The Polish People's Party – Peasants' Agreement (, PSL-PL), commonly known simply as Peasants' Agreement (''PL''), was an agrarian and

Christian-democratic Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well a ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

History

The party originated from the People's Agreement, an electoral list consisting mainly of Rural Solidarity (RS) and two dissident groups of the

Polish People's Party The Polish People's Party (, PSL) is a conservative 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 its name was changed to the pre ...

(PSL), the so-called "Polish People's Party ( Mikołajczyk)" and the "Polish People's Party (

Wilanów Wilanów () is a dzielnica, district of the city of Warsaw, Poland. It is home to historic Wilanów Palace, the "Polish Palace of Versailles, Versailles," and second home to various List of Polish rulers, Polish kings. Wilanów is home to many v ...

)". The People's Agreement participated in the 1991 parliamentary election, obtaining 5.5% of the vote, 28 seats in the

Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

and five 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 ex ...

& Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', pp. 1511–1513 Subsequently, PSL-W's Henryk Bąk was elected

Deputy Marshal of the Sejm Deputy Marshal of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland () is a person elected to preside over Sejm (Polish lower chamber of parliament) sessions when the Sejm Marshal is not presiding. Throughout the course of the Third Republic, there have always be ...

and the group was part of the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

led by

Jan Olszewski Jan Ferdynand Olszewski (; 20 August 1930 – 7 February 2019) was a Polish conservative lawyer and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Poland for five months between December 1991 and early June 1992 and later became a leading figure ...

, with RS' Gabriel Janowski as Minister of Agriculture.Piotr Wróbel (2014) ''Historical Dictionary of Poland 1945-1996'', Routledge, p248 The PL was formally established in March 1992, under the leadership of Janowski, who retained his job as Minister of Agriculture also in the

led by

Hanna Suchocka Hanna Stanisława Suchocka (; born 3 April 1946) is a Polish political figure, lawyer, professor at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and Chair of the Constitutional Law Department, former First Vice-President and Honorary President of the V ...

, which included also PL's Zygmunt Hortmanowicz as Minister of the Environment and Jerzy Kamiński as a minister without portfolio. The dismissal of Janowski from the government in April 1993 led to the formal departure of the PL from the coalition, however during the no-confidence vote, only individual members of this party spoke against the government. Due to several splits and internal disagreements, the 1993 parliamentary election saw the party's vote share fall to 2.4%. As it had failed to pass the 5% electoral threshold, it lost all its parliamentary representation. Following the election, the party disintegrated, although it was part of

Solidarity Electoral Action Solidarity Electoral Action (, AWS) was a coalition of political parties in Poland, active from 1996 to 2001. AWS was the political arm of the Solidarity (Polish trade union), Solidarity trade union, whose leader Lech Wałęsa (also an AWS member ...

in the 1997 parliamentary electionAleksander Andrzej Szczerbiak (1989) ''The emergence and development of political parties in post-Communist Poland'' University of London and won three seats in the Sejm (including one for Janowski) and one in the Senate. In January 1999, during a congress, the party decided to merge into the

Social Movement A social movement is either a loosely or carefully organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal, typically a Social issue, social or Political movement, political one. This may be to carry out a social change, or to re ...

Election results

Sejm

Senate

References

{{Authority control 1991 establishments in Poland 1999 disestablishments in Poland Agrarian parties in Poland Christian political parties Defunct political parties in Poland Polish People's Party Political parties disestablished in 1999 Political parties established in 1991