Poland, Constitutional Tribunal meets with no agreement on leadership

On November 3rd, 2026, the general assembly of judges of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal is convened, on a day that comes at the height of an institutional clash over control of the body. According to the radio broadcaster RMF24, all the judges elected by the Sejm during 2026 are reported present in the Tribunal’s building, a sign that neither of the conflicting parties has given up control of the premises.

The newspaper Rzeczpospolita reconstructs the steps that led to the current situation. Bogdan Święczkowski, who heads the Tribunal, has ordered non-working days for the institution’s staff from November 3rd to 6th, with pay nonetheless guaranteed to employees. During the same period, however, Anna Korwin-Piotrowska has convened the general assembly of judges for November 3rd: two initiatives that, in practice, move along opposite tracks within the same building.

Święczkowski’s order and Korwin-Piotrowska’s convening represent two lines of command that overlap without coordinating: on one hand the president orders the suspension of ordinary activity, on the other a group of judges proceeds anyway with their own institutional meetings, such as the one set for today.

The composition of the body helps to understand the scope of the clash. The digital outlet Dziennik.pl reports that the Sejm, the lower chamber of the Polish parliament, elected eight judges to the Constitutional Tribunal during 2026: a number that signals how extensive the renewal of the body has been over the past year, and how much the contest over its control involves a substantial share of its members.

The situation described by RMF24 — all elected judges present on the same day in the same building, while the leadership declares the week non-working — depicts a standoff that is now being measured in the realm of convening notices and administrative orders, rather than in that of hearings. It is not clear, from the records circulated so far, whether the general assembly convened by Korwin-Piotrowska actually took place with the participation of all those present in the building, nor whether Święczkowski’s orders found practical application.

What remains is that, as of November 3rd, the Polish Constitutional Tribunal is operating with two opposing initiatives overlapping within the same building: on one side Święczkowski’s order on non-working days, on the other Korwin-Piotrowska’s convening of the general assembly. The composition of the body, expanded by eight members over the course of the year according to Dziennik.pl, remains the underlying fact from which any attempt to resolve the clash will have to start.