Poland 2050 party elected Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz as its new chairperson after a second round of voting on January 31.
Election Concluded
Voting in the repeated second round for chairperson of Poland 2050 concluded on Saturday, January 31, after 22:00. Party members chose between two candidates: Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz and Paulina Henning-Kloska. The first round on January 12 saw Pełczyńska-Nałęcz with 277 votes and Henning-Kloska with 131 votes. The second round was invalidated earlier due to voting irregularities.
This time, voting was conducted using a different IT system and approved. Pełczyńska-Nałęcz emerged as the winner.
Hołownia’s Threats
The leadership conflict within Poland 2050 has drawn national attention, making the party a subject of jokes and mockery. Party founder Szymon Hołownia recently warned that decisions by the party’s National Council would lead to its destruction, calling it “programmed self-destruction.”
Hołownia stated the movement is in a “deep crisis” and threatened to leave the party after the elections, potentially taking several MPs with him. RMF FM reported he has around five loyal followers, not the “several dozen” he claimed. The followers include Agnieszka Buczyńska, Adriana Porowska, Bartosz Romowicz, Kamil Wnuk, and Łukasz Osmalak.
It’s widely known that Hołownia preferred Pełczyńska-Nałęcz to win the second round, while Henning-Kloska had received support from all other leadership candidates before the election.
New Chairperson
Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz is a political scientist and Eastern Europe expert who has been associated with Szymon Hołownia’s Poland 2050 movement since 2020. Previously, she served as head of the Polish embassy in Russia and directed the 2050 Strategy Institute.
She became co-chair of the group in 2024 and in 2023 was appointed Minister of Funds and Regional Policy in Donald Tusk’s third government.
