The Party of Christian Democrats ( pl, Partia Chrześcijańskich Demokratów, PChD) was a
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...
in Poland.
History
The PChD was established in
Poznań
Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...
on 16 December 1990 by members of 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 ...
trade union and its political arm, the
Solidarity Citizens' Committee
The Solidarity Citizens' Committee (''Komitet Obywatelski "Solidarność"'', KO "S"), also known as Citizens' Electoral Committee (''Obywatelski Komitet Wyborczy'') and previously named the Citizens' Committee with Lech Wałęsa (''Komitet Obywate ...
.
[Piotr Wróbel (2014) ''Historical Dictionary of Poland 1945-1996'', Routledge, p49] Its founding congress was held on 13 January 1991, with
Krzysztof Pawłowski becoming party chairman and
Paweł Łączkowski being appointed secretary general. In the
1991 parliamentary elections it received 1.1% of the vote, winning four 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 ...
and three in the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
.
Dieter Nohlen
Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An expe ...
& Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1511–1513
The party joined forces with the
Christian National Union
The Christian National Union ( pl, Zjednoczenie Chrześcijańsko-Narodowe), abbreviated to ZChN,Maher (2004), p. 3458 was a Polish nationalist political party in Poland. Founded on 15 September 1989, the party traced its tradition to the Solida ...
for the
1993 parliamentary elections, which they contested as the Catholic Electoral Committee "Homeland" but failed to win a seat.
[ In 1996 the party joined the centre-right ]Solidarity Electoral Action
Solidarity Electoral Action ( pl, Akcja Wyborcza Solidarność, AWS) was a political coalition in Poland from 1996 to 2001. From 1997 to 2001, its official name was ''Akcja Wyborcza Solidarność Prawicy'' (AWSP) or Electoral Action Solidarity o ...
, which went on to win the 1997 parliamentary elections, with PChD taking seven of the alliance's 201 seats.
In July 1999 an agreement was reached with the leader of Movement for the Republic to merge to form a new party. The Polish Christian Democratic Agreement was subsequently established the following September.
List of MPs
References
{{Authority control
Defunct political parties in Poland
Political parties established in 1990
Political parties disestablished in 1999
1990 establishments in Poland
1999 disestablishments in Poland