Korwin-Mikke ousted as leader of New Right
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
07.01.2015 11:34
Maverick MEP Janusz Korwin-Mikke has been dethroned as the leader of fringe party the Congress of the New Right amid revelations he recently fathered two children out of wedlock.
Janusz Korwin-Mikke. Photo: PAP/Grzegorz Michalowski
''Most of us [party-members] are old conservatives, so we were shocked and disgusted,'' commented Korwin-Mikke's successor Michal Marusik.
Korwin-Mikke often sparked controversy with his forthright opinions, claiming that women are less intelligent than men and denigrating the Paralympics.
Following his election to the European Parliament in 2014, he caused outrage by referring to ''niggers'' in a speech about unemployment.
The Congress of the New Right currently has just one seat in Poland's lower house of parliament, and 4 seats in the European Parliament.
Successor a keen monarchist
Successor Michal Marusik, himself an MEP since May 2014, is a veteran of the Solidarity trade union and a member of Poland's Conservative-Monarchist Club since 1994.
M. Marusik. Photo: wikipedia
He has regularly spoken of the necessity to revive Poland's monarchy, although the last Polish king was elected 250 years ago in 1764.
King Stanislaw II August (born Stanislaw Poniatowski) was forced to abdicate in 1795, with Poland divided between Russia, Prussia and Austria.
Marusik has argued that Poland needs a monarchy so that ''the government does not oppress us.''
Various members of Poland's aristocratic families have been touted as candidates for the throne by the Conservative-Monarchist Club over the years, but the monarchist movement remains modest in size. (nh)