The Polish lower house, the Sejm, passed the Constitution Tribunal Bill in a late vote on Thursday night. 

268 MPs voted in favour of the bill in the 460 seat house. It is the first major change implemented by the newly elected Law & Justice (PiS).

In a remarkable vote, there were no objections and no abstentions because Civic Platform (PO), Nowoczesna (Modern), Party and the Polish People’s Party left the parliament for the vote in protest.

The controversial bill allows for more control of who is appointed into the country’s Constitutional Tribunal, something Law & Justice will be able to utilise to make changes to the country’s constitution.

Whilst the bill went through comfortably in the Law & Justice dominated upper and lower chambers, the European Council’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muizieks said, “the amendments altering the composition of the constitutional Court currently rushed through Polish Parliament undermine the rule of law and should be withdrawn.”