The Liberal Democratic Congress ( pl, Kongres Liberalno-Demokratyczny (KLD)) was a
conservative-liberal political party in Poland.
The party, led by
Donald Tusk
Donald Franciszek Tusk ( , ; born 22 April 1957) is a Polish politician who was President of the European Council from 2014 to 2019. He served as the 14th Prime Minister of Poland from 2007 to 2014 and was a co-founder and leader of the Civic Pla ...
, had roots in the
Solidarity
''Solidarity'' is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. It is based on class collaboration.''Merriam Webster'', http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictio ...
movement. It advocated
free market economy
A market economy is an economic system in which the decisions regarding investment, production and distribution to the consumers are guided by the price signals created by the forces of supply and demand, where all suppliers and consumers ar ...
and individual liberty (however in Catholic understanding), rejected extremism and fanaticism and favoured
European integration
European integration is the process of industrial, economic integration, economic, political, legal, social integration, social, and cultural Regional integration, integration of states wholly or partially in Europe or nearby. European integrat ...
(in the form of
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
membership), rapid
privatisation
Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
of the enterprises still owned by the Polish state and decentralisation of the government.
Until 1991 was a part of the
Centre Agreement
Porozumienie Centrum (PC; en, Centre Agreement) was a Polish Christian democratic political party. The party rose in 1990. Its chairman was Jarosław Kaczyński. In its programme, the PC opposed socialism and was anti-communist. In 1997 PC join ...
led by the Kaczynski brothers. In the 1991 general elections KLD got 7.5% of the votes and 37 seats in the
Sejm
The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland.
The Sejm has been the highest governing body of t ...
(total 460 seats). In 1993 KLD got 4.0% of the votes and was left without seats.
It merged on March 20, 1994 with the
Democratic Union (Unia Demokratyczna) into the
Freedom Union (''Unia Wolności'', UW). Some of the former KLD members decided in January 2001 to move to join the new
Civic Platform
Civic Platform ( pl, Platforma Obywatelska, PO)The party is officially the Civic Platform of the Republic of Poland (''Platforma Obywatelska Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''). is a political party in Poland. It is currently led by Donald Tusk.
It w ...
. The KLD group within Civic Platform is now seen as moderate conservative. The liberal faction within Civic Platform is small and insignificant, represented by such politicians as
Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz
Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz (born 29 July 1961) is a Polish politician who served as the minister of interior from 25 February 2013 to 22 September 2014.
Early life and education
Sienkiewicz was born on 29 July 1961. He is the great-grandson of Nobe ...
and
Adam Szejnfeld.
Election results
Sejm
Senate
References
See also
*
List of Liberal Democratic Congress politicians
A list of notable Polish politicians of the defunct Liberal Democratic Congress ( pl, Kongres Liberalno-Demokratyczny).
A
* Tadeusz Aziewicz
B
* Jan Krzysztof Bielecki
* Michał Boni
* Józef Borzyszkowski
D
* Mirosław Drzewiecki
G
* Witol ...
*
Contributions to liberal theory
Contribution or Contribute may refer to:
* ''Contribution'' (album), by Mica Paris (1990)
** "Contribution" (song), title song from the album
*Contribution (law), an agreement between defendants in a suit to apportion liability
*Contributions, a ...
*
List of liberal parties
This article gives information on liberalism worldwide. It is an overview of parties that adhere to some form of liberalism and is therefore a list of liberal parties around the world.
Introduction
The definition of liberal party is highly deba ...
*
Liberal democracy
Liberal democracy is the combination of a liberal political ideology that operates under an indirect democratic form of government. It is characterized by elections between multiple distinct political parties, a separation of powers into diff ...
{{Authority control
1990 establishments in Poland
1994 disestablishments in Poland
Catholic political parties
Centrist parties in Poland
Conservative liberal parties
Conservative parties in Poland
Defunct liberal political parties
Defunct political parties in Poland
Liberal parties in Poland
Political parties disestablished in 1994
Political parties established in 1990
Pro-European political parties in Poland