Andrzej Lepper
Encyclopedia
Andrzej Zbigniew Lepper AUD (13 June 1954 – 5 August 2011) was a Polish
politician who was the leader of Samoobrona RP (Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland
) political party.
He was the Deputy Prime Minister
and Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development
between 5 May 2006 and 22 September 2006, and again from 16 October 2006 to 9 July 2007, in the cabinet of Jarosław Kaczyński. Lepper's civil profession prior to entering politics was farming in the village of Zielnowo, Pomerania
.
He was a candidate in the Polish presidential election in 1995
, 2000
, 2005
and 2010.
, a tiny hamlet of roughly 200 people, which has suffered greatly since Poland's transformation to a market-based economy because of its previous reliance on the socialist agricultural system.
A farmer by trade, he did not complete his secondary education
at the State Agricultural Technical School in Sypniewo
and has no formal higher education. During the period of economic transformation his farm fell into debt and he was on the verge of bankruptcy. He received several "doctor honoris causa" titles from the University of Kiev (Ukraine).
, Poland's communist party. In 1992 Lepper formed a new political party, an organisation of struggling farmers like himself, naming it "Samoobrona" (Self defence) (SO). His first task was to displace and eliminate his rival Stanislaw Tyminski
as a competitor. For this purpose, Lepper adopted much of Tyminski's political program as his own. Lepper organized anti-government demonstrations and other actions, most significantly against the Suchocka
and Buzek
governments, against what he saw as growing injustice, especially against farmers.
As party president he challenged Aleksander Kwaśniewski
in the 1995 presidential election
(1.3% votes). In the 2000, SO organized a campaign of blocking major roads in order to bring media attention to the hard-pressed situation of Polish agriculture. Lepper won 3.05% votes in the 2000 presidential election
. In the 2001 parliamentary election, Lepper's party managed to enter the lower chamber of the Polish Parliament (Sejm
) and formed an important fraction of it. Lepper was elected from Koszalin
constituency.
Lepper's party received 11.4% of the vote and 56 seats in the September 2005 parliamentary election
, making it the 3rd biggest party in the Sejm
. Lepper stood in the October 2005 presidential election
as his party's candidate and received 15% of the vote, the third highest result.
Lepper entered his party into a ruling coalition with the dominant PIS
party in May 2006, taking on the position of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Agriculture. Subsequently, he accused his allies of spy
ing on him and working to harm Samoobrona. Following several conflicts within the alliance, Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński asked his brother President Lech Kaczyński
to sack Lepper from the Cabinet in September 2006. Kaczyński re-invited Lepper back to his cabinet several weeks later on 16 October 2006.
. Many SO voters live in small towns and villages with high unemployment rates, and therefore believe that they have lost out in the transition to the free market economy after 1989. However, Lepper was often criticized for not acknowledging the economic growth Poland has experienced since then.
Using strongly populist
messages and committing acts of civil disobedience
, he managed to gain nationwide publicity and a strong following in the countryside, where he was regarded as a common man. He also protested against the selling of Polish land to foreigners. Lepper and SO opposed Poland joining the European Union
, but stopped short of running a fully fledged "no" campaign, on account of the popular predisposition of the Polish population towards EU membership.
Lepper's anti-EU stance was based in part on nationalism
, but also on the presumed detrimental economic effect that accession would have on Polish
agriculture
. Lepper remained a Eurosceptic
, but later toned down his position since. During his recent tenure as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture, Lepper worked hard for Polish agriculture within the European structures and on his departure was described by Union officials as "pragmatic" and "professional".
Andrzej Lepper was one of the few high-profile politicians that consistently opposed Poland's involvement in American
global military operations. He was involved in promoting close relations with the country's eastern neighbours - Ukraine
, Russia
and Belarus
.
Some of his many famous quotes are that "It is impossible to rape a prostitute" or "I see myself as a positive dictator". Lepper himself appeared to be a restless man, not easily placated and not inclined to settle down as an office holder, as his participation in Kaczyński's government showed.
With the votes of the left-wing majority in the Sejm, in 2001 he was elected as Vice-Speaker of Sejm (Wicemarszałek Sejmu), but after violating time constraints in debates he was dismissed.
Among Lepper and SO's undertakings in parliament were such incidents as the use of their own loudspeakers in the Sejm and claims that Robert Smoktunowicz
of the liberal Civic Platform (Platforma Obywatelska)
engaged in the precious-stone trade doing business with the Afghan Taliban.
In May 2001 Lepper was sentenced to sixteen months in prison. In May 2006 Polish students protested against the coalition government and also mocked Lepper's recent criminal conviction for slander, chanting "Lepper to prison".
As of 2007 Lepper faced criminal charges for slander and levelling corruption accusations against ministers and members of the parliament (Financial Times, 2002).
, several other women came forward with similar accusations. Poland's chief prosecutor Janusz Kaczmarek
later launched an investigation into the abuse allegations against both men. In February 2010 Andrzej Lepper was sentenced to two years and three months in jail after being found guilty of demanding and accepting sexual favours from female members of his SO party. The district court in central Poland also sentenced former SO party deputy Stanislaw Lyzwinski to five years for rape and taking sexual advantage of female members of his party. Lepper said that the entire case against him was "imagined", and that he would appeal the decision.
, a private institution which actively promotes anti-Semitism
awarded Lepper with two honorary doctorates and an honorary professorship. The Anti-Defamation League
strongly condemned Lepper for accepting these titles.
On 16 July 2007, Lepper, together with Roman Giertych
, chairman of another junior coalition partner League of Polish Families
, announced a merger of their two parties, to be called League and Self-Defense
(LiS). On August 5, the party quit the ruling coalition, leaving it without a majority.
Early parliamentary elections
for both houses of parliament (Sejm and Senat) were held on 21 October 2007, after the Sejm voted for its own dissolution on September 7. The party suffered a huge voter backlash, thereby failing to cross the 5% electoral threshold for elections to the Sejm. Consequently it lost all its seats.
office on 5 August 2011. According to first news reports, police suspect he committed suicide
by hanging
.
|}
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
politician who was the leader of Samoobrona RP (Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland
Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland
Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland , abbreviated to SRP, is an agrarian political party and trade union in Poland led by Andrzej Lepper. Its platform combines left-wing populist economic policies with religious conservative social policies....
) political party.
He was the Deputy Prime Minister
Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland
Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland is the deputy of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland and member of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Poland. He can also be one of the ministers of Poland.-People's Poland :...
and Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Republic of Poland
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Republic of Poland was formed on October 1999, from transformation of Ministry of Agriculture and Food Economy of Poland; the ministry can trace its history to 1944....
between 5 May 2006 and 22 September 2006, and again from 16 October 2006 to 9 July 2007, in the cabinet of Jarosław Kaczyński. Lepper's civil profession prior to entering politics was farming in the village of Zielnowo, Pomerania
Pomerania
Pomerania is a historical region on the south shore of the Baltic Sea. Divided between Germany and Poland, it stretches roughly from the Recknitz River near Stralsund in the West, via the Oder River delta near Szczecin, to the mouth of the Vistula River near Gdańsk in the East...
.
He was a candidate in the Polish presidential election in 1995
Polish presidential election, 1995
1995 Presidential elections were held in Poland on Sunday November 5 , and Sunday November 19 . Aleksander Kwaśniewski and Lech Wałęsa passed to the second round...
, 2000
Polish presidential election, 2000
The 2000 Polish presidential election took place in Poland on 8 October 2000. Incumbent President Aleksander Kwaśniewski was easily re-elected in the first round after winning more than 50% of the votes.-Background:...
, 2005
Polish presidential election, 2005
-External links:**] ]**...
and 2010.
Early years and education
Lepper was born in StowięcinoStowiecino
Stowięcino is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Główczyce, within Słupsk County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It lies approximately south-east of Główczyce, east of Słupsk, and west of the regional capital Gdańsk...
, a tiny hamlet of roughly 200 people, which has suffered greatly since Poland's transformation to a market-based economy because of its previous reliance on the socialist agricultural system.
A farmer by trade, he did not complete his secondary education
Secondary education
Secondary education is the stage of education following primary education. Secondary education includes the final stage of compulsory education and in many countries it is entirely compulsory. The next stage of education is usually college or university...
at the State Agricultural Technical School in Sypniewo
Sypniewo
Sypniewo may refer to the following places in Poland:*Sypniewo, part of the Nowe Miasto district of Poznań*Sypniewo, Chodzież County in Greater Poland Voivodeship...
and has no formal higher education. During the period of economic transformation his farm fell into debt and he was on the verge of bankruptcy. He received several "doctor honoris causa" titles from the University of Kiev (Ukraine).
Family
Lepper and his wife Irena have three children: Tomasz, Małgorzata and Renata.Political career
From 1977 to 1980 he was a member of PZPR Polish United Workers' PartyPolish United Workers' Party
The Polish United Workers' Party was the Communist party which governed the People's Republic of Poland from 1948 to 1989. Ideologically it was based on the theories of Marxism-Leninism.- The Party's Program and Goals :...
, Poland's communist party. In 1992 Lepper formed a new political party, an organisation of struggling farmers like himself, naming it "Samoobrona" (Self defence) (SO). His first task was to displace and eliminate his rival Stanislaw Tyminski
Stanislaw Tyminski
Stanisław "Stan" Tymiński is a Canadian businessman of Polish origin, dealing in electronics and computers, and a sometime-politician in both Poland and Canada...
as a competitor. For this purpose, Lepper adopted much of Tyminski's political program as his own. Lepper organized anti-government demonstrations and other actions, most significantly against the Suchocka
Hanna Suchocka
Hanna Suchocka is a Polish political figure. She served as the prime minister of Poland between 11 July 1992 and 26 October 1993 under the presidency of Lech Wałęsa. She is the first woman to hold this post in Poland and 19th in the world.Suchocka is a specialist in Constitutional Law...
and Buzek
Jerzy Buzek
Jerzy Karol Buzek is a Polish engineer, academic lecturer and politician who was the ninth post-Cold War Prime Minister of Poland from 1997 to 2001...
governments, against what he saw as growing injustice, especially against farmers.
As party president he challenged Aleksander Kwaśniewski
Aleksander Kwasniewski
Aleksander Kwaśniewski is a Polish politician who served as the President of Poland from 1995 to 2005. He was born in Białogard, and during communist rule he was active in the Socialist Union of Polish Students and was the Minister for Sport in the communist government in the 1980s...
in the 1995 presidential election
Polish presidential election, 1995
1995 Presidential elections were held in Poland on Sunday November 5 , and Sunday November 19 . Aleksander Kwaśniewski and Lech Wałęsa passed to the second round...
(1.3% votes). In the 2000, SO organized a campaign of blocking major roads in order to bring media attention to the hard-pressed situation of Polish agriculture. Lepper won 3.05% votes in the 2000 presidential election
Polish presidential election, 2000
The 2000 Polish presidential election took place in Poland on 8 October 2000. Incumbent President Aleksander Kwaśniewski was easily re-elected in the first round after winning more than 50% of the votes.-Background:...
. In the 2001 parliamentary election, Lepper's party managed to enter the lower chamber of the Polish Parliament (Sejm
Sejm
The Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Poseł in Polish . It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm ....
) and formed an important fraction of it. Lepper was elected from Koszalin
Koszalin
Koszalin ; is the largest city of Middle Pomerania in north-western Poland. It is located 12 km south of the Baltic Sea coast. Koszalin is also a county-status city and capital of Koszalin County of West Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999...
constituency.
Lepper's party received 11.4% of the vote and 56 seats in the September 2005 parliamentary election
Polish parliamentary election, 2005
Parliamentary elections for both houses of the Parliament of Poland were held on September 25, 2005. Thirty million voters were eligible to vote for all 460 members of the lower house, the Assembly of the Republic of Poland , and all 100 members of the upper house, the Senate of the Republic of...
, making it the 3rd biggest party in the Sejm
Sejm
The Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Poseł in Polish . It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm ....
. Lepper stood in the October 2005 presidential election
Polish presidential election, 2005
-External links:**] ]**...
as his party's candidate and received 15% of the vote, the third highest result.
Lepper entered his party into a ruling coalition with the dominant PIS
Law and Justice
Law and Justice , abbreviated to PiS, is a right-wing, conservative political party in Poland. With 147 seats in the Sejm and 38 in the Senate, it is the second-largest party in the Polish parliament....
party in May 2006, taking on the position of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Agriculture. Subsequently, he accused his allies of spy
SPY
SPY is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:* SPY , ticker symbol for Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts* SPY , a satirical monthly, trademarked all-caps* SPY , airport code for San Pédro, Côte d'Ivoire...
ing on him and working to harm Samoobrona. Following several conflicts within the alliance, Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński asked his brother President Lech Kaczyński
Lech Kaczynski
Lech Aleksander Kaczyński was Polish lawyer and politician who served as the President of Poland from 2005 until 2010 and as Mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 22 December 2005. Before he became a president, he was also a member of the party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość...
to sack Lepper from the Cabinet in September 2006. Kaczyński re-invited Lepper back to his cabinet several weeks later on 16 October 2006.
Political style and views
Samoobrona ("SO") and Lepper successfully tapped into the disillusion felt by millions of poor citizens who have not benefited from Poland's entry into the European UnionEuropean Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
. Many SO voters live in small towns and villages with high unemployment rates, and therefore believe that they have lost out in the transition to the free market economy after 1989. However, Lepper was often criticized for not acknowledging the economic growth Poland has experienced since then.
Using strongly populist
Populism
Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...
messages and committing acts of civil disobedience
Civil disobedience
Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is commonly, though not always, defined as being nonviolent resistance. It is one form of civil resistance...
, he managed to gain nationwide publicity and a strong following in the countryside, where he was regarded as a common man. He also protested against the selling of Polish land to foreigners. Lepper and SO opposed Poland joining the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, but stopped short of running a fully fledged "no" campaign, on account of the popular predisposition of the Polish population towards EU membership.
Lepper's anti-EU stance was based in part on nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
, but also on the presumed detrimental economic effect that accession would have on Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
. Lepper remained a Eurosceptic
EuroSceptic
EuroSceptic is the second album of British singer Jack Lucien. It was released in October 2009.Due to being an album influenced by Europop, it features songs with parts in different languages...
, but later toned down his position since. During his recent tenure as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture, Lepper worked hard for Polish agriculture within the European structures and on his departure was described by Union officials as "pragmatic" and "professional".
Andrzej Lepper was one of the few high-profile politicians that consistently opposed Poland's involvement in American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
global military operations. He was involved in promoting close relations with the country's eastern neighbours - Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
.
Some of his many famous quotes are that "It is impossible to rape a prostitute" or "I see myself as a positive dictator". Lepper himself appeared to be a restless man, not easily placated and not inclined to settle down as an office holder, as his participation in Kaczyński's government showed.
With the votes of the left-wing majority in the Sejm, in 2001 he was elected as Vice-Speaker of Sejm (Wicemarszałek Sejmu), but after violating time constraints in debates he was dismissed.
Among Lepper and SO's undertakings in parliament were such incidents as the use of their own loudspeakers in the Sejm and claims that Robert Smoktunowicz
Robert Smoktunowicz
Robert Smoktunowicz is a Polish politician. He represented Civic Platform in Senate from 2001 to 2007. He gave up the membership in PO on September 17, 2007. Later that year he ran for re-election to the Polish Senate from the Left and Democrats list but to no avail.-References:...
of the liberal Civic Platform (Platforma Obywatelska)
Civic Platform
Civic Platform , abbreviated to PO, is a centre-right, liberal conservative political party in Poland. It has been the major coalition partner in Poland's government since the 2007 general election, with party leader Donald Tusk as Prime Minister of Poland and Bronisław Komorowski as President...
engaged in the precious-stone trade doing business with the Afghan Taliban.
Criminal charges
Andrzej Lepper was charged with criminal offenses, including assault, blocking roads and dumping grain on railroad tracks in the course of anti-government demonstrations (The New York Times, 2006).In May 2001 Lepper was sentenced to sixteen months in prison. In May 2006 Polish students protested against the coalition government and also mocked Lepper's recent criminal conviction for slander, chanting "Lepper to prison".
As of 2007 Lepper faced criminal charges for slander and levelling corruption accusations against ministers and members of the parliament (Financial Times, 2002).
Harassment scandal
In December 2006 a female party member claimed that Lepper and party deputy Stanisław Łyżwiński had demanded sexual favours in exchange for a job in a regional SO party office. After the publication of these claims in the Gazeta WyborczaGazeta Wyborcza
Gazeta Wyborcza is a leading Polish newspaper. It covers the gamut of political, international and general news. Like all the Polish newspapers, it is printed on compact-sized paper, and is published by the multimedia corporation Agora SA...
, several other women came forward with similar accusations. Poland's chief prosecutor Janusz Kaczmarek
Janusz Kaczmarek
Janusz Kaczmarek is a Polish lawyer, prosecutor and politician. He was National Public Prosecutor from October 31, 2005, to February 8, 2007, and Polish Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration from February 8, 2007, to August 8, 2007.He graduated from the Faculty of Law and Administration...
later launched an investigation into the abuse allegations against both men. In February 2010 Andrzej Lepper was sentenced to two years and three months in jail after being found guilty of demanding and accepting sexual favours from female members of his SO party. The district court in central Poland also sentenced former SO party deputy Stanislaw Lyzwinski to five years for rape and taking sexual advantage of female members of his party. Lepper said that the entire case against him was "imagined", and that he would appeal the decision.
Antisemitism scandal
The Interregional Academy of Personnel Management in KievKiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
, a private institution which actively promotes anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
awarded Lepper with two honorary doctorates and an honorary professorship. The Anti-Defamation League
Anti-Defamation League
The Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...
strongly condemned Lepper for accepting these titles.
2007 political developments
On 9 July 2007, Prime Minister Kaczyński dismissed Lepper from the government, which Kaczyński said was due to suspicions that Lepper was involved in corruption. On 10 July, Lepper said that Samoobrona would withdraw from the ruling coalition, but later on the same day said that the party would remain in the coalition conditionally. Lepper claimed to have been the victim of a politically motivated 'sting' operation, initiated by Prime Minister Kaczynski and PiS, and he demanded that a parliamentary inquiry be conducted to investigate the legality and motivation of the CBA operation mounted against him. This was one of the conditions put to PiS in return for SO remaining within the coalition.On 16 July 2007, Lepper, together with Roman Giertych
Roman Giertych
Roman Jacek Giertych is a Polish politician; he was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education until August 2007. He was a member of the Sejm from 2001 until October 2007, and chairman of the League of Polish Families party.- Biography :Roman Giertych comes from a prominent family of Polish...
, chairman of another junior coalition partner League of Polish Families
League of Polish Families
The League of Polish Families is a right-wing political party in Poland. It was represented in the Polish parliament, forming part of the cabinet of Jarosław Kaczyński, until the latter dissolved in September 2007....
, announced a merger of their two parties, to be called League and Self-Defense
League and Self-Defense
League and Self-Defense was the proposed name for a new Polish political grouping which was to arise from an alliance or merger between the left-wing populist Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland and the national conservative Christian right League of Polish Families in July 2007...
(LiS). On August 5, the party quit the ruling coalition, leaving it without a majority.
Early parliamentary elections
Polish parliamentary election, 2007
Early parliamentary elections for both houses of parliament were held in Poland on 21 October 2007 after the Sejm voted for its own dissolution on 7 September 2007. The election took place two years before the maximum tenure of four years, with the previous elections having been in September 2005...
for both houses of parliament (Sejm and Senat) were held on 21 October 2007, after the Sejm voted for its own dissolution on September 7. The party suffered a huge voter backlash, thereby failing to cross the 5% electoral threshold for elections to the Sejm. Consequently it lost all its seats.
2010 presidential election
He was one of the candidates in the 2010 Polish presidential election, but got only 1.28% of votes and didn't get into the second round.Death
He was found dead in his WarsawWarsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
office on 5 August 2011. According to first news reports, police suspect he committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
by hanging
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
.
External links
Information about Andrzej Lepper on the Sejm website|}