2026 Poland 2050 leadership election

The 2026 Poland 2050 leadership election will be held in January 2026 to elect the leader of Poland 2050, with the outgoing leader, Szymon Hołownia, retiring from the position amongst poor performances in elections.

Poland 2050, officially Szymon Hołownia's Poland 2050 (Polish: Polska 2050 Szymona Hołowni), was founded as a political vehicle for Szymon Hołownia's political ambitions following his good performance in the 2020 Polish presidential election, where he gained 13.9% of the vote in the first round. The party surged in popularity quickly — in mid-2021, it reached its all-time high, positioning itself as the second most popular party in many opinion polls at the time, before declining to third place and later hovering above the 5% electoral threshold. Due to its declining performance, it allied itself with the Polish People's Party (PSL) and other small parties to form the centre-right Third Way political alliance. In the 2023 parliamentary election, this alliance amassed 14.4% of the vote. However, the coalition would soon start losing support after becoming part of the Third Cabinet of Donald Tusk. Most critically, Third Way would suffer a major defeat in the 2025 presidential election, where Hołownia, its candidate, would only gain 4.99% of the vote.^[1]

Following this defeat, PSL declared its exit from the Third Way on 17 June.^[2] Hołownia was criticized by liberal election denialists for not preventing the inauguration of the then President-elect, Karol Nawrocki by using his power as Marshal of the Sejm to suspend the inauguration. Later, after a meeting on 4 July with the opposition leader, Jarosław Kaczyński of the Law and Justice party, his own position within the ruling coalition and his own party weakened,^[3] with two posełs leaving the party and becoming independents.^[4][5] By the time of the leadership election, according to many pollsters, Poland 2050 sat below the 5% electoral threshold required to enter the Sejm. Additionally, the party suffered from a large amount of debt accumulated over its existence, with around 11 million PLN of debt accumulated from the 2023 parliamentary and 2025 presidential elections.^[6] Poland 2050's unfavourable election results also contributed to the creation of New Poland, a party with similar ideals to those of Hołownia's party.^[7]

On 27 September, Hołownia announced that he would not participate in the next leadership election, stating that it was the "right moment" to change the party's leader.^[8] He then announced his application for the role of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.^[9]

On 30 September, Poland 2050 recommended Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz to the office of Deputy Prime Minister, narrowly defeating her internal party rival, Paulina Hennig-Kloska, for the nomination in votes at both the party's parliamentary club (16 to 14) and the party's National Council (22 to 19).^[10] The vote solidified the split between members supportive of further cooperation with the government and Prime Minister Donald Tusk, including Hennig-Kloska, and those wanting a confrontational stance that supported Pełczyńska-Nałęcz.^[11]

The party was provisionally chaired by Michał Kobosko in 2020–2022 until Hołownia took chairmanship over his party in 2022,^[12] later being selected as party chairman for a three-year term at the first National Convention of the party on 21 January 2023.^[13]

The election for party leader of Poland 2050 takes place every 3 years,^[14] and is scheduled for 10 January 2026, with a runoff on 12 January in case no candidate gets the support of a majority of delegates.^[15][16] The support signature collection period began on 20 October 2025, and official registrations began on 9 December,^[17] ending on 10 December,^[18][16] with 84 signatures from party members required to register.^[19] The final list of successfully registered candidates was to be released by 13 December,^[16] ultimately it was released on 11 December.^[20]

Only "regular members" of the party are eligible to vote.^[14] According to Newsweek, Poland 2050 has 840 members eligible to vote in the leadership election. The newspaper estimates an approximate turnout of 600.^[21]

Paulina Hennig-Kloska announced her candidacy on 28 November.^[22] Hennig-Kloska began her political career in the party Modern founded by Ryszard Petru, also a contestant in the PL2050's 2026 leadership election. She was elected to the Sejm in 2015 before defecting to Poland 2050 in 2021, becoming one of its representatives before its first contested election in 2023, becoming Minister of Climate and Environment after the election.

Hennig-Kloska is a prominent personality within the party's faction that seeks cooperation with prime minister Donald Tusk. Hennig-Kloska orients her tenets on three pillars — dialogue, economy and nature.^[23] She is critical of Petru's start, stating his ideas are unfit for the party.^[24]

Hennig-Kloska claims to have reached twice the number of necessary support signatures for registration in 48 hours before her announcement, and also stated that she would be conducting a tour of all voivodeships in Poland.^[23]

Rafał Kasprzyk announced his candidacy on 8 December.^[25] He previously served as an activist of the Modern party, much like Hennig-Kloska and Modern's founder, Ryszard Petru, both contestants in the leadership election. He joined Poland 2050 in 2020, getting elected to the Sejm in 2023.

In his announcement, Kasprzyk called for a "new opening" and "rebranding" for the party, rebuilding its credibility and public trust.^[25]

Michał Kobosko declared his candidacy on 22 November.^[a][26] Kobosko was a journalist tied with several newspapers before becoming a part of Szymon Hołownia's 2020 campaign staff. He became a founder of Poland 2050 and its temporary chairman between 2020 and 2022 before the assumption of the position by Hołownia, and was then elected to the Sejm in 2023 and the European Parliament in 2024.

Kobosko is a supporter of presenting Poland 2050 as a "centrist-liberal" party of "liberalism with a human face" — reducing social inequality while supporting entrepreneurs.^[26] Despite desiring to contest the next parliamentary election without any electoral allies, he states his openness to an electoral bloc of the coalition, especially the Civic Coalition and Polish People's Party, against the rise of far-right parties in the country.^[26][27] He describes the situation in Poland 2050 as a "crisis of leadership" and states restoring belief in success and a new party program as his primary goals.^[26]

Joanna Mucha announced her candidacy on 29 October.^[28] Mucha was first elected to the Sejm in 2007 as a part of the Civic Platform, becoming the Minister of Sport and Tourism from 2011 until 2013. She previously ran for party chairman of the Civic Platform in 2019, but withdrew to support Borys Budka. Ultimately, she defected to Poland 2050 in 2021, becoming part of the party's parliamentary representation.^[29]

Mucha desires to strongly present Poland 2050 as a centrist party in between the liberal-conservative Civic Coalition and the right-wing Law and Justice. However, she rejects any coalition with the latter.^[30][31] Mucha is also critical of the party's former alliance with the Polish People's Party,^[32] and opposes forming any electoral blocs for the next parliamentary election.^[33] She seeks to have Poland 2050 to secure a victory matching its result 2 years before (where PL2050 and PSL scored 14.4% together), and for this victory to ensure a continuation of the incumbent coalition.^[34] She seeks to return the party to its "roots" as a "project of the future", orienting the party around climate and digitization issues, such as AI adoption,^[31] and promises to form Poland 2050 into a party that "sees, hears and feels, recognizes and understands the needs of Poles."^[35]

Frontrunner Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz was the third to announce her candidacy, doing so on 21 November.^[36] Pełczyńska-Nałęcz served as the Polish ambassador to Russia in 2014–2016 and later began engaging in politics as a presidential campaign staffer for Szymon Hołownia in the 2020 presidential election. She was then chosen as the Minister of Funds and Regional Policy in 2023. Despite deciding not to run in elections to the Sejm in 2023, she declared her candidacy in the next Sejm election.^[37]

Pełczyńska-Nałęcz is considered a leading figure in the faction of the party seeking confrontation with prime minister Donald Tusk. In her announcement, Pełczyńska-Nałęcz laid out three points: strengthening the party and its structures, presenting the party and its values to the public, and preparing the party for an independent start in the next parliamentary election, without attaching itself to any other parties.^[36] She views the party's electorate as "moderate, balanced, family-oriented, pragmatic" rather than anti-establishment.^[37] She rejects "extreme liberalism" and supports a social market economy.^[38] She supports lowering the tax burden on businessmen, but raising the taxes on big corporations.^[38]

Pełczyńska-Nałęcz is considered a frontrunner in the race.^[39] She is internally supported by outgoing leader Hołownia, although not officially endorsed by him,^[39] but faces opposition from most other candidates in the leadership election,^[40] and it is speculated that her election could result in the splitting off of a large part of the party’s parliamentary representation along factional lines.^[41][42] According to TVN 24, her position among party members decreased since her start in the election.^[43]

On 1 October, Ryszard Petru was the first to declare a start in the leadership election. Petru was the founder of the Modern political party, which entered the Sejm in 2015, although he was ultimately removed from party leadership in 2017, narrowly defeated by Katarzyna Lubnauer. The party, alongside the Polish Initiative and The Greens, was then joined into the Civic Coalition alliance^[b] as a junior partner to the Civic Platform led by Donald Tusk. Petru joined Poland 2050 for the 2023 parliamentary election, returning to the Sejm.

Petru is considered among the most prominent and leading neoliberal members of the party. In his campaign, he promised to strongly stand on the side of businessmen, supporting an austere budget and restriction of welfare programs. He seeks to return the party to attaining "7-10% of the vote" by competing for voters with the far-right Confederation for its economically liberal voters which he deems voted for Poland 2050 in 2023 but defected to the Confederation afterwards,^[44][45] by returning to the "roots" of Poland 2050.^[46]

Despite his name recognition, support for his candidacy among the party rank-and-file was considered low at the start of the campaign,^[47] and he began a tour of local party structures early on.^[17] He voted against Pełczyńska-Nałęcz's candidacy for Deputy Prime Minister,^[46] considering her a left-winger compared to his liberal stances.^[17] Petru submitted his registration for the election on 17 November, with 100 signatures of support.^[48]

On 22 December, Petru presented a proposed composition of the party's management. The proposition included most of his leadership election opponents: Michał Kobosko (first vice-chair), Joanna Mucha (second vice-chair), Rafał Kasprzyk (general secretary), Paulina Hennig-Kloska (member of the management) and Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz (member of the management), and also non-opponent Paweł Śliz (member of the management) aswell as Katarzyna Karpa-Świderek as party spokesperson.^[49]

Bartosz Romowicz registered as a candidate on 10 December, despite not announcing his candidacy beforehand.^[50] Romowicz began his political career in the Polish People's Party (PSL), formerly an electoral partner of Poland 2050 in the Third Way alliance. He was elected as the mayor of Ustrzyki Dolne in 2014, serving until 2023, when he became a member of the Sejm. He ran for a seat in the Sejm in 2011 and the Senate in 2019 on the lists of PSL, failing both bids, before joining Poland 2050 in 2021 and getting elected to the Sejm in 2023.

In an interview for Polskie Radio 24, Romowicz stated that Poland 2050 "[didn't] want to be a party about Szymon Hołownia", but one that "implements its program".^[51]

Media reported Hennig-Kloska, Kobosko, Mucha and Pełczyńska-Nałęcz as candidates for the election. It also speculated about a possible candidacy of Paweł Śliz, the chairman of the Poland 2050 parliamentary club, as a possible candidate for party leader, especially as an ally of Pełczyńska-Nałęcz if she chose not to contest.^[52] Party members and media speculated that incumbent Hołownia could retract his statement refusing to contest the election,^[53] especially considering the slim chances of his United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees application succeeding. However, he ultimately reiterated his intention to step down as the registration period ended.^[54]

In an interview with Fakt, PL2050 posełs Norbert Pietrykowski and Ewa Szymanowska expressed their preferences for Petru and Kobosko, respectively. Most other members favoured Hennig-Kloska, Kobosko or Pełczyńska-Nałęcz.^[55] Party vice-chairman Michał Gramatyka stated that Paweł Śliz was the most fitting candidate for leader,^[18] although he ultimately didn't run. Senator Jacek Trela endorsed Joanna Mucha.^[56] PL2050 parliamentary club leader Paweł Śliz endorsed Pełczyńska-Nałęcz.^[57][39]