(Left to right) Bogdan Borusewicz, Bronisław Komorowski and Grzegorz Schetyna all held presidential powers on the day of transition in early July Courtesy of Łukasz Kamiński/Sejm

Grzegorz Schetyna has been elected as the new speaker of the Sejm, Poland’s lower house of Parliament. He succeeds Bronisław Komorowski, who was elected president at the beginning of July.

Mr Schetyna, a Civic Platform (PO) member who until recently had headed his party’s parliamentary club, received 277 votes in his favor, while 121 MPs voted against him and 16 abstained. Jerzy Wenderlich of the Democratic Left Alliance was elected deputy speaker.
“It is no accident that his favorite movies are ‘Gladiator’ and ‘Shrek’ – he has the best qualities of those characters,” enthused PM Donald Tusk about his party colleague before the vote.

While Mr Schetyna’s supporters describe him as a competent organizer, his opponents call him obstinate and Mr Tusk’s “shadow.”

Mr Schetyna is one of PO’s most prominent politicians. He had previously held the positions of deputy PM and interior minister in Donald Tusk’s government, but was forced to step down after allegations of his involvement in the gambling law scandal surfaced last October.

He therefore raised some eyebrows when he recently said he was against parliamentary investigative commissions and that the Public Prosecutor’s Office should take over some of the commissions’ activities. One of the commissions is currently investigating the gambling scandal.

“It is in Schetyna’s direct interest, as one of the people in the background of the scandal, that the commission stops functioning,” said Andrzej Dera, a newly appointed gambling commission member from PiS.

Three presidents in one day

In the hours-long interim between Mr Komorowski giving up his post as Sejm speaker – and thus as acting president – and Mr Schetyna taking up the post, Senate Speaker Bogdan Borusewicz took over as acting president. This created a unique situation for Poland, as the president’s powers passed through three people in a single day.

As a result, Mr Komorowski is currently neither acting president, nor speaker of the Sejm. He is due to be sworn in as president at the beginning of August.

PO re-shuffle

Now that Mr Schetyna is Sejm Speaker, the position at the head of PO’s parliamentary club will also have to be filled. Deputy head of the parliamentary club, Rafał Grupiński, and MP Sławomir Rybicki are the two most likely candidates to take up the mantle, according to voices from within the party.

“I think that Rafał Grupiński and Sławomir Rybicki are natural candidates to head the club,” Andrzej Halicki, PO’s spokesperson, told Gazeta Wyborcza.

The position of head of the parliamentary club is deemed a bellwether for the aspirations, leanings and divisions within PO.