The Polish Initiative (

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

: Inicjatywa Polska, iPL) is a progressive political party in Poland. It was formed as an association in 2016, and it was registered as a political party in 2019. Its leader is

Barbara Nowacka Barbara Anna Nowacka (born 10 May 1975) is a Polish politician. A left activist in Labour United, and later in Your Movement, in October 2015 she became leader of the United Left coalition for the 2015 Polish parliamentary election, bringing tog ...

, and it is a part of the Civic Coalition. It supports principles of

social-democracy Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soc ...

, and advocates for

secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on Secularity, secular, Naturalism (philosophy), naturalistic considerations. Secularism is most commonly defined as the Separation of church and state, separation of relig ...

. It has been described as

centre-left Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The c ...

and

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

History

The association Polish Initiative was created on February 20, 2016, by Barbara Nowacka, a former member of the

Your Movement Your Movement ( pl, Twój Ruch, which can also be translated as ''Your Move'', TR) is a Social liberalism, social liberal, Populism, populist and anti-clerical list of political parties in Poland, political party in Poland. The party was founded ...

and the United Left electoral alliance for the 2015 parliamentary election. It was registered as a political party in 2019. In 2018 the Initiative joined the Civic Coalition for the

local elections In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct vary ...

. Two of its candidates were elected to the

Voivodeship sejmik A voivodeship sejmik ( pl, sejmik województwa), also known as a provincial or regional assembly, is the regional-level elected legislature for each of the sixteen voivodeships of Poland.#Machnikowski, Machnikowski et al., p. 21 Sejmiks are electe ...

s. The association joined the

European Coalition European Coalition was the name adopted by various electoral coalitions formed in Spain for elections to the European Parliament. The coalitions were headed by Canarian Coalition. In 2019 the European Coalition was formed in Poland for elections to ...

for the

2019 European Parliament election The 2019 European Parliament election was held between 23 and 26 May 2019, the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent more than 512 million peopl ...

. However, because of being in the process of the registration as a political party, its members did not compete in the election. The party joined the Civic Coalition for the 2019 parliamentary election. Two of the party candidates, including its leader

and two candidates recommended by the party, were elected to 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 ...

. The Coalition won 134 in total, losing to the ruling party

Law and Justice Law and Justice ( pl, Prawo i Sprawiedliwość , PiS) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Poland. Its chairman is Jarosław Kaczyński. It was founded in 2001 by Jarosław and Lech Kaczyński as a direct su ...

. The Polish Initiative supported the Civic Coalition's candidate

Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska Małgorzata Maria Kidawa-Błońska, née Grabska (born 5 May 1957) is a Polish politician, lawyer, film producer, and sociologist. She was Marshal of the Sejm from 25 June 2015 to 11 November 2015 at the end of the Seventh term's composition of ...

in the

2020 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2020 lists the national/federal elections held in 2020 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *5 January: **C ...

. Later, the Polish Initiative announced that it would as a party not take part in the election on 10 May, due change of electoral rules because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. However, after the election was moved it supported

Rafał Trzaskowski Rafał Kazimierz Trzaskowski (; born 17 January 1972) is a Polish politician and the current List of city mayors of Warsaw, city mayor of Warsaw. He is also a political scientist specializing in European studies. He served as a Member of the Eur ...

, who became the Civic Coalition's candidate after the resignation of

. Trzaskowski later lost in the second round to the

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an official, office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seek ...

Andrzej Duda Andrzej Sebastian Duda (; born 16 May 1972) is a Polish lawyer and politician who has served as president of Poland since 6 August 2015. Before becoming president, Andrzej Duda was a member of Polish Lower House (Sejm) from 2011 to 2014 and the ...

Ideology

The Polish Initiative is a progressive, and

social-democratic Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

party. It sits on the

and leans towards the

on the political spectrum. The party supports the decentralisation of power and increasing the power of local governments. It also supports

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 ...

. On social issues, it is against any forms of discrimination, with an emphasis on gender discrimination. The party also advocates for the

separation of church and state The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular sta ...

. The party also supports increasing the funding of the Polish healthcare system.

Electoral performance

Sejm

Presidential

Regional Assemblies

Board

Leader *

Secretary * Tomasz Sybilski Treasurer * Katarzyna Osowiecka Other members * Anna Uzdowska-Gacek * Barbara Starska * Dariusz Joński * Szymon Wiłnicki * Adam Ostaszewski * Mateusz Rambacher * Arkadiusz Dzierżyński

References

{{Polish political parties 2019 establishments in Poland Centre-left parties in Europe Civic Coalition (Poland) Political parties established in 2019 Political parties in Poland Pro-European political parties in Poland Liberal parties in Poland Progressive parties Social democratic parties in Poland