The Polish Coalition ( pl, Koalicja Polska, KP) is a

political alliance A political group is a group consisting of political parties or legislators of aligned ideologies. A technical group is similar to a political group, but with members of differing ideologies. International terms Equivalent terms are used differ ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. It is led by the

Polish People's Party The Polish People's Party ( pl, Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe, PSL) is an agrarian political party in Poland. It is currently led by Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz. Its history traces back to 1895, when it held the name People's Party, although it ...

. It was formed in 2019. In the 2019 parliamentary election, the Polish Coalition placed fourth, winning 30 seats in total. Its 2020 presidential candidate was

Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz Władysław Marcin Kosiniak-Kamysz (born 10 August 1981) is a Polish physician and politician. Since 2015, he has served as the chairman of the Polish People's Party (PSL). From 2011 to 2015, he was Minister of Labor and Social Affairs in the go ...

, who placed fifth in the first round. The coalition adheres to principles of

Christian democracy Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern Democracy, d ...

conservatism Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

, and

agrarianism Agrarianism is a political and social philosophy that has promoted subsistence agriculture, smallholdings, and egalitarianism, with agrarian political parties normally supporting the rights and sustainability of small farmers and poor peasants ag ...

. It has been described as

centrist Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to the l ...

and

centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the right of the political spectrum, but are closer to the centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and me ...

History

Formation and parliamentary election

The coalition was first mentioned on 4 February 2019, at an press conference as a union of the

(PSL), the

Union of European Democrats The Union of European Democrats ( pl, Unia Europejskich Demokratów, UED) is a liberal political party in Poland. It is led by Elżbieta Bińczycka. It was founded as a merger of Democratic Party – demokraci.pl and "European Democrats" i ...

(UED) and Modern (N). The idea was supported by former mayor of

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...

Rafał Dutkiewicz Rafał Dutkiewicz (born 6 July 1959, Mikstat) is a Polish politician and entrepreneur who served as the city mayor of Wrocław, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Poland from 2002 to 2018. Career till 2002 In the late 1970s and early 1980s he engage ...

. In the May 2019 European Parliament election, the PSL, Modern and UED participated in the European Coalition, which included centre-right, centrist and centre-left parties. The PSL general council decided to build the Polish Coalition, a

coalition, on 1 June of that year. The desire for a coalition was first declared by the

League of Polish Families The League of Polish Families (Polish: ''Liga Polskich Rodzin'', LPR) is a conservative political party in Poland, with many far-right elements in the past. The party's original ideology was that of the National Democracy movement which was head ...

(LPR) and the UED. The PSL also held talks with

Kukiz'15 Kukiz'15 is a right-wing populist political party in Poland led by Paweł Kukiz. It was formed in 2015 as a loose movement that registered itself as an association in 2016 and later as a political party in 2020. Initially, it was connected with ...

, the

Right Wing of the Republic The Right Wing of the Republic ( pl, Prawica Rzeczypospolitej) is a political party in Poland founded by former ''Marshal of the Sejm'' Marek Jurek on 20 April 2007 after he had left Law and Justice on 16 April 2007, when the Sejm failed to pas ...

and the Nonpartisan Local Government Activists movement, and invited

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 ...

(PO). The PSL-UED parliamentary coalition changed its name to PSL-Polish Coalition on 4 July 2019, and was joined by former members of PO (

Marek Biernacki Marek Biernacki (born 28 April 1959 in Sopot) is a Polish lawyer and politician. Biernacki previously served as the Minister of Justice in the cabinet of Prime Minister Donald Tusk between 2013 and 2014 and the Minister of Internal Affairs and ...

and Jacek Tomczak) and Modern (Radosław Lubczyk). Two days later, the PSL general council announced that an alliance with PO is a coalition priority.

confirmed UED cooperation. On 23 July, the PSL's Piotr Zgorzelski confirmed that the Alliance of Democrats and Labour Party were part of the coalition and talks with

and Nonpartisan Local Governments Association were cordial and would end soon. A week later, Marek Sawicki confirmed that the Association of Catholic Families had joined the coalition. The Silesians Together party and the Jura-Silesian Association European Home joined the coalition on 5 August 2019. Three days later (after losing several MPs),

joined the coalition. One member each from Civic Platform and the

(LPR) were also on the PSL list, despite those parties not belonging to the coalition. In the 2019 parliamentary election, the PSL received 8.6 percent of the vote; an improvement compared to the 2015 parliamentary election. The coalition gained 30 seats in the Sejm: 20 from the PSL, six from Kukiz'15, one from the UED, and three independents. It also gained three senators: two from the PSL and one from the UED.

Coalition since the end of 2019

of the PSL became coalition's candidate for the 2020 presidential election. He received 459,365 votes which was 2.4%, coming fifth among eleven candidates On 26 November 2020, the General Council of PSL ended coalition with Kukiz'15, after 5 of 6 MPs of K'15 voted in favour of government's veto on European budget. Parliamentary club has its changed its title to Polish Coalition - PSL, UED, Conservatives. 5 politicians of Kukiz'15 with

Paweł Kukiz Paweł Piotr Kukiz (born 24 June 1963) is a Polish politician, singer and actor. He is the leader of Kukiz'15, a non-partisan political alliance campaigning for single-member districts, and was a candidate in the 2015 presidential election, in wh ...

has formed their own group in parliament, Agnieszka Ścigaj (who voted as PSL in case of veto) became independent MP. She joined PSL parliamentary group, but later she resigned from this political group and became unaffiliated MP. In 2021 Polish Coalition started unofficial cooperation with

Polish Affairs Polish Affairs ( pl, Polskie Sprawy) is a Polish conservative-liberal parliamentary group formed on 29 April 2021 by two opposition MPs and one ruling party MP. The leader of the circle is Agnieszka Ścigaj. Two former government representatives ...

and

Agreement Agreement may refer to: Agreements between people and organizations * Gentlemen's agreement, not enforceable by law * Trade agreement, between countries * Consensus, a decision-making process * Contract, enforceable in a court of law ** Meeting of ...

, and decided to talk with Poland 2050 and more conservative local activists of

about possibilities of creating centre to centre-right political faction in Poland.

Composition

2019 election

Ninth Sejm and 10th Senate

References

{{Polish political parties 2019 establishments in Poland Centrist parties in Europe Christian democratic parties in Europe Conservative parties in Poland Direct democracy parties Polish People's Party Political parties established in 2019 Political party alliances in Poland Pro-European political parties in Poland