From the outside, Poland may seem to be in turmoil, its democracy at risk of being derailed by a palace farce, a far-right fightback or both. Two fugitive politicians, who served as ministers in the recently ousted rightwing government, were arrested earlier this month after seeking refuge in the presidential palace. The president, Andrzej Duda, thought he could grant them asylum – but as it turned out, his personal security detachment was loyal not to him but to the new government, and facilitated the arrest warrant. The former ministers went to prison, but after a fortnight of standoff, the president this week granted them a pardon.
Why couldn’t he have done it sooner? Well, that’s a long story.
