WARSAW — Things aren't exactly going to plan for Poland's great liberal hope.

A new party called Wiosna, which means "spring" in Polish, was launched last month by Robert Biedroń — one of the country’s first openly gay politicians — presenting itself as an alternative to the two big beasts of Polish politics, the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) and centrist Civic Platform (PO). Biedroń has presented himself as a fresh face in politics, untainted by association with either PiS or PO — a sort of Polish Emmanuel Macron, a comparison that he has encouraged.

The party has also targeted displaced left-wing voters, left with few options after the implosion of the ex-communist Democratic Left Alliance party in 2005, and Biedroń flourished as a liberal leader during his recent stint as mayor of the coastal city of Słupsk, where he was frequently profiled by local and international media.

But the wave of publicity and tougher journalistic examination that greeted Biedroń and his new party's program have him on the back foot — something that could have implications for May's European election and this fall's national parliamentary vote.

"We're something completely new — a fresh project that escapes from the conflict that is choking Poland" — Robert Biedrón, leader of the Wiosna party

When Wiosna launched, one opinion poll had it with 16 percent support, but a new survey by the same organization released last week showed that shrinking to only 7 percent — not far above the 5 percent threshold needed to win parliamentary seats.

"Politics is brutal," Biedroń told Polish radio last week, adding, "It's natural that groupings that have existed for many years are going to try to attack us because we're something completely new — a fresh project that escapes from the conflict that is choking Poland."

May's European election is key to the party's future.

To stay in the game, Wiosna will need to win at least 10 percent of votes, said Ryszard Łuczyn, a political analyst with Warsaw's Polityka Insight think tank. “Without that, Wiosna cannot present itself as a young dynamic party that is threatening the PiS-PO duopoly.”

In touting the party as an alternative to its bigger rivals, Biedroń has built political capital by criticizing PiS for its illiberal changes to Poland’s institutions, and PO for being out of touch with ordinary Poles.

Biedroń hopes his fresh-face image will bolster his chances against PiS and the European Coalition, a broad grouping created for the European election in which PO plays the leading role.

“PiS’s and the European Coalition’s lists of candidates for the European Parliament elections benefit Biedroń, as both selected experienced, respected politicians, which helps Wiosna present itself as a new force that is bringing in younger people,” said Łuczyn.

Squeezed for space

Wiosna is finding it hard to carve out its own niche as Biedroń tries to gather voters both in the liberal big cities that form the base of support for PO, and in smaller and poorer conservative towns that are PiS's heartland.

"The arrival of Wiosna hurts many political and media interests," Biedroń said. "That's why we're getting it from both sides."

Biedroń has attacked Civic Platform for failing to make much headway on LGBT issues when it was in power.

While Wiosna's program includes social welfare proposals, that ground is already thoroughly covered by PiS, which won the 2015 election in part thanks to generous promises that it has in recent weeks pledged to expand.

Wiosna is also running into trouble with owning its socially liberal proposals, which include support for gay marriage, reducing the role of the Catholic Church in education and granting women the right to an abortion up to the twelfth week of pregnancy.

Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, a leading figure in PO, is treading on that turf: Last month he signed a 12-point LGBT+ declaration on issues like finding shelter for children thrown out of their homes by homophobic parents, and setting up tolerance and sexual education programs for children based on World Health Organization guidelines.

That made Trzaskowski the target of furious attacks from parts of the Church and from right-wingers, accusing him of depraving Polish youth. Biedroń was conspicuously silent in figuring out how to respond.

Wiosna has shunned the European Coalition, which has opened it to attacks by liberal activists.

Finally venturing forth with a cautious comment, Biedroń in his radio interview attacked PO for failing to make much headway on LGBT issues when it was in power, accusing the party of opening the way for PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński to "scare society with this subject."

"Wiosna is sensitive to all exclusions," he said.

Cutting deals

Despite his talk of being equally distant from both PO and PiS, and his hopes of attracting new voters — Polish elections tend to have low turnouts — Biedroń shares his likeliest pool of support with PO’s European Coalition.

"The Coalition doesn't have a single program or a vision of Poland and Europe," Biedroń said of the grouping, which contains parties spanning from Christian democrats to ex-communists.

But while Wiosna has shunned the European Coalition, that has opened it to attacks by liberal activists worried that will end up weakening the anti-PiS opposition.

Come this fall’s parliamentary election, Biedroń may find he needs the alliance to keep PiS from power. The country is split down the middle: This month’s opinion poll put PiS at 40 percent and the European Coalition at 38 percent, with Wiosna in third place at 7 percent and the nationalist-populist Kukiz'15 party (a possible PiS coalition partner) at 5 percent.

That would make every vote crucial. With its recent dip in polls, the challenge for Wiosna will be to stay relevant that long.