Founded in 2001, the right-wing populist Law and Justice party in Poland is the largest in the parliament, having won 39% of the vote in the 2015 parliamentary elections. Since then, they have restricted public gatherings, tightened their grip on the media and changed the way the top court was to function, making almost impossible for it to overturn new legislation - despite criticism from the European Union and former U.S. President Barack Obama.
The party’s agenda is dominated by nationalism, conservatism and mild euroscepticism, and they have promised to take back national control of the country’s affairs and realign the government with traditional conservative values. After a year in power the leader, Kaczyński’s plan seems to be working: they established control over immigration and they have a 3.5 point lead in the polls.
