WARSAW, Nov. 12 (Reuters) - Poland's main opposition party, the conservative-nationalistic Law and Justice (PiS), lost its third lawmaker in a month on Friday in a sign of a deepening row in the party ahead of Nov. 21 elections.
Jan Oldakowski left the PiS parliamentary group, the party’s spokesman Mariusz Blaszczak was reported as saying, just one week after PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski expelled two moderate deputies accusing them of disloyalty.
The row between the hardline wing of PiS and its moderate faction could deepen further with more moderate politicians thought to be considering leaving the party.
"PiS is clearly distancing itself from the more moderate conservative electorate and it will definitely see its support fall further," said Jacek Kucharczyk, head of the Warsaw based think-tank Institute of Public Affairs. "In this case, PiS will not be able to win more than, let’s say, 20 percent (of votes)."
PiS support has reached as high as 35 percent in some polls, but it has already slipped several points since the June-July presidential election in which Kaczynski won surprisingly high support of 47 percent in loosing to Bronislaw Komorowski, candidate of Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s ruling centrists.
"I have doubt (if there is room)…to build a fresh party between PO and PiS, but PO will definitely attract some of the voters PiS is dismissing. The leftist opposition is also likely to benefit from this turmoil," Kucharczyk said.
Surveys show a growing number of Poles back the leftist opposition Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) and analysts say it is likely to be confirmed in the looming polls.
Tusk’s Civic Platform (PO) enjoys a roughly stable and high support of 40-50 percent in various surveys ahead of the municipal elections on Nov. 21 and Dec. 5 and parliamentary elections due late next year.
In the past, Tusk has not ruled out a coalition with the SLD in the next parliament.
