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Republic of Poland

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Political parties in Poland lists current political parties in Poland, as well as former parties dating back as far as 1918. Since 1989, Poland has a multi-party system, with numerous competing political parties. Individual parties don't normally manage to gain power alone, and usually work with other parties to form coalition governments.

Contents

[edit] The parties

Party   Members in Political Position
Abbr. Name Website Leader Sejm Senate EP  (Ideology)
PO Civic Platform (Platforma Obywatelska) [1] Donald Tusk 206 (209) 57 (60) 25 Centre-right (christian democratic, liberal conservative)
PiS Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość) [2] Jarosław Kaczyński 154 (166) 38 (39) 14 Centre-right (neoconservative)
SLD Democratic Left Alliance (Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej) 1 2 [3] Grzegorz Napieralski 41 (40) 1 6 Centre-left (anti-clerical, social democratic)
PSL Polish People's Party (Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe) [4] Waldemar Pawlak 31 0 3 Centre (agrarian, centrism, christian democratic)
SD Democratic Party (Stronnictwo Demokratyczne) [5] Paweł Piskorski 4 (1) 0 0 Centre (social liberal)
SDPL Social Democracy of Poland (Socjaldemokracja Polska) 2 [6] Wojciech Filemonowicz 4 (10) 0 0 Centre-left (social democratic)

Notes: Figures in parenthesis reflects initial number of seats won by party (if different to current number), prior to splits, defections etc.;  1 SLD contested EP elections in alliance with Unia Pracy;  2SLD, SDPL & PD contested the 2007 parliamentary elections jointly as LiD winning a total of 53 seats;

[edit] Major political parties

  • Civic Platform (PO) - One of the two major parties on the Polish political scene since 2005, PO first entered the Sejm in 2001. Leading party in government since 2007.
  • Law and Justice (PiS) - Along with PO, PiS is one of the two major parties since 2005, first entering the Sejm in 2001. Leading party in government from 2005-2007. Largest opposition party since 2007.
  • Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) - The largest left wing party (a coalition of parties until 1999) on the political scene, SLD was the major party of government from 1993-1997 and 2001-2005. Since 2005, SLD's dominance has been successfully challenged by PO and PiS.
  • Polish People's Party (PSL) - Agrarian party, founded in 1990, PSL has been represented in the Sejm since its inception. Support levels for PSL have been more stable than for any other Polish political party since 1989. PSL normally scores 7-9% of the popular vote, and achieved its best result at the 1993 legislative elections, where it polled over 15%.

[edit] Minor political parties

  • Social Democracy of Poland (SDPL) - Splinter left-wing party, formed in 2004, breaking away from the larger SLD. Represented in Sejm 2004-2005 and 2007-present. From 2006-2008, SDPL was allied to SLD, PD and UP as part of the LiD coalition.

[edit] Formerly significant political parties (since 1989)

  • Solidarity Electoral Action (AWS) - Coalition grouping in Poland, AWS was the political arm of the Solidarity trade union movement, and dominated government from 1997-2001. Suffered a severe defeat at 2001 legislative elections, after which it failed to win any parliamentary seats. The grouping was disbanded shortly thereafter.
  • Democratic Union (UD) / Freedom Union (UW) - The UD was one of the leading post-Solidarity groupings, and was formed in 1990. It merged with the Liberal Democratic Congress to form the UW in 1994. The UW lost all its seats in the Sejm at the 2001 elections. It reinvented itself as the Democratic Party in 2005.
  • Samoobrona - A major, but controversial, agrarian party which first won election to the Sejm in 2001. Samoobrona participated in a coalition government, dominated by PiS, from 2006-2007. Samoobrona lost its Sejm representation after the 2007 elections, and lost its representation in the European Parliament in 2009.
  • League of Polish Families (LPR) - a right wing party, in the Sejm from 2001. Formed a coalition government with PiS and Samoobrona in 2006-2007. Lost all of its seats in the Sejm after the 2007 elections, and lost all EU parliamentary seats after the European elections of 2009.


[edit] Other political parties

[edit] Overview

The transition from a mono-party Communist regime to democracy and pluralism resulted in new political parties mushrooming in the early 1990s. After the first free parliamentary elections in 1991 seats in the Sejm were divided among more than a dozen different parties (amongst them such curiosities as Polska Partia Przyjaciół Piwa (Polish Party of the Beer Admirers), lead by a popular Polish comedy actor, Janusz Rewiński). The existence of so many parties in the Sejm was seen by many as being counter-productive towards the effectiveness of the parliament and a hindrance towards producing stable governments. Consequently electoral reform was undertaken and an electoral threshold for the Lower House was instituted, prior to the 1993 elections. The set threshold, required a minimum vote of 5% for parties (with exemptions for ethnic minority parties) and 8% for electoral coalitions. The threshold was set at the national, rather than divisional levels, and had the effect of preventing a large number of minor parties from winning seats in later elections. The threshold also prevented independent candidates from gaining election to the Sejm. Since 1990, the left side of the political scene has generally been dominated by former Communists turned social democrats. The right has largely comprised (former) Solidarity activists and supporters, but experienced deep divisions from the beginning, and showed less cohesiveness than the left. The right were unable to create a single bloc which could act as a lasting counterweight to the left-wing monolith, but instead, kept merging, splitting and renaming. Even so, the parties of the right did manage to win government again from 1997-2001 (having initially governed from 1989-93).

Since the parliamentary elections of 2005, the right wing parties have dominated the political scene, and appear to be in their strongest position to date. Two important developments in the political landscape have taken place since 2005. Firstly, the SLD (ex-communist) party is no longer the major, or one of the two major parties. Secondly, the main political battleground is no longer between the ex-Solidarity right verses the ex-Communist left. This can be observed through the cooperation of parties such as the Democratic Party with the SLD (see Left and Democrats), the bitter rivalry between right wing parties Law and Justice and Civic Platform, as well as the impact of several controversial parties such as League of Polish Families and Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland on the political scene (both in Sejm from 2001-07). It is worth noting that the general public disapproval of politics and politicians as a whole, has resulted in almost all major parties excluding the very word "party" from their names, replacing it with words less associated with politics, such as "union", "platform", "league" or "alliance".

[edit] Alphabetical list of all political parties and organizations (after 1989)

This is a list of political organizations registered in Poland as political parties, societies, foundations, trade unions, electoral committees, electoral alliances and informal groups:

[edit] Underground political organization in Poland 1945-1989

[edit] Official political parties and organizations in the People's Republic of Poland 1948-1989

[edit] Official political parties in Poland 1945-1948

[edit] Political parties in the Second Polish Republic 1918 - 1939

[edit] Political parties existing prior to 1918

[edit] Further reading

  • Dariusz Cecuda, Leksykon Opozycji Politycznej 1976-1989, BIS Trust, Warszawa 1989
  • Małgorzata Dehnel-Szyc, Jadwiga Stachura, Gry polityczne. Orientacje na dziś, Oficyna Wydawnicza Volument, Warszawa 1991
  • Piotr Frączak (e.d), Gorączka czasu przełomu. Dokumenty ugrupowań radykalnych 1989-1990, Instytut Studiów Politycznych Polskiej Akademii Nauk, Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek, Warszawa 1984
  • Inka Słodkowska (ed.), Programy partii i ugrupowań parlamentarnych 1989-1991' vol.1-2, Instytut Studiów Politycznych Polskiej Akademii Nauk, Warszawa 1995

[edit] See also

v • d • e
Political parties in Poland Poland
Represented in
the Sejm/Senat
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Portal:Politics - List of political parties - Politics of Poland
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_Poland"



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