Anger after closed meeting of Polish parliamentary group broadcast live

A closed meeting of The Left’s (Lewica) parliamentary caucus was broadcast live on parliament’s TV service, making it possible for outsiders to watch. During the meeting, the group’s MPs had been discussing strategy on issues such as upcoming votes on bills to liberalise the abortion law.

Politicians from The Left have reacted angrily to the unprecedented incident, demanding an urgent investigation. The episode also comes amid recent tensions between the group and its partners in the ruling coalition, including over the issue of abortion.

News website Wirtualna Polska first reported on Wednesday morning that the closed session had been shown on parliament’s internal broadcasting serving, meaning that MPs from other parties were able to watch it live.

Klub @__Lewica dyskutował na sali sejmowej gdzie włączono transmisję. Zapis audio-wideo. Nagranie można było sobie obejrzeć. Omawiali sprawy polityczne.

Dobra rada: może lepiej spotykać się w miejscach bez takich instalacji, których się nie kontroluje? https://t.co/0QPzJa2fPR pic.twitter.com/MPcOjcE2eV

— Łukasz Olejnik, 🥐☕️ (@prywatnik) April 10, 2024

“It turned out that our discussions were televised, discussions for which we should have confidentiality…concerning the political strategy of The Left,” said the head of the caucus, Anna Maria Żukowska, quoted by the Rzeczpospolita daily. “Such things should not happen. We are in the process of clarification”.

She stressed that the issue would have had even more serious implications if, for example, a closed session of parliament during which national security issues were being discussed was broadcast.

Żukowska added that she had accepted an apology from Jacek Cichocki, head of the chancellery of the Sejm, the lower house of parliament. But she said she was not satisfied with his explanation that the situation was a “technical mistake”.

Cichocki himself confirmed that “there was indeed a very unfortunate incident”. He said that it had happened because technicians had mistakently turned on a feed from the room “for a moment”, reports broadcaster TVN.

Sejmowa TV transmitowała zamknięte obrady klubu @__Lewica. 🤯 To przecież uderza w powagę Sejmu i podstawowe zaufanie do tej instytucji. Marszałek @szymon_holownia powinien podjąć niezwłocznie działania odbudowujące zaufanie do prowadzonej przez siebie Izby!

— Maciej Gdula (@m_gdula) April 10, 2024

The incident certainly “does not increase trust” with coalition partners, said Żukowska. The speaker of the Sejm is Szymon Hołownia, one of the leaders of the centre-right Third Way (Trzecia Droga), which like The Left is part of the governing coalition.

The two groups have recently been at odds over the issue of abortion, with The Left pushing for the introduction of abortion on demand but the more conservative Third Way unwilling to support this.

Since last Sunday’s local elections, there have also been reports that Third Way is seeking to renegotiate the government’s coalition agreement in light of The Left’s decline in support this last October’s parliamentary elections.

The left and centre-right wings of the ruling coalition have clashed over the speaker of parliament’s decision to delay bills that would end Poland’s near-total abortion ban.

He says they should not be debated amid the campaign for April’s local elections https://t.co/GAv3YWrvwG

— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) March 6, 2024

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Main image credit: Klub Lewicy/Flickr (under public domain)

Agata Pyka is an assistant editor at Notes from Poland. She is a journalist and a political communication student at the University of Amsterdam. She specialises in Polish and European politics as well as investigative journalism and has previously written for Euractiv and The European Correspondent.