Tusk names Łukasz Pabiś commissioner of Częstochowa after voters recall mayor and council

Voters recall the mayor and council

On 25 October 2026 residents of Częstochowa voted in a referendum that removed the city's president, Krzysztof Matyjaszczyk of the Left, along with the entire city council. Turnout cleared the validity thresholds, at 32.77% on the question about the president and 32.76% on the question about the council. The sources give different approval shares, with one report putting the recall vote at 96% and another at 96.97%. Matyjaszczyk has not been able to perform his duties since 25 February, when prosecutors imposed a ban covering his office, the city hall building and contact with staff.

President question32.77%

Council question32.76%

President question

32.77 %

Council question

32.76 %

Data from the article text

Corruption charges behind the vote

Matyjaszczyk was detained by the Central Anticorruption Bureau (CBA) and charged with accepting bribes in return for budget changes benefiting specific businesses. Prosecutors have charged more than 20 people in the same investigation, including a former deputy mayor from the Civic Coalition and several local councillors. Matyjaszczyk says he is innocent and that he has fallen victim to defamation, and he agreed to have his name published. The initiators of the referendum cited his inability to carry out his duties as the main reason for the recall. Those charges have not produced a verdict, and the articles report no conviction.

Tusk names Łukasz Pabiś commissioner

Prime Minister Donald Tusk chose Łukasz Pabiś, born in 1988, to take over the city as commissioner. Pabiś has been deputy mayor since May 2024, representing the Civic Coalition in the ruling coalition with the New Left, and he was responsible for education, architectural and construction administration, and spatial planning. Between 2007 and 2019 he worked in the parliamentary office of Izabela Leszczyna, a key Civic Coalition politician, first as an assistant and later as office director. As commissioner he will hold the powers of both the president and the council, including preparing the 2027 budget and then approving it. The nomination is to be handed over at city hall on Thursday, 5 November, before noon, by the Silesian voivode, named as Marek Wójcik in one report. The conservative outlet wPolityce.pl argued that the appointment disregarded the verdict of the voters.

What happens until the next election

Early elections must be held within 90 days of the publication of the referendum result, and the prime minister will set the date. The commissioner's mandate ends once the newly elected president takes the oath and the newly elected council begins its work. Until then, a single appointed official will make decisions that voters had previously divided between a mayor and councillors. The articles do not give an election date, so the timing of the handover remains open. Matyjaszczyk's denial of the charges also remains untested in court.