The biggest outsider in Poland's parliamentary elections among the political forces that made it to the Sejm turned out to be the far-right party that directly promoted anti-Ukrainian views – Confederation of Freedom and Independence.

There is a heated discussion among Confederation's politicians about the reasons for their defeat. As is often the case in such situations, they have been searching for someone to blame, which may lead to a crisis within the party.

It gives us hope that the party, with its anti-Ukrainian slogans, will forever go to the margins of Polish politics.

Read more in the article of a PhD in political science and international relations expert, Stanyslav Zhelikhovsky: Defeat of Anti-Ukrainians: How Polish Confederation Falling Apart After the Elections.

Confederation is well-known in Ukraine, primarily because its rhetoric and activities have an anti-system, anti-migration, anti-Western, and partly anti-Ukrainian character, making it difficult to distinguish its ideas from Kremlin propaganda.

After Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine, Confederation clearly did not want to side with Kyiv.

Their frontman, Janusz Korwin-Mikke, the founder and leader of the party New Hope/KORWiN, is the most vocal and openly anti-Ukrainian politician.

After the full-scale invasion, Korwin-Mikke, while calling Putin insane, also pointed out, "Change is normal. They are often carried out by force. Countries arise, merge, disintegrate..."

The bloody events of the war did not change his rhetoric.

Pro-Russian and anti-Ukrainian propaganda is also spread by dozens of other activists in Confederation and the parties that are part of it.

The anti-Ukrainian campaign of Confederation gained momentum with the parliamentary elections.

As early as July, opinion polls showed that they were gaining 12% (it was even higher at a certain point). This gave it the prospect of becoming the third-largest political force in the new Sejm.

However, their support gradually began to wane and ultimately received 7.16% of the votes.

Apparently, this could not help but lead to a crisis within the party.

So, Confederation has started its post-election calculations and the search for those to blame. On 18 October, the party's court decided to expell Korwin-Mikke from the Confederation's Council of Leaders and suspend his membership.

According to Rzeczpospolita's editor-in-chief, Bogusław Chrabota, the party, first, started its campaign too early. Secondly, the potential excellent results of Confederation scared its competitors, and they updated their rhetoric.

So, it turns out that Confederation fell victim to its own premature success.

This year's failure puts an end to the party's ambitions to take on leading roles in Polish politics and, in the case of early elections, improve its results, gaining the opportunity to build the coalition themselves.

Searching for the guilty, could lead to a split in Confederation, especially since it never became the sole political force. Its participants were often held together only by the hope of a quick return to power.

Most importantly, despite the current tension in relations between Kyiv and Warsaw, the recent elections have shown that the electorate does not buy anti-Ukrainian slogans.

It gives hope that similar forces will remain on the margins of Polish politics for a long time.