and his nationalist Law and Justice party to power in Poland in 2015.
More than a year after an election that ended that party’s eight-year rule, its liberal successors are still struggling to undo the “new state apparatus” that Mr. Kaczynski helped put in place and that legal experts say seriously damaged Poland’s legal system.
Unwinding the legacy of populist conservative rule “takes longer than you expect,” said Adam Bodnar, the justice minister at the forefront of the new government’s efforts to reverse Poland’s retreat from liberal democracy under Law and Justice.
Persons:
Donald J, Trump, —, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Kaczynski, “, ”, Adam Bodnar
Organizations:
Justice, Law
Locations:
Poland