Polish People's Party
Polish People's Party Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe | ||
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Senate 4 / 100 | ||
European Parliament | 3 / 52 | |
Regional assemblies | 68 / 552 | |
Voivodes | 2 / 16 | |
Voivodeship Marshals | 2 / 16 | |
Website | ||
www | ||
The Polish People's Party (
Its history traces back to 1895, when it held the name People's Party, although its name was changed to the present one in 1903. During the
Today, it is positioned in the centre[7] and leans towards the centre-right,[8][9][10] and besides holding agrarian and conservative views,[11][12][13] it is also Christian-democratic,[14][15][16] and supports Poland's membership in the European Union.[17] It currently has 19 seats in the Sejm and two seats in the Senate. On national level, it heads the Polish Coalition and on European level, it is a part of the European People's Party.
History
Before 1945
The party's name traces its tradition to an agrarian party in
During this time, there were two parties using the term "Polish People's Party", namely
Under the communist regime
In June 1945 after the war Stanisław Mikołajczyk, a PSL leader who had been Prime Minister of the Polish government in exile, returned to communist-dominated Poland, where he joined the provisional government and rebuilt PSL. The party hoped to win the Yalta Conference-mandated elections and help establish a parliamentary system in Poland. However, the party soon found itself targeted with intimidation, arrests and violence by the communist secret police.[19]
The communists also formed a rival ersatz 'Peasants' party' controlled by them, in order to confuse voters. The
Mikołajczyk was soon compelled to flee Poland for his life in October 1947. The communists then forced the remains of Mikołajczyk's PSL to unite with the pro-communist People's Party to form the United People's Party. The ZSL was a governing partner in the ruling coalition.[20]
Post-communist period (1990–2003)
Around the time of the
It remained on the left of Polish politics in the 1990s, entering into coalitions with the postcommunist Democratic Left Alliance.[23][24][25] In the 2001 parliamentary elections, PSL received 9% of votes and formed a coalition with the Democratic Left Alliance, an alliance which later broke down. Since then, PSL has moved towards more centrist and conservative policies.
Opposition years (2003–2007)
The party ran in the 2004 European Parliament election as part of the European People's Party (EPP) and received 6% of the vote, giving it four of 54 Polish seats in the European Parliament.[23][26] In the 2005 general election, the party received 7% of votes, giving it 25 seats in the Sejm and two in the Senate. In the 2007 parliamentary elections, the party placed fourth, with 8.93% of the vote and 31 out of 460 seats, and entered into a governing coalition with the victor, the centre-right conservative Civic Platform.[27] In European parliament elections PSL received 7.01% of votes in 2009.[28] In the 2011 national parliamentary election, Polish People's Party received 8.36% votes which gave them 28 seats in the Sejm and two mandates in the Senate.[29]
Coalition government (2007–2015)
After the parliamentary elections in 2007, PSL won 8.91% of the popular vote and 31 seats,[30] it joined the government coalition led by Civic Platform. Waldemar Pawlak was appointed deputy prime minister, Marek Sawicki was appointed as agriculture minister, and Jolanta Fedak was appointed as labor minister. In the 2009 European Parliament election, it won 3 seats.[31] After the Smolensk air disaster, presidential elections were held in which Pawlak placed fifth, winning 1.75% of the vote. In the second round they didn't state their support for anyone.[32]
In the 2010 local government elections, PSL obtained 16.3% of the votes in the elections to voivodship assemblies, in which it received 93 seats. In the Świętokrzyskie sejmik, the party received the most seats. In all parliamentary assemblies, PSL found itself in ruling coalitions with the PO, in four voivodeships receiving the positions of marshals. In the elections to poviat councils, the PSL committee obtained 15.88%, and in the elections to municipal councils 11% of the votes. The PSL won the largest number of village leaders (428) and mayors in the country, and in Zgierz, the party's candidate won the presidential election. In 2011, a PiS senator defected to PSL.[33]
In the parliamentary elections of 2011, PSL obtained 8.36% of votes on the list of candidates for the Sejm.[34] The party also won two seats in the Senate.[35] Eugeniusz Grzeszczak became the deputy speaker of the Sejm on behalf of the PSL.[36] PSL again became a partner of the PO in the government coalition. On December 7, 2011, as a result of the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, Arkadiusz Bratkowski, a PSL politician, assumed a mandate in the European Parliament.[37]
In July 2012, Stanisław Kalemba replaced Marek Sawicki as the minister of agriculture and rural development. Pawlak was defeated during the presidential election by Janusz Piechociński.[38] Two days later, Waldemar Pawlak announced his resignation as deputy prime minister and minister of economy. He was dismissed from both functions on November 27. On December 6, both these offices were taken over by Janusz Piechociński.
In January 2014, PSL decided to establish cooperation with SKL and Samoobrona, but SKL already in February announced that Jarosław Gowin joined Poland Together, and the PSL talks about a joint election campaign with Samoobrona did not end with an agreement. In March, MP Andrzej Dąbrowski left PSL.[39] The party's candidate in the 2015 presidential election was the marshal of the Świętokrzyskie Province, party vice president Adam Jarubas.[40] He placed 6th, obtaining 238,761 votes.[41] Before the second round, PSL was involved in the campaign of the then-incumbent President Bronisław Komorowski.[42]
Modern period (2015–present)
At the 2015 parliamentary election, the PSL dropped to 5.13 percent of the vote, just barely over the 5 percent threshold. With 16 seats, it was the smallest of the five factions in the Sejm.[43]
Since then PSL has lost even more support to PiS during the 2018 Polish local elections when they lost 87 seats and dropped to 12.07% unlike the 23.9% they got at the last local elections. After this, the party became a junior partner in coalition with the Civic Coalition and SLD.
In 2019 European election, PSL won 3 seats as a part of the European Coalition.[44]
For parliamentary elections in the same year, PSL decided to create a centrist and Christian-democratic coalition called the Polish Coalition.[45] The Polish Coalition, apart from PSL, consisted of Kukiz'15, Union of European Democrats and other liberal, catholic and regionalist organisations.[46][47][48] The coalition managed to get 30 Sejm members elected, 20 of whom were members of PSL.
In November 2020, PSL decided to end coalition with Kukiz'15 due to differences on negotiations on EU budget.[49]
Ideology
The Polish People's Party adhered to principles of social democracy and agrarian socialism during the 1990s, although it has moved towards Christian democracy in the 2000s.[50][51][52] It was positioned on the left-wing on the political spectrum during that period. As late as 2011, the party was still described as "a left-wing party, representing an agrarian socialist agenda, although it is also known for its social conservatism".[53] Up to 2008, the party also opposed liberalism, denouncing it as "primitive social Darwinism and warning against a liberal state where "people are subordinated to the market". After 2008, the Polish People's Party started drifting towards centrism, abandoning its criticism of economic liberalism and its agrarian socialist vision of Polish economy.[54]
The origin of the party's pivot was in late 2000s, as the party's anti-liberal slogan was overshadowed by the one of right-wing populist Law and Justice, while agrarian socialism became the staple of the far-left Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland, which would form an anti-liberal government together with Law and Justice and League of Polish Families in 2005. PSL started cooperating with the Civic Platform at this time - a party based on liberal and conservative ideas; this forced PSL to tone down its rhetoric as to avoid attacking the anticipated future coalition partner.[55] Political analysis of the party's rhetoric in 2006 found that the party would increasingly embrace liberalism in place of its hitherto economically left-wing program, which placed the party closer to the Civic Platform and other centre-right parties. This was in stark contrast to a fellow agrarian party Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland, which espoused conservatively socialist views.[56]
The party's platform is strongly based on
Moreover, during the leadership of Kosiniak-Kamysz, who took over after 2015 elections, PSL has visibly started leaning towards economic liberalism in order to gain voters in bigger cities.[62] Kosiniak-Kamysz himself has described party's ideology as "moderately centrist"[63][64] and Christian democratic.[65]
Election results
Support
The Party's traditional support base consisted of farmers, peasants and rural voters. Voters are generally more
In the 2010s the party started to lose support between rural voters (especially in southeast of Poland, e.g. Subcarpathian Voivodeship). In 2019 election PSL gained surprisingly significant support in cities and won mandates (e. g. in Warsaw and Wrocław).[68]
Sejm
Election year | Leader | # of votes |
% of vote |
# of overall seats won |
+/– | Government |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1991 | Waldemar Pawlak | 972,952 | 8.7 (#5) | 48 / 460
|
New | UD |
1993 | 2,124,367 | 15.4 (#2) | 132 / 460
|
84 | SLD–PSL–UP | |
1997 | 956,184 | 7.3 (#4) | 27 / 460
|
105 | AWS–UW | |
2001 | Jarosław Kalinowski | 1,168,659 | 9.0 (#5) | 42 / 460
|
15 | SLD–UP–PSL (2001-2003) |
SLD–UP Minority (2003-2004) | ||||||
SLD-UP-SDPL Minority (2004-2005) | ||||||
2005 | Waldemar Pawlak | 821,656 | 7.0 (#6) | 25 / 460
|
17 | PiS minority (2005-2006) |
PiS–SRP–LPR (2006-2007) | ||||||
PiS Minority (2007) | ||||||
2007 | 1,437,638 | 8.9 (#4) | 31 / 460
|
6 | PO–PSL | |
2011 | 1,201,628 | 8.4 (#4) | 28 / 460
|
3 | PO–PSL | |
2015 | Janusz Piechociński | 779,875 | 5.1 (#6) | 16 / 460
|
12 | PiS |
2019 | Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz | 972,339 | 5.3 (#4) | 19 / 460
|
3 | PiS |
As part of Polish Coalition, which won 30 seats in total. | ||||||
2023 | 1,189,629 | 5.5 (#3) | 28 / 460
|
9 | KO–PL2050–KP–NL | |
As part of Third Way, which won 65 seats in total. |
Senate
Election year | # of overall seats won |
+/– |
---|---|---|
1991 | 7 / 100
|
4 |
1993 | 36 / 100
|
29 |
1997 | 3 / 100
|
33 |
2001 | 4 / 100
|
1 |
2005 | 2 / 100
|
2 |
2007 | 0 / 100
|
2 |
2011 | 2 / 100
|
2 |
2015 | 1 / 100
|
1 |
2019[69][70] | 2 / 100
|
1 |
2023[71] | 4 / 100
|
2 |
Presidential
Election year | Candidate | 1st round | 2nd round | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
# of overall votes | % of overall vote | # of overall votes | % of overall vote | ||
1990 | Roman Bartoszcze | 1,176,175 | 7.2 (#5) | ||
1995 | Waldemar Pawlak | 770,419 | 4.3 (#5) | ||
2000 | Jarosław Kalinowski | 1,047,949 | 6.0 (#4) | ||
2005 | Jarosław Kalinowski | 269,316 | 1.8 (#5) | ||
2010 | Waldemar Pawlak | 294,273 | 1.8 (#5) | ||
2015 | Adam Jarubas | 238,761 | 1.6 (#6) | ||
2020 | Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz | 459,365 | 2.4 (#5) |
Regional assemblies
Election year | % of vote |
# of overall seats won |
+/– | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1998 | 12.0 (#3) | 89 / 855
|
||||
As part of the Social Alliance. | ||||||
2002 | 10.8 (#5) | 58 / 561
|
31 | |||
2006 | 13.2 (#4) | 83 / 561
|
25 | |||
2010 | 16.3 (#3) | 93 / 561
|
10 | |||
2014 | 23.9 (#3) | 157 / 555
|
64 | |||
2018 | 12.1 (#3) | 70 / 552
|
87 |
European Parliament
Election year | # of votes |
% of vote |
# of overall seats won |
+/– |
---|---|---|---|---|
2004 | 386,340 | 6.3 (#7) | 4 / 54
|
|
2009 | 516,146 | 7.0 (#4) | 3 / 50
|
1 |
2014 | 480,846 | 6.8 (#5) | 4 / 51
|
1 |
2019 | 5,249,935 | 38.5 (#2) | 3 / 52
|
1 |
As the European Coalition which won 22 seats in total |
Leadership
Chairman:
- Roman Bartoszcze (1990–1991)
- Waldemar Pawlak (1991–1997)
- Jarosław Kalinowski (1997–2004)
- Janusz Wojciechowski (2004–2005)
- Waldemar Pawlak (2005–2012)
- Janusz Piechociński (2012–2015)
- Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz (2015–present)
Voivodeship Marshals
Name | Image | Voivodeship | Date Vocation |
---|---|---|---|
Adam Struzik | Masovian Voivodeship | 10 December 2001 | |
Gustaw Marek Brzezin | Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship
|
12 December 2014 |
See also
Notes
References
- ^ "Wniosek o udostępnienie informacji publicznej - liczba członków PSL". Retrieved 25 June 2018.
- ISBN 978-83-7583-191-7.
Po trzecie Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe było partią sytuującą się na lewicy sceny politycznej. Wyważone elementy programu, nawiązujące do ideologii socjalizmu agrarnego, (...)
[Thirdly, the Polish People's Party was a party positioned on the left of the political scene. The balanced elements of its programme, referring to the ideology of agrarian socialism, (...)] - ^ a b Gerber, Alexandra (2011). Being Polish/Becoming European: Gender and The Limits of Diffusion in Polish Accession to the European Union (PDF). Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan. p. 167.
PSL is technically a left-wing party, representing an agrarian socialist agenda, although it is also known for its social conservatism and is the oldest political party in Poland, dating back to before the communist regime. Throughout the 1990s and into the early 2000s, PSL was often a member of the ruling coalition with SLD. However, the coalition between SLD and PSL broke down during the 4th Parliamentary Session (2004), and since that time, the party has shifted to the center.
- ISBN 978-83-89706-84-3.
Przyjmując kryterium ideologiczno-programowe, J. Sielski zalicza Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe do grupy partii centrowych o orientacji ludowej. Biorąc pod uwagę ideologię, to można je zaliczyć do partii agrarnych. Na scenie w ostatnich latach ludowcy byli zdecydowanie na lewej stronie. Niekiedy zalicza się PSL do partii postpeerelowskich, gdyż przejęło ono znaczną część członków i majątek po ZSL.
[Adopting the ideological and programmatic criterion, J. Sielski classifies the Polish People's Party as a centrist party with a folk orientation. Taking ideology into account, it can be classified as an agrarian party. But on the political scene in last years, the People's Party had been definitely on the left. The PSL is sometimes categorised as a post-communist party, as it took over a significant proportion of members and assets from the ZSL.] - ^ "Kluby i koła". sejm.gov.pl. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
- ISBN 978-1-136-22595-6.. Parties and Elections in Europe. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
- Tomczak, Tomasz (2006). Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe – trwały element polskiego parlamentu?. DUET. pp. 129–155.
- Nordsieck, Wolfram (2019). "Poland"
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (linkExternal links
- Official website (in Polish)