Poland’s far right reinvents itself to stay election-ready

Poland’s far-right political camp has merged two parties in a move widely viewed as an effort to circumvent a court ruling ahead of parliamentary elections in which it could hold decisive influence.

Over the weekend, New Hope (Nowa Nadzieja) formally combined with a newly registered political group called The Empire Strikes Back (Imperium Kontratakuje), as per POLITICO.

Both party names appear to reference the Star Wars film franchise. The merger follows a November decision by a Warsaw court ordering New Hope to be removed from the official register of political parties after it failed to submit its 2024 financial report within the required deadline.

New Hope is led by libertarian politician Sławomir Mentzen and constitutes the core component of Confederation (Konfederacja), a nationalist alliance that has emerged as Poland’s third-largest political force. Confederation currently holds 16 seats in parliament and polls in the low-teens percentage range — enough to influence coalition formation, block legislation and potentially act as a kingmaker in the 2027 parliamentary elections.

Although Mentzen appealed the court’s ruling, his political allies simultaneously prepared a contingency plan. In January, they registered The Empire Strikes Back as an alternative legal vehicle. During a closed-door congress held on Saturday, delegates approved the merger, transferring New Hope’s organisational structures and assets to the newly created party.

Confederation representatives openly acknowledged the strategic nature of the move. “We can say that we outsmarted the system. It’s quite an original solution,” Wojciech Machulski, Confederation spokesperson and head of The Empire Strikes Back, told Polish outlet Zero.pl.

Machulski described the newly merged party as a “technical” mechanism designed to preserve political continuity if the court ultimately upholds the deregistration decision. The organisation is expected to revert to the New Hope name after the process is completed.

With parliamentary elections scheduled for the second half of 2027, polling compiled by POLITICO’s Poll of Polls places Confederation at about 13 per cent support, behind Jarosław Kaczyński’s nationalist Law and Justice party at 26 per cent and Donald Tusk’s governing centre-right Civic Coalition at 34 per cent.

By Tamilla Hasanova