Poland - Political parties

After the political poverty of its Communist past, Poland exploded in a rich exuberance of political parties, which ranged across the full political spectrum, from the rabidly xenophobic nationalism of the Polish National Front (whose leader, Janusz Bryczkowski, invited Russian extremist Vladimir Zhirinovsky to Poland in 1994) to the socialist party, Union of Labor (UP). In between, or sometimes even taking positions not to be found on ordinary political spectra, were special interest and even quirky parties, of which the best example may be the Polish Beerdrinkers' Party. A full 69 parties participated in the 1991 parliamentary elections, of which 29 gained seats, none of them with more than 14% of the total vote.

By 1993, however, the political scene was showing signs of stabilizing. Only 35 parties took part in that election; perhaps more significantly, only five received seats, as did members of a coalition of parties. That election, distorted in part by laws assigning the votes of unsuccessful parties to more successful ones, seemed to indicate a strong shift toward the left.

The local elections of 1994, however, indicated that Poland was coalescing into three basic political orientations, which are served by shifting coalitions of parties. On the right in that election were two large coalitions: the Alliance for Poland, which included the Christian National Union, the Center Alliance, the Movement for the Republic, Peasant Alliance, and the Conservative Coalition; and the 11 November Agreement, which included the Conservative Party, the Party of Christian Democrats, the Christian-Peasant Alliance, and the Real Politics Union (a radical laissez-faire party). These parties generally favored a major role for the Catholic Church, and tended to draw their support from Poland's rural sectors; in 1994, they did best in the eastern districts. In general, though, public support for the right, especially the religious right, appears to be limited.

The center was dominated by Freedom Union (UW), which was formed in April 1994, when the Liberal Democratic Congress merged with the Democratic Union. The centrist position derives largely from the intellectual wing of the original Solidarity, favoring radical economic transformation, while being less concerned with immediate impact upon workers. UW draws much of its support from smaller cities, especially university ones, such as Cracow.

The left, which was almost entirely discredited in 1991, has shown remarkable resilience. Through the 1990s, the two major parties were the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), which incorporates the Social Democracy of Republic of Poland party (SDRP), the formal inheritor of the Communist party, and the Communist-era trade union federation (OPZZ), and the Polish Peasant Party (PSL), which is the descendent of the Communist party's old ruling partner, the United Peasant Party (ZSL). By 2000, Solidarity Electoral Action Social Movement (AWS), a post-Solidarity party, led the governing coalition.

In the 1997 parliamentary election, AWS won 201 and SLD got 164 seats, with UW winning 60 and PSL 27. SLD has its support in Warsaw and the other large industrial cities, especially Lodz (long known as "red Lodz").

In the 2001 parliamentary election, the SLD/UP coalition took the most seats in the Sejm with 216; they formed a government with the PSL's 42 seats. Also gaining seats in the Sejm were: the centrist Citizen's Platform, 65; the conservative Self-Defense of the Polish Republic, 53; the anti-corruption Law and Justice Party, 44; and the Christian-nationalist League of Polish Families, 38. Two members of the German minority also held seats in the Sejm. The AWSP, taking only 5.6% of the vote, held no seats in parliament.

In the 1995 presidential elections, Aleksander Kwasniewski of SLD beat Lech Walesa by a small margin (51.7% to 48.3%) to become president for a five-year term. He was reelected in 2000 with 53.9% of the vote, and, in a striking reversal, Walesa finished seventh with 0.8% of the vote.