Poland’s far right stages ‘Star Wars’ merger to dodge deregistration ahead of 2027 vote

Politico Europe · Feb 23, 2026 · Collected from RSS

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Mentzen had appealed the November court ruling, but rather than wait for the process to play out, his allies registered The Empire Strikes Back in January as a Plan B. At a closed-door congress on Saturday, delegates voted to merge the two entities, transferring New Hope’s structures and assets to the new party. Confederation officials have been blunt about their aims. “We can say that we outsmarted the system. It’s quite an original solution,” Wojciech Machulski, Confederation spokesperson and head of The Empire Strikes Back, told Polish outlet Zero.pl. Machulski described the new party as a “technical” solution to ensure continuity if the court decision is upheld. The merged entity is expected to revert to the name New Hope. With elections due in the second half of 2027, Confederation is polling at 13 percent, trailing Jarosław Kaczyński’s opposition nationalist Law and Justice (26 percent) and Donald Tusk’s ruling center-right Civic Coalition (34 percent), according to POLITICO’s Poll of Polls.