The October 15 legislative elections in Poland look set to be tight for the ultra-conservative Law and Justice Party (PiS), in power since 2015, as an even more right-wing political formation could well prevent the outgoing government from forming a new majority. "We are going into these elections with a view to shaking up the status quo. We're the only ones presenting a platform that benefits Poles, not Eurocrats," Krzysztof Bosak, co-leader of the far-right Konfederacja alliance, said on stage at his party's congress in Katowice, southern Poland, on Saturday, September 23.

The goody-two-shoes-looking MP said angrily: "We don't want any European treaty that takes even one thing from Warsaw and transfers it to Brussels." Cue prolonged applause. He continued: "We don't want multi-culturalism, we want Poland to be Poland." Those on stage in the flying saucer-shaped sports arena were jubilant, applauding, in a gathering that had the trappings of a sound and light show, complete with pyrotechnics.

Most of the seats were filled with young men aged between 16 and 40, wearing suits and shirts but no ties. These Poles are resolutely attracted by the economic policies of this heterogeneous anti-system movement, which ranges from libertarians to nationalists to monarchists. Konfederacja promises to simplify and lower taxes, especially for entrepreneurs, and plans to open up the public healthcare system to competition.

This electoral alliance wants to limit Poland's benefits system and is opposed to raising family allowances from 500 zlotys (€109) to 800 zlotys (€173), a PiS campaign promise. Konfederacja claims to be "pro-Polish," defending the interests of Poles against Ukraine, which it sees as ungrateful, flooding the Polish agricultural market and ruining its farmers. Konfederacja's leaders, opposed to the legalization of abortion, accuse the European Union (EU) of drifting away from the original project towards federalism and the protection of LGBTQ+ rights. During the pandemic, they were extremely critical of vaccines and described lockdowns as "sanitary segregation."

"The EU's ban on combustion-engine cars by 2035 is not good for Poland," said Kamil Gabriel Janic, 21, who is running on the Konfederacja list in Jelenia Gora, in the southwest of the country. "Warsaw has less and less authority," said the young man, who does not, however, wish to leave the EU. In Katowice, some are candidates in the elections, others activists, and others are just curious onlookers who have come because they want to be in a better position to make the right choice on October 15, when Poland elects a new Parliament and Senate. All refuse the label "far-right."

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