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History of Poland (1989–present)
Encyclopedia
In 1989-1991, Poland engaged in a democratic transition which put an end to the Polish People's Republic and led to a democratic regime, called Polish Third Republic. After ten years of democratic consolidation, Poland joined NATO in 1999 and the EU in 2004.
and its Communist government, as with the rest of the Eastern bloc
as the influence of the Soviet Union
faded. With the advent of "perestroika
" in the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev
, a chance was opened to finally change the system of government, after the harsh period of martial law (1981-83)
imposed by General Jaruzelski.
Fears that a shift of power from a centralized one-party system to a multi-party democracy might turn into a bloody revolution proved unfounded, owing to the presence on both sides — the Communist Party, and the democratic opposition — of peace-minded reformists committed to a peaceful solution.
on August 31. These talks broke down in October, but a new series of negotiations, the "round-table" talks, began in February 1989. These talks produced an agreement in April for partly open parliamentary elections. The June election produced a Sejm
(lower house), in which one-third of the seats went to communists and one-third went to the two parties which had hitherto been their coalition partners. The remaining one-third of the seats in the Sejm and all those in the Senate
were freely contested; the majority of these were by candidates supported by Solidarity.
The failure of the communists at the polls produced a political crisis. The round-table agreement called for a communist president, and on July 19, the National Assembly, with the support of a number of Solidarity deputies, elected General Wojciech Jaruzelski
to that office. However, two attempts by the communists to form governments failed.
On August 19, President Jaruzelski asked journalist/Solidarity activist Tadeusz Mazowiecki
to form a government; on September 12, the Sejm voted approval of Prime Minister Mazowiecki and his cabinet. For the first time in more than 40 years, Poland had a government led by non-communists.
In December 1989, the Sejm
approved the government's reform program to transform the Polish economy rapidly from centrally planned to free-market, amended the constitution to eliminate references to the "leading role" of the Communist Party, and renamed the country the "Republic of Poland." The Polish United Workers' (Communist) Party dissolved itself in January 1990, creating in its place a new party, Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland. Most of the property of the former Communist Party was turned over to the state.
The May 1990 local elections were entirely free. Candidates supported by Solidarity's Citizens' Committees won most of the elections they contested, although voter turnout was only a little over 40%. The cabinet was reshuffled in July 1990; the national defence and interior affairs ministers (hold-overs from the previous communist government) were among those replaced.
In October 1990, the constitution was amended to curtail the term of President Jaruzelski. In December, Lech Wałęsa became the first popularly elected President of Poland.
, at Wałęsa's request, formed a government and served as its Prime Minister until October 1991, introducing world prices and greatly expanding the scope of private enterprise.
Poland's first free parliamentary elections
were held in 1991. More than 100 parties participated, representing the full spectrum of political views. No single party received more than 13% of the total vote. After a rough start, 1993 saw the second group of elections
, and the first parliament to serve a full term. The Alliance of the Democratic Left (SLD) received the largest share of votes. Also in 1993 the Soviet Northern Group of Forces
finally left Poland.
After the election, the SLD and PSL
formed a governing coalition. Waldemar Pawlak
, leader of the junior partner PSL, became Prime Minister. Relations between President Wałęsa and the Prime Minister remained poor throughout the
Pawlak government, with the President charging Pawlak with furthering personal and party interests while neglecting matters of state importance. Following a number of scandals implicating Pawlak and increasing political tension over control of the armed forces, Wałęsa demanded Pawlak's resignation in January 1995. A crisis resulted and the coalition removed Pawlak from office and replaced him with the SLD's Józef Oleksy
as the new Prime Minister.
In November 1995, Poland held its second post-war free presidential elections
. SLD leader Aleksander Kwaśniewski
defeated Wałęsa by a narrow margin—51.7% to 48.3%. Soon after Wałęsa's defeat, Interior Minister Andrzej Milczanowski accused then-Prime Minister Oleksy of longtime collaboration with Soviet and later Russian intelligence. In the ensuing political crisis, Oleksy resigned. For his successor, The SLD-PSL coalition turned to deputy Sejm speaker Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz — who was linked to, but not a member of, the SLD. Polish prosecutors subsequently decided that there was insufficient evidence to charge Oleksy, and a parliamentary commission decided in November 1996 that the Polish intelligence services may have violated rules of procedure in gathering evidence in the Oleksy case.
Poland's new Constitution of 1997 redefined the concept of the Polish nation in civic
rather than ethnic
terms. Article 35 guaranteed the rights of national and ethnic minorities, while other provisions prohibited discrimination and political organisations that spread racial hatred.
In 1997 parliamentary elections
two parties with roots in the Solidarity movement — Solidarity Electoral Action
(AWS) and the Freedom Union
(UW) — won 261 of the 460 seats in the Sejm and formed a coalition government. Jerzy Buzek
of the AWS became Prime Minister. The AWS and the Alliance of the Democratic Left (SLD) held the majority of the seats in the Sejm. Marian Krzaklewski
was the leader of the AWS, and Leszek Miller
led the SLD. In April 1997, the first post-communist Constitution of Poland
was finalized, and in July put into effect. In June 2000, UW withdrew from the governing collation, leaving AWS at the helm of a minority government.
of 2000, Aleksander Kwaśniewski
, the incumbent former leader of the post-communist SLD, was re-elected in the first round of voting, with 53.9% of the popular vote. Second place, with only 17.3%, went to Andrzej Olechowski
. It is thought that the opposition campaign was hindered by their inability to put forward a charismatic (or even a single major) candidate, as well as falling support for the centre-right AWS government. This was related to internal friction in the ruling parliamentary coalition.
The 1997 Constitution
and the reformed administrative division of 1999 required a revision of the electoral system, which was passed in April 2001. The most important changes included:
saw the SLD (successor to the communist party twice removed) triumph on the back of voter disillusionment with the AWS government and internal bickering within that bloc. So much so that this former ruling party did not enter parliament due to falling below the 8% threshold for coalitions. (Symptomatically, they had failed to form a formal political party, which has only a 5% threshold, and formally remained a "coalition" of parties).
The SLD went on to form a coalition with the agrarian PSL
and leftist UP, with Leszek Miller
as Prime Minister. This government had the support of 256 of the 460 seats in the Sejm
.
A leading issue in the subsequent years was negotiations with the European Union
regarding accession and internal preparation for this. Poland joined the EU
in May 2004. Both President Kwaśniewski and the government were vocal in their support for this cause. The only party decidedly opposed to EU entry was the populist right-wing League of Polish Families
(LPR).
Despite broad popular support for joining the EU, which was considered an overriding issue, the government rapidly lost popularity due to incompetence on various issues (e.g. building of motorways, and a botched reform of the health system), a general economic slump, and numerous corruption scandals. The most famous of these were the Rywin affair
(an alleged attempt to interfere with the legislative process, so named after the main suspect Lew Rywin) -- this case was investigated by a special parliamentary committee, whose proceedings were televised and widely followed), and the Starachowice affair (government ministers informed friends with links to organized crime about an impending raid).
In March some prominent SLD politicians and MPs (including the then Speaker of the Sejm: Marek Borowski
) formed a split, creating the new SDPL party. The cabinet led by Leszek Miller
resigned on May 2, 2004, just after Poland's admission to the European Union.
A new cabinet was formed, with Marek Belka
as prime minister. After two initial unsuccessful attempts, it eventually won parliamentary support (24 June) and governed until the parliamentary elections in late 2005
. Several of the new ministers were seen as non-partisan experts, and the government was considered a marked improvement upon the previous cabinet. This did not carry over into any rise in voter support for the SLD, however, even despite an economic upturn through 2005. Part of the reason being that this government was considered to be largely apart from the party backbone, and only held in office by the fear of early elections by the majority of the MPs.
A fear not unfounded, as the SLD saw its support drop by three-fourths to only 11% in the subsequent elections.
was expected to produce a coalition of two centre-right parties, PiS (Law and Justice
) and PO (Civic Platform
). During the increasingly bitter campaign, however, PiS launched a strong attack on the liberal economic policies of their allies and overtook PO in opinion polls. PiS eventually gained 27% of votes cast and became the largest party in the sejm ahead of PO on 24%. The out-going ruling party, the socialist SLD, achieved just 11%. This continues the trend that in every free parliamentary election the Polish electorate has voted against the current government, turning to the left in 1993 and 2001, and to the right in 1997 and 2005.
Presidential elections in October
followed a similar script. The early favorite, Donald Tusk
, leader of the PO, saw his opinion poll lead slip away and was beaten 54% to 46% in the second round by the PiS candidate Lech Kaczyński
(one of the twins, founders of the party).
Both elections were blighted by low turn-outs: only 51% in the second and deciding round of the presidential election and just over 40% in the parliamentary election. The suggested cause of the low turnout is popular disillusionment with politicians.
Coalition talks ensued simultaneously with the presidential elections. However, the severity of the campaign attacks and the willingness of PiS to court the populist vote had soured the relationship between the two largest parties and made the creation of a stable coalition impossible. The ostensible stumbling blocks were the insistence of PiS that it control all aspects of law enforcement: the Ministries of Justice and Internal Affairs, and the special forces; as well as the forcing through of a PiS candidate for the head of the Sejm
with help of several smaller populist parties. The PO decided to go into opposition.
PiS then formed a minority government with the previously little-known Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz
as Prime Minister instead of party leader, Jarosław Kaczyński who remained influential in the background. This government relied on the tacit and rather stable support of smaller populist and agrarian parties (Samoobrona, LPR) to govern.
The new government enjoyed quite strong public support (which was expected during first few months after the election), while the popularity of the populist parties giving it support, significantly waned. A parliamentary crisis appeared to loom in January 2006, with these small populist parties fearing that PiS was about to force new elections (on which they would lose out) by using the pretext of failing to pass the budget within the constitutional timeframe. However, a crisis was abated.
In May 2006 a coalition agreement for majority government was formed between PiS, Samoobrona and LPR. In July 2006, following a rift with his party leader, Jarosław Kaczyński, Marcinkiewicz tendered his resignation as Prime Minister and was replaced by Jarosław Kaczyński himself.
The following 15 months were erratic and not without controversy, as the government pursued lustration
policies, established a Central Anticorruption Bureau
with far reaching powers and was embroiled in a case relating to the suicide of a M.P.
who was under investigation for corruption. The new government also modified Polish foreign relations relating to the EU
by adopting a more eurosceptic
al stance, where Polish governments had in the past adopted a very pro-EU position.
The uneasy alliance between the three coalition partners came to a head in July 2007 when Samoobrona leader, Andrzej Lepper
, was dismissed from his position as Minister for Agriculture following a secret investigation by the Central Anticorruption Bureau (CBA) which attempted to link him and his department to corruptive practices. Lepper protested his innocence and claimed to have been the victim of a politically motivated 'sting' operation, initiated by PM Kaczynski and PiS. The coalition agreement collapsed over the following month, with both the LPR and Samoobrona levelling accusations against PiS. In September, the Sejm voted to dissolve itself (supported by PiS, but opposed by Samoobrona and LPR), paving the way for elections in October.
saw a stunning victory for the Civic Platform
(PO), the largest opposition party, which gained more than 41% of the popular vote. PiS's vote increased, from 2005, but insufficiently to gain reelection, whilst both Samoobrona and LPR were wiped out, losing all representation, each having gained only a little over 1% of the vote. PO proceeded to form a majority governing coalition with the agrarian Polish People's Party (PSL), with PO leader, Donald Tusk
, taking over the prime ministerial office in November, 2007.
On August 14, 2008, the United States
and Poland
agreed to have 10, two-stage missile interceptors - made by Orbital Sciences Corp - placed in Poland, as part of a missile shield to defend Europe and the US from a possible missile attack by Iran
. In return, the US agreed to move a battery of MIM-104 Patriot
missiles to Poland. The missile battery would be staffed - at least temporarily - by US Military personnel. The US also pledged to defend Poland - a NATO member - quicker than NATO would in the event of an attack. After the agreement was announced, Russian officials - who view the missile shield as a threat - released a statement indirectly threatening Poland, and said that the missile defense system would greatly harm future US/Russia relations.
Russia later threatened nuclear attack against "new US assets in Europe", referring to Poland. The US has pledged to back Warsaw in the event of Russian aggressions towards Poland.
On April 10, 2010, the President of the Republic of Poland, Lech Kaczyński
, died in a plane crash
in Russia
.
In October 2011. Donald Tusk, with a clear pro-european agenda, became the first ever Polish Prime Minister to be reelected in post-communist Poland.
, including Lech Kaczyński
, acting President of Poland.
At the Polish presidential election in 2010, Donald Tusk
decided not to present his candidature, considered easily winning over PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński. At PO primary election
s, Bronisław Komorowski defeated the Oxford-educated, PiS turncoat Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski. At the second round of voting on 4 July 2010., Komorowski defeated Jarosław Kaczyński, ensuring PO dominance across the Polish political landscape. On August 6, 2010 Bronislaw Komorowski
was sworn in as new President.
In November 2010, local elections granted PO about 31 percent of the votes and PiS at 23 percent, an increase for the former and a drop for the latter compared to the 2006 elections.
PO succeeded in winning four consecutive elections (a record in post-communist Poland), and Donald Tusk
is left as the kingmaker. PO's dominance is also a reflection of right-wing weakness and divisions, with PiS suffering a splinter in Autumn 2010.
Background
In the 1970s and 1980s, tension grew between the people of PolandPoland
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...
and its Communist government, as with the rest of the Eastern bloc
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...
as the influence of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
faded. With the advent of "perestroika
Perestroika
Perestroika was a political movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1980s, widely associated with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...
" in the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
, a chance was opened to finally change the system of government, after the harsh period of martial law (1981-83)
Martial law in Poland
Martial law in Poland refers to the period of time from December 13, 1981 to July 22, 1983, when the authoritarian government of the People's Republic of Poland drastically restricted normal life by introducing martial law in an attempt to crush political opposition to it. Thousands of opposition...
imposed by General Jaruzelski.
Fears that a shift of power from a centralized one-party system to a multi-party democracy might turn into a bloody revolution proved unfounded, owing to the presence on both sides — the Communist Party, and the democratic opposition — of peace-minded reformists committed to a peaceful solution.
Round Table Agreement and democratic transition
The government's inability to forestall Poland's economic decline led to waves of strikes across the country in April, May and August 1988. In an attempt to take control of the situation, the government gave de facto recognition to the Solidarity union, and Interior Minister Kiszczak began talks with its leader Lech WałęsaLech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa is a Polish politician, trade-union organizer, and human-rights activist. A charismatic leader, he co-founded Solidarity , the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland between 1990 and 95.Wałęsa was an electrician...
on August 31. These talks broke down in October, but a new series of negotiations, the "round-table" talks, began in February 1989. These talks produced an agreement in April for partly open parliamentary elections. The June election produced a 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 ....
(lower house), in which one-third of the seats went to communists and one-third went to the two parties which had hitherto been their coalition partners. The remaining one-third of the seats in the Sejm and all those in the Senate
Senate of Poland
The Senate is the upper house of the Polish parliament, the lower house being the 'Sejm'. The history of the Polish Senate is rich in tradition and stretches back over 500 years, it was one of the first constituent bodies of a bicameral parliament in Europe and existed without hiatus until the...
were freely contested; the majority of these were by candidates supported by Solidarity.
Wojciech Jaruzelski
Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski is a retired Polish military officer and Communist politician. He was the last Communist leader of Poland from 1981 to 1989, Prime Minister from 1981 to 1985 and the country's head of state from 1985 to 1990. He was also the last commander-in-chief of the Polish People's...
to that office. However, two attempts by the communists to form governments failed.
On August 19, President Jaruzelski asked journalist/Solidarity activist Tadeusz Mazowiecki
Tadeusz Mazowiecki
Tadeusz Mazowiecki is a Polish author, journalist, philanthropist and Christian-democratic politician, formerly one of the leaders of the Solidarity movement, and the first non-communist prime minister in Central and Eastern Europe after World War II.-Biography:Mazowiecki comes from a Polish...
to form a government; on September 12, the Sejm voted approval of Prime Minister Mazowiecki and his cabinet. For the first time in more than 40 years, Poland had a government led by non-communists.
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 ....
approved the government's reform program to transform the Polish economy rapidly from centrally planned to free-market, amended the constitution to eliminate references to the "leading role" of the Communist Party, and renamed the country the "Republic of Poland." The Polish United Workers' (Communist) Party dissolved itself in January 1990, creating in its place a new party, Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland. Most of the property of the former Communist Party was turned over to the state.
The May 1990 local elections were entirely free. Candidates supported by Solidarity's Citizens' Committees won most of the elections they contested, although voter turnout was only a little over 40%. The cabinet was reshuffled in July 1990; the national defence and interior affairs ministers (hold-overs from the previous communist government) were among those replaced.
In October 1990, the constitution was amended to curtail the term of President Jaruzelski. In December, Lech Wałęsa became the first popularly elected President of Poland.
Wałęsa Presidency (1990–1995)
In the early 1990s, Poland made great progress towards achieving a fully democratic government and a market economy. In November 1990, Lech Wałęsa was elected President for a 5-year term. Jan Krzysztof BieleckiJan Krzysztof Bielecki
Jan Krzysztof Bielecki is a Polish centre politician. He served as Prime Minister of Poland for most of 1991. He is a member of Civic Platform. Chairman of the Council of the Polish Institute of International Affairs....
, at Wałęsa's request, formed a government and served as its Prime Minister until October 1991, introducing world prices and greatly expanding the scope of private enterprise.
Poland's first free parliamentary elections
Polish parliamentary election, 1991
The Polish parliamentary election in 1991 to the Sejm and the Senate of Poland was held on October 27. In the Sejm elections, 27,517,280 citizens were eligible to vote, 11,887,949 of them cast their votes, 11,218,602 of those were counted as valid. In the Senate elections, 43.2% of citizens cast...
were held in 1991. More than 100 parties participated, representing the full spectrum of political views. No single party received more than 13% of the total vote. After a rough start, 1993 saw the second group of elections
Polish parliamentary election, 1993
Polish parliamentary election in 1993 to Sejm and Senate of Poland was held on the 19 September. In Sejm elections, 52.13% of citizens cast their votes, and 95.7% of those were counted as valid. In Senate elections, 52.1% of citizens cast their votes, and 97.07% were valid...
, and the first parliament to serve a full term. The Alliance of the Democratic Left (SLD) received the largest share of votes. Also in 1993 the Soviet Northern Group of Forces
Northern Group of Forces
The Northern Group of Forces was the military formation of the Soviet Army stationed in Poland from the end of Second World War in 1945 until 1993 when they were withdrawn in the aftermath of the fall of Soviet Union...
finally left Poland.
After the election, the SLD and PSL
Polish Peasant Party
The Polish People's Party , is a centrist, agrarian, and Christian democratic political party in Poland. It currently has 31 members of the Sejm, one member of the Senate, and three Members of the European Parliament. It is the junior partner in a coalition with Civic Platform.The party was...
formed a governing coalition. Waldemar Pawlak
Waldemar Pawlak
Waldemar Pawlak is a Polish politician. He twice served as Prime Minister of Poland, briefly in 1992 and again from 1993 to 1995. Since November 2007, he has been Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy. Pawlak is the only person who held the office of Prime Minister twice during the...
, leader of the junior partner PSL, became Prime Minister. Relations between President Wałęsa and the Prime Minister remained poor throughout the
Pawlak government, with the President charging Pawlak with furthering personal and party interests while neglecting matters of state importance. Following a number of scandals implicating Pawlak and increasing political tension over control of the armed forces, Wałęsa demanded Pawlak's resignation in January 1995. A crisis resulted and the coalition removed Pawlak from office and replaced him with the SLD's Józef Oleksy
Józef Oleksy
Józef Oleksy is a post-communist Polish politician, former chairman of Democratic Left Alliance ....
as the new Prime Minister.
Kwaśniewski First Presidency (1995–2000)
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...
. SLD leader 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...
defeated Wałęsa by a narrow margin—51.7% to 48.3%. Soon after Wałęsa's defeat, Interior Minister Andrzej Milczanowski accused then-Prime Minister Oleksy of longtime collaboration with Soviet and later Russian intelligence. In the ensuing political crisis, Oleksy resigned. For his successor, The SLD-PSL coalition turned to deputy Sejm speaker Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz — who was linked to, but not a member of, the SLD. Polish prosecutors subsequently decided that there was insufficient evidence to charge Oleksy, and a parliamentary commission decided in November 1996 that the Polish intelligence services may have violated rules of procedure in gathering evidence in the Oleksy case.
Civic nationalism
Liberal Nationalism is a kind of nationalism identified by political philosophers who believe in a non-xenophobic form of nationalism compatible with liberal values of freedom, tolerance, equality, and individual rights. Ernest Renan and John Stuart Mill are often thought to be early liberal...
rather than ethnic
Ethnic nationalism
Ethnic nationalism is a form of nationalism wherein the "nation" is defined in terms of ethnicity. Whatever specific ethnicity is involved, ethnic nationalism always includes some element of descent from previous generations and the implied claim of ethnic essentialism, i.e...
terms. Article 35 guaranteed the rights of national and ethnic minorities, while other provisions prohibited discrimination and political organisations that spread racial hatred.
In 1997 parliamentary elections
Polish parliamentary election, 1997
The Polish parliamentary election in 1997 to the Sejm and Senate of Poland was held on the 21 September. In the Sejm elections, 47.93% of citizens cast their votes, 96.12% of which were counted as valid...
two parties with roots in the Solidarity movement — Solidarity Electoral Action
Solidarity Electoral Action
Solidarity Electoral Action was a political party coalition in Poland. Since 1997 its official name has been Akcja Wyborcza Solidarność Prawicy or Solidarity Electoral Action of the Right...
(AWS) and the Freedom Union
Freedom Union (Poland)
The Freedom Union was a liberal democratic party in Poland. It was founded on March 20, 1994 out of the merger of the Democratic Union and the Liberal Democratic Congress . Both of these parties had roots in the Solidarity trade union movement. It represented European democratic and liberal...
(UW) — won 261 of the 460 seats in the Sejm and formed a coalition government. Jerzy 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...
of the AWS became Prime Minister. The AWS and the Alliance of the Democratic Left (SLD) held the majority of the seats in the Sejm. Marian Krzaklewski
Marian Krzaklewski
Marian Krzaklewski is a Polish politician. A member of Solidarity since the 1980s, he was one of the most known and influential Polish politicians in the late 1990s, when he created the Solidarity Electoral Action...
was the leader of the AWS, and Leszek Miller
Leszek Miller
Leszek Cezary Miller is a Polish central-left-wing politician, leader of the Democratic Left Alliance , Prime Minister of the government of the Republic of Poland in 2001-2004.-Childhood and youth:...
led the SLD. In April 1997, the first post-communist Constitution of Poland
Constitution of Poland
The current Constitution of Poland was adopted on 2 April 1997. Formally known as the Constitution of the Republic of Poland , it replaced the temporary amendments put into place in 1992 designed to reverse the effects of Communism, establishing the nation as "a democratic state ruled by law and...
was finalized, and in July put into effect. In June 2000, UW withdrew from the governing collation, leaving AWS at the helm of a minority government.
Kwaśniewski Second Presidency (2000–2005)
In the presidential electionPolish 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:...
of 2000, 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...
, the incumbent former leader of the post-communist SLD, was re-elected in the first round of voting, with 53.9% of the popular vote. Second place, with only 17.3%, went to Andrzej Olechowski
Andrzej Olechowski
Andrzej Marian Olechowski is a Polish politician. He was one of the co-founders of conservative liberal party Civic Platform in 2001 with Maciej Płażyński and Donald Tusk...
. It is thought that the opposition campaign was hindered by their inability to put forward a charismatic (or even a single major) candidate, as well as falling support for the centre-right AWS government. This was related to internal friction in the ruling parliamentary coalition.
The 1997 Constitution
Constitution of Poland
The current Constitution of Poland was adopted on 2 April 1997. Formally known as the Constitution of the Republic of Poland , it replaced the temporary amendments put into place in 1992 designed to reverse the effects of Communism, establishing the nation as "a democratic state ruled by law and...
and the reformed administrative division of 1999 required a revision of the electoral system, which was passed in April 2001. The most important changes included:
- the final liquidation of the party list (previously, some of the members of parliament were elected from a party list, based on nationwide voter support, rather than from local constituencies),
- modification of the method of allocating seats to the Sainte-Laguë methodSainte-Laguë methodThe Sainte-Laguë method is one way of allocating seats approximately proportional to the number of votes of a party to a party list used in many voting systems. It is named after the French mathematician André Sainte-Laguë. The Sainte-Laguë method is quite similar to the D'Hondt method, but uses...
, which gave less premium to large parties. The latter change was reverted back to the d'Hondt methodD'Hondt methodThe d'Hondt method is a highest averages method for allocating seats in party-list proportional representation. The method described is named after Belgian mathematician Victor D'Hondt who described it in 1878...
in 2002.
Leszek Miller government
The September 2001 parliamentary electionsPolish parliamentary election, 2001
Polish parliamentary election in 2001 to Sejm and Senate of Poland were held on the 23rd September. In Sejm elections, 46.29% of citizens cast their votes, 96.01% of those were counted as valid...
saw the SLD (successor to the communist party twice removed) triumph on the back of voter disillusionment with the AWS government and internal bickering within that bloc. So much so that this former ruling party did not enter parliament due to falling below the 8% threshold for coalitions. (Symptomatically, they had failed to form a formal political party, which has only a 5% threshold, and formally remained a "coalition" of parties).
The SLD went on to form a coalition with the agrarian PSL
Polish Peasant Party
The Polish People's Party , is a centrist, agrarian, and Christian democratic political party in Poland. It currently has 31 members of the Sejm, one member of the Senate, and three Members of the European Parliament. It is the junior partner in a coalition with Civic Platform.The party was...
and leftist UP, with Leszek Miller
Leszek Miller
Leszek Cezary Miller is a Polish central-left-wing politician, leader of the Democratic Left Alliance , Prime Minister of the government of the Republic of Poland in 2001-2004.-Childhood and youth:...
as Prime Minister. This government had the support of 256 of the 460 seats 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 ....
.
A leading issue in the subsequent years was negotiations with 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...
regarding accession and internal preparation for this. Poland joined the EU
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...
in May 2004. Both President Kwaśniewski and the government were vocal in their support for this cause. The only party decidedly opposed to EU entry was the populist right-wing 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....
(LPR).
Despite broad popular support for joining the EU, which was considered an overriding issue, the government rapidly lost popularity due to incompetence on various issues (e.g. building of motorways, and a botched reform of the health system), a general economic slump, and numerous corruption scandals. The most famous of these were the Rywin affair
Rywin affair
The Rywin affair was a corruption scandal in Poland, which began in late 2002 while the post communist government of the SLD was in power...
(an alleged attempt to interfere with the legislative process, so named after the main suspect Lew Rywin) -- this case was investigated by a special parliamentary committee, whose proceedings were televised and widely followed), and the Starachowice affair (government ministers informed friends with links to organized crime about an impending raid).
In March some prominent SLD politicians and MPs (including the then Speaker of the Sejm: Marek Borowski
Marek Borowski
Marek Stefan Borowski is a Polish left-wing politician. He led the Democratic Left Alliance for a time and was Speaker of the Sejm from 2001 to 2004....
) formed a split, creating the new SDPL party. The cabinet led by Leszek Miller
Leszek Miller
Leszek Cezary Miller is a Polish central-left-wing politician, leader of the Democratic Left Alliance , Prime Minister of the government of the Republic of Poland in 2001-2004.-Childhood and youth:...
resigned on May 2, 2004, just after Poland's admission to the European Union.
A new cabinet was formed, with Marek Belka
Marek Belka
Marek Marian Belka is a Polish professor of Economics, a former Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Poland, former Director of the International Monetary Fund's European Department and current Head of National Bank of Poland.- Biography :...
as prime minister. After two initial unsuccessful attempts, it eventually won parliamentary support (24 June) and governed until the parliamentary elections in late 2005
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...
. Several of the new ministers were seen as non-partisan experts, and the government was considered a marked improvement upon the previous cabinet. This did not carry over into any rise in voter support for the SLD, however, even despite an economic upturn through 2005. Part of the reason being that this government was considered to be largely apart from the party backbone, and only held in office by the fear of early elections by the majority of the MPs.
A fear not unfounded, as the SLD saw its support drop by three-fourths to only 11% in the subsequent elections.
PiS-led coalition governments
In the autumn of 2005 Poles voted in both parliamentary and presidential elections. September's parliamentary pollPolish 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...
was expected to produce a coalition of two centre-right parties, PiS (Law and Justice
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....
) and PO (Civic Platform
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...
). During the increasingly bitter campaign, however, PiS launched a strong attack on the liberal economic policies of their allies and overtook PO in opinion polls. PiS eventually gained 27% of votes cast and became the largest party in the sejm ahead of PO on 24%. The out-going ruling party, the socialist SLD, achieved just 11%. This continues the trend that in every free parliamentary election the Polish electorate has voted against the current government, turning to the left in 1993 and 2001, and to the right in 1997 and 2005.
Presidential elections in October
Polish presidential election, 2005
-External links:**] ]**...
followed a similar script. The early favorite, Donald Tusk
Donald Tusk
Donald Franciszek Tusk is a Polish politician who has been Prime Minister of Poland since 2007. He was a co-founder and is chairman of the Civic Platform party....
, leader of the PO, saw his opinion poll lead slip away and was beaten 54% to 46% in the second round by the PiS candidate 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...
(one of the twins, founders of the party).
Both elections were blighted by low turn-outs: only 51% in the second and deciding round of the presidential election and just over 40% in the parliamentary election. The suggested cause of the low turnout is popular disillusionment with politicians.
Coalition talks ensued simultaneously with the presidential elections. However, the severity of the campaign attacks and the willingness of PiS to court the populist vote had soured the relationship between the two largest parties and made the creation of a stable coalition impossible. The ostensible stumbling blocks were the insistence of PiS that it control all aspects of law enforcement: the Ministries of Justice and Internal Affairs, and the special forces; as well as the forcing through of a PiS candidate for the head of 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 ....
with help of several smaller populist parties. The PO decided to go into opposition.
PiS then formed a minority government with the previously little-known Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz
Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz
Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz is a Polish conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of Poland from October 31, 2005 to July 14, 2006...
as Prime Minister instead of party leader, Jarosław Kaczyński who remained influential in the background. This government relied on the tacit and rather stable support of smaller populist and agrarian parties (Samoobrona, LPR) to govern.
The new government enjoyed quite strong public support (which was expected during first few months after the election), while the popularity of the populist parties giving it support, significantly waned. A parliamentary crisis appeared to loom in January 2006, with these small populist parties fearing that PiS was about to force new elections (on which they would lose out) by using the pretext of failing to pass the budget within the constitutional timeframe. However, a crisis was abated.
In May 2006 a coalition agreement for majority government was formed between PiS, Samoobrona and LPR. In July 2006, following a rift with his party leader, Jarosław Kaczyński, Marcinkiewicz tendered his resignation as Prime Minister and was replaced by Jarosław Kaczyński himself.
The following 15 months were erratic and not without controversy, as the government pursued lustration
Lustration in Poland
Lustration in Poland refers to the policy of limiting the participation of former communists, and especially informants of the communist secret police , in the successor governments or even in civil service positions.-1992–1997:...
policies, established a Central Anticorruption Bureau
Central Anticorruption Bureau
The Central Anticorruption Bureau is a division of the Polish government, reporting to the Prime Minister of Poland, responsible for addressing corruption in Poland. Located in Warsaw, the CBA has been in operation since 24 July 2006, having been activated by the June 2006 Central Anticorruption...
with far reaching powers and was embroiled in a case relating to the suicide of a M.P.
Barbara Blida
Barbara Blida was a Polish political figure who served in the nation's Parliament for 16 years , including a stint as a member of the cabinet, and whose controversial suicide in the midst of an investigation for corruption became front-page news in Poland as well as in a number of news outlets...
who was under investigation for corruption. The new government also modified Polish foreign relations relating to the EU
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...
by adopting a more 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...
al stance, where Polish governments had in the past adopted a very pro-EU position.
The uneasy alliance between the three coalition partners came to a head in July 2007 when Samoobrona leader, Andrzej Lepper
Andrzej Lepper
Andrzej Zbigniew Lepper was a Polish politician who was the leader of Samoobrona RP political party....
, was dismissed from his position as Minister for Agriculture following a secret investigation by the Central Anticorruption Bureau (CBA) which attempted to link him and his department to corruptive practices. Lepper protested his innocence and claimed to have been the victim of a politically motivated 'sting' operation, initiated by PM Kaczynski and PiS. The coalition agreement collapsed over the following month, with both the LPR and Samoobrona levelling accusations against PiS. In September, the Sejm voted to dissolve itself (supported by PiS, but opposed by Samoobrona and LPR), paving the way for elections in October.
Donald Tusk (PO) government (2007)
The October parliamentary electionsPolish 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...
saw a stunning victory for the Civic Platform
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...
(PO), the largest opposition party, which gained more than 41% of the popular vote. PiS's vote increased, from 2005, but insufficiently to gain reelection, whilst both Samoobrona and LPR were wiped out, losing all representation, each having gained only a little over 1% of the vote. PO proceeded to form a majority governing coalition with the agrarian Polish People's Party (PSL), with PO leader, Donald Tusk
Donald Tusk
Donald Franciszek Tusk is a Polish politician who has been Prime Minister of Poland since 2007. He was a co-founder and is chairman of the Civic Platform party....
, taking over the prime ministerial office in November, 2007.
On August 14, 2008, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Poland
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...
agreed to have 10, two-stage missile interceptors - made by Orbital Sciences Corp - placed in Poland, as part of a missile shield to defend Europe and the US from a possible missile attack by Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
. In return, the US agreed to move a battery of MIM-104 Patriot
MIM-104 Patriot
The MIM-104 Patriot is a surface-to-air missile system, the primary of its kind used by the United States Army and several allied nations. It is manufactured by the Raytheon Company of the United States. The Patriot System replaced the Nike Hercules system as the U.S. Army's primary High to Medium...
missiles to Poland. The missile battery would be staffed - at least temporarily - by US Military personnel. The US also pledged to defend Poland - a NATO member - quicker than NATO would in the event of an attack. After the agreement was announced, Russian officials - who view the missile shield as a threat - released a statement indirectly threatening Poland, and said that the missile defense system would greatly harm future US/Russia relations.
Russia later threatened nuclear attack against "new US assets in Europe", referring to Poland. The US has pledged to back Warsaw in the event of Russian aggressions towards Poland.
On April 10, 2010, the President of the Republic of Poland, 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...
, died in a plane crash
2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash
The 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash occurred on 10 April 2010, when a Tupolev Tu-154M aircraft of the Polish Air Force crashed near the city of Smolensk, Russia, killing all 96 people on board...
in 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...
.
In October 2011. Donald Tusk, with a clear pro-european agenda, became the first ever Polish Prime Minister to be reelected in post-communist Poland.
Komorowski Presidency (2010)
On 10 April 2010, several members of the political elite were killed in the Smolensk air crash2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash
The 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash occurred on 10 April 2010, when a Tupolev Tu-154M aircraft of the Polish Air Force crashed near the city of Smolensk, Russia, killing all 96 people on board...
, including 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...
, acting President of Poland.
At the Polish presidential election in 2010, Donald Tusk
Donald Tusk
Donald Franciszek Tusk is a Polish politician who has been Prime Minister of Poland since 2007. He was a co-founder and is chairman of the Civic Platform party....
decided not to present his candidature, considered easily winning over PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński. At PO primary election
Primary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
s, Bronisław Komorowski defeated the Oxford-educated, PiS turncoat Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski. At the second round of voting on 4 July 2010., Komorowski defeated Jarosław Kaczyński, ensuring PO dominance across the Polish political landscape. On August 6, 2010 Bronislaw Komorowski
Bronislaw Komorowski
Bronisław Maria Komorowski is the President of Poland. As Marshal of the Sejm , Komorowski exercised powers and duties of head of state following the death of President Lech Kaczyński in a plane crash on 10 April 2010...
was sworn in as new President.
In November 2010, local elections granted PO about 31 percent of the votes and PiS at 23 percent, an increase for the former and a drop for the latter compared to the 2006 elections.
PO succeeded in winning four consecutive elections (a record in post-communist Poland), and Donald Tusk
Donald Tusk
Donald Franciszek Tusk is a Polish politician who has been Prime Minister of Poland since 2007. He was a co-founder and is chairman of the Civic Platform party....
is left as the kingmaker. PO's dominance is also a reflection of right-wing weakness and divisions, with PiS suffering a splinter in Autumn 2010.
External links
- Commonwealth.pl, Commonwealth of Diverse Cultures: Poland's Heritage