Poland’s government may seek to bar opponents from politics

JAROSLAW KACZYNSKI, the chairman of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party (PiS), is not a fun-loving type. Otherwise the curmudgeonly godfather of Polish politics might enjoy the irony of passing a law supposedly intended to purge the country of Russian influence, but which has distinctly Stalinist overtones. The law, which hands PiS a cudgel it could easily misuse to bash or ban its opponents, comes into force just months before an election in which Polish voters will pronounce judgment on his party’s eight years in office.