POLITICAL PARTIES
The transformations of 1989 brought fundamental change to the political and party system in Poland. The Polish United Workers' Party, which had previously enjoyed hegemony for its Communist ideology, was obliged to relinquish this status in favour of political pluralism. Initially, the political divide was a clear-cut line between groups and parties that emerged from the Solidarity movement, and the post-Communist groups. Currently, this division has become somewhat vaguer and of lesser effect, and in many ways the Polish political scene now resembles European and world patterns.
Thus, the political parties in Poland represent a broad range of public consensus, with groups which may be classified as social-democratic, liberal, conservative, national, rural-interest, or populist. There are also radical groups with a negligible amount of public sympathy. Some observers of the Polish political scene have endeavoured to define a traditional division into left-wing, right-wing, and centre, but in practice very few of the existing parties may be accurately described in terms of such definitions.
The biggest political parties in Poland are:
The Citizens' Platform (PO)
The Law and Justice Party (PiS)
The Democratic Left Alliance (SLD)
The Polish Peasants' Party (PSL)
The Citizens' Platform (PO) was created in 2001 by Andrzej Olechowski, Donald Tusk, and Maciej Płażyński (then Speaker of the Senate), former members of the UD and AWS parties. The Citizens' Platform is a group which represents the liberal electorate, private entrepreneurs and business circles, as well as all who want a wholesome and robust state based on a free-market economy and the principle of competition.
The Law and Justice Party (PiS) is a right-wing party which cherishes the traditions of independence and derives from the Solidarity movement of the 1980s. PiS represents a right-wing electorate which favours a traditional social order, a free-market economy, a strong and wholesome state, the principle of law and order and a resolute fight against crime and corruption. PiS was created in 2001.
The Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) is a party established in 1999 from a coalition of the same name. Alliance participated in the last elections with the Democratic Party, the Polish Social Democracy and the Labour Union under the name of the Left and Democrats (LiD) movement, while now it has it's own parliamentary club - the Left. The Alliance represents social democratic outlook both in the social and economic area.
The Polish Peasants' Party (PSL) is a modern rural-interest party; it sees itself as a centre party. It has been a member of the government coalition with the Democratic Left Alliance and the Labour Union. PSL represents the interests of farmers and agricultural employees, residents of rural areas and country towns. The PSL looks back to the political traditions of the large agrarian communities in Poland before the Second World War and Stanisław Mikołajczyk's PSL, which was the only independent political party tolerated in a brief spell from 1945 to 1947.
