Warsaw Voice - Political Who's Who

4 November 2004

Civic Platform of the Republic of Poland (PO)
Active since: January 2001, established after the presidential elections 2000, in which the independent, liberal candidate Andrzej Olechowski won considerable support: 17.3 percent of the vote
Leaders: Donald Tusk (pictured) - chair, Zyta Gilowska - deputy chair, Jan Rokita - parliamentary caucus head, candidate for prime minister, Andrzej Olechowski - chair of the Program Council
Sejm seats: 56
Program guidelines: party with a definite liberal orientation with regard to the economy, shows conservatism in terms of values; promotes individual entrepreneurship and civic virtues while referring to traditional moral standards; supports the reduction of the number of deputies by half, abolition of the Senate and the introduction of one-mandate election districts; postulates tax reductions

League of Polish Families (LPR)
Active since: January 2001
Leaders: Marek Kotlinowski (pictured) - chair, Roman Giertych - caucus head, Maciej Giertych, Roman's father - likely presidential
candidate
Sejm seats: 25
Program guidelines: national/Catholic party; postulates: reduction of the number of deputies to 360, strengthening state structures, extending the authority of the Senate; wants to introduce a total ban on abortion, euthanasia and human cloning and demands special protection of the family by the state; in the economy: "a balanced limitation of the role of the state," with simultaneous discontinuation of privatization in strategic sectors; opposed Poland's integration into the European Union

Law and Justice (PiS)
Active since: June 2001 - grassroots social committees were started in March 2001, the party was established at the initiative of Centrum Alliance (PC) politicians prior to parliamentary elections to exploit the considerable popularity of Lech Kaczyński, then minister of justice in Jerzy Buzek's government
Leaders: Jarosław Kaczyński (pictured) - chair, Lech Kaczyński - mayor of Warsaw, likely presidential candidate, Kazimierz Ujazdowski - deputy Sejm speaker, Ludwik Dorn - caucus head
Sejm seats: 44
Program guidelines: the party includes politicians with a variety of views: Christian democrats, conservatives, nationalists and peasant activists; the program focuses on specific tasks, such as fighting corruption; opts for strengthening the state and building the Third Republic; wants a stricter penal system, a more effective justice system, and prosecution of white-collar crimes

Samoobrona of the Republic of Poland
Active since: 1992, established at the initiative of the Samoobrona Farmers Trade Union activists
Leaders: Andrzej Lepper (pictured) - chair and caucus head, Henryk Dzido, Danuta Hojarska, Renata Beger
Sejm seats: 31
Program guidelines: party of a populist character, calls for the "cessation of state industry destruction" and the "revival of state monopolies;" has a developed program concerning agriculture: postulates debt relief and cheap loans for farmers; demands minimum prices for agricultural produce

Democratic Left Alliance (SLD)
Active since: 1999, following the transformation of a former coalition under the same name of leftist, post-communist groupings
Leaders: Krzysztof Janik (pictured) - chair, caucus head, Józef Oleksy - Sejm speaker, Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz - current minister of foreign affairs, Jerzy Szmajdziński - current minister of defense, Leszek Miller
Sejm seats: after the party's victory in the 2001 elections, 200 seats out of the total of 460; after the secession of the Polish Social Democracy (SDPL), the SLD has 157 deputies
Program guidelines: leftist party, referring to the international socialist and social-democratic movement; in the social area, postulates guaranteeing equal development opportunities; in the economy - more liberal than social, postulates budgetary cuts at the cost of public spending: Hausner's Plan adopted early this year
n Polish Peasants' Party (PSL)
Active since: 1989, when the United Peasants' Party (ZSL), active in the communist system, was renamed; refers to the tradition of the Peasants' Party (SL) established in 1895
Leaders: Janusz Wojciechowski (pictured) - chair, Waldemar Pawlak - caucus head, Jarosław Kalinowski, Zbigniew Kuźmiuk - Eurodeputy, Eugeniusz Kłopotek
Sejm seats: 40
Program guidelines: peasant party; program based on the doctrine of neo-agrarianism and the social doctrine of the Catholic Church. In economic questions, subscribes to a social market economy and limited state interventionism, postulates preferences for foreign investment based on state-of-the-art technologies and guaranteeing new jobs

Polish Social Democracy (SDPL)
Active since: March 2004, established after an SLD split
Leaders: Marek Borowski (pictured) - chair, Jolanta Banach - caucus head, Tomasz Nałęcz - deputy Sejm speaker, Andrzej Celiński
Sejm seats: 33
Program guidelines: party identifies with traditional leftist and social-democratic ideology, program based on three pillars: a healthy state "free of scandals and pathologies," social sensitivity - fighting poverty, protection of employee rights, and the non-intervention of the state. The secession of Borowski's group signified a protest against SLD internal policy, however, at present the SDPL supports the SLD-UP coalition government in the Sejm

Labor Union (UP)
Active since: 1992
Leaders: Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka (pictured) - chair, deputy prime minister in Marek Belka's government, Andrzej Aumiller - caucus head, Marek Pol - former deputy prime minister and minister of infrastructure in Leszek Miller's government
Sejm seats: 15
Program guidelines: leftist party; strongly emphasizes outlook neutrality, supports a market economy combined with government interventionism; adopts a critical attitude to Hausner's economic reform plan