Civic Platform abbreviated to
PO, is a
centre-rightThe centre-right or center-right is a political term commonly used to describe or denote individuals, political parties, or organizations whose views stretch from the centre to the right on the left-right spectrum, excluding far right stances. Centre-right can also describe a coalition of centrist...
,
liberal conservativeLiberal conservatism also known as progressive conservatism is a variant of political conservatism which incorporates liberal elements. As "conservatism" and "liberalism" have had different meanings over time and across countries, the term "liberal conservatism" has been used in quite different...
political partyA political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
in
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. It has been the major coalition partner in Poland's government since the
2007 general electionEarly parliamentary elections for both houses of parliament were held in Poland on 21 October 2007 after the Sejm voted for its own dissolution on 7 September 2007. The election took place two years before the maximum tenure of four years, with the previous elections having been in September 2005...
, with party leader
Donald TuskDonald Franciszek Tusk is a Polish politician who has been Prime Minister of Poland since 2007. He was a co-founder and is chairman of the Civic Platform party....
as Prime Minister of Poland and Bronisław Komorowski as President. PO is the largest party in the Sejm, with 204 seats, and the
SenateThe Senate is the upper house of the Polish parliament, the lower house being the 'Sejm'. The history of the Polish Senate is rich in tradition and stretches back over 500 years, it was one of the first constituent bodies of a bicameral parliament in Europe and existed without hiatus until the...
, with 54 seats.
The party was formed in 2001 as a split from
Solidarity Electoral ActionSolidarity Electoral Action was a political party coalition in Poland. Since 1997 its official name has been Akcja Wyborcza Solidarność Prawicy or Solidarity Electoral Action of the Right...
, under the leadership of
Andrzej OlechowskiAndrzej Marian Olechowski is a Polish politician. He was one of the co-founders of conservative liberal party Civic Platform in 2001 with Maciej Płażyński and Donald Tusk...
and Maciej Płażyński, with Donald Tusk of the
Freedom UnionThe Freedom Union was a liberal democratic party in Poland. It was founded on March 20, 1994 out of the merger of the Democratic Union and the Liberal Democratic Congress . Both of these parties had roots in the Solidarity trade union movement. It represented European democratic and liberal...
. In the
2001 electionPolish parliamentary election in 2001 to Sejm and Senate of Poland were held on the 23rd September. In Sejm elections, 46.29% of citizens cast their votes, 96.01% of those were counted as valid...
, PO emerged as the largest opposition party, behind the ruling
centre-leftCentre-left is a political term that describes individuals, political parties or organisations such as think tanks whose ideology lies between the centre and the left on the left-right spectrum...
party
Democratic Left AllianceDemocratic Left Alliance is a social-democratic political party in Poland. Formed in 1991 as a coalition of centre-left parties, it was formally established as a single party on 15 April 1999. It is currently the third largest opposition party in Poland....
. PO remained the second-largest party at the
2005 electionParliamentary elections for both houses of the Parliament of Poland were held on September 25, 2005. Thirty million voters were eligible to vote for all 460 members of the lower house, the Assembly of the Republic of Poland , and all 100 members of the upper house, the Senate of the Republic of...
, but this time behind
national conservativeNational conservatism is a political term used primarily in Europe to describe a variant of conservatism which concentrates more on national interests than standard conservatism as well as upholding cultural and ethnic identity, while not being outspokenly nationalist or supporting a far-right...
party
Law and JusticeLaw and Justice , abbreviated to PiS, is a right-wing, conservative political party in Poland. With 147 seats in the Sejm and 38 in the Senate, it is the second-largest party in the Polish parliament....
(PiS).
In 2007Early parliamentary elections for both houses of parliament were held in Poland on 21 October 2007 after the Sejm voted for its own dissolution on 7 September 2007. The election took place two years before the maximum tenure of four years, with the previous elections having been in September 2005...
, Civic Platform overtook PiS, now established as the two dominant parties, and formed a government in coalition with the Polish People's Party. After the
Smolensk disasterThe 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash occurred on 10 April 2010, when a Tupolev Tu-154M aircraft of the Polish Air Force crashed near the city of Smolensk, Russia, killing all 96 people on board...
, Bronisław Komorowski was elected the first President from PO.
Civic Platform is a member of the
European People's PartyThe European People's Party is a pro-European centre-right European political party. The EPP was founded in 1976 by Christian democratic parties, but later it increased its membership to include conservative parties and parties of other centre-right perspectives.The EPP is the most influential of...
(EPP).
History
The Civic Platform was founded in 2001 as a split from existing parties. Founders
Andrzej OlechowskiAndrzej Marian Olechowski is a Polish politician. He was one of the co-founders of conservative liberal party Civic Platform in 2001 with Maciej Płażyński and Donald Tusk...
, Maciej Płażyński, and
Donald TuskDonald Franciszek Tusk is a Polish politician who has been Prime Minister of Poland since 2007. He was a co-founder and is chairman of the Civic Platform party....
were sometimes jokingly called "the Three Tenors" by Polish media and commentators. Olechowski and Płażyński left the party during the 2001-2005 parliamentary term, leaving
Donald TuskDonald Franciszek Tusk is a Polish politician who has been Prime Minister of Poland since 2007. He was a co-founder and is chairman of the Civic Platform party....
as the sole remaining founder, and current party leader.
In the
2001 general electionPolish parliamentary election in 2001 to Sejm and Senate of Poland were held on the 23rd September. In Sejm elections, 46.29% of citizens cast their votes, 96.01% of those were counted as valid...
the party secured 12.6% of the vote and 58 deputies in the
SejmThe Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Poseł in Polish . It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm ....
, making it the largest party in opposition to the government led by the
Democratic Left AllianceDemocratic Left Alliance is a social-democratic political party in Poland. Formed in 1991 as a coalition of centre-left parties, it was formally established as a single party on 15 April 1999. It is currently the third largest opposition party in Poland....
.
In 2005, PO led all opinion polls with 26% to 30% of public support. However, in the
2005 general electionParliamentary elections for both houses of the Parliament of Poland were held on September 25, 2005. Thirty million voters were eligible to vote for all 460 members of the lower house, the Assembly of the Republic of Poland , and all 100 members of the upper house, the Senate of the Republic of...
, in which it was led by
Jan RokitaJan Rokita is a Polish conservative politician, a member of the Sejm, the lower chamber of the Polish parliament. He was chairman of the parliamentary club of Platforma Obywatelska from 2003 to 2005....
, PO polled 24.1% and came second to
Law and JusticeLaw and Justice , abbreviated to PiS, is a right-wing, conservative political party in Poland. With 147 seats in the Sejm and 38 in the Senate, it is the second-largest party in the Polish parliament....
's 27%. A
centre-rightThe centre-right or center-right is a political term commonly used to describe or denote individuals, political parties, or organizations whose views stretch from the centre to the right on the left-right spectrum, excluding far right stances. Centre-right can also describe a coalition of centrist...
coalition of PO and PiS (nicknamed:PO-PiS) was deemed most likely to form a government after the election. Yet the putative coalition parties had a falling out in the wake of the fiercely contested
Polish presidential election in 2005-External links:**] ]**...
.
Lech KaczyńskiLech Aleksander Kaczyński was Polish lawyer and politician who served as the President of Poland from 2005 until 2010 and as Mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 22 December 2005. Before he became a president, he was also a member of the party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość...
(PiS) won the second round of the presidential election on 23 October 2005 with 54% of the vote, ahead of
Donald TuskDonald Franciszek Tusk is a Polish politician who has been Prime Minister of Poland since 2007. He was a co-founder and is chairman of the Civic Platform party....
, the PO candidate. Due to the demands of PiS for control of all the armed ministries (the MOD, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and the office of the Prime Minister, PO and PiS were unable to form a coalition. Instead, PiS formed a coalition with the support of the conservative
CatholicThe word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
-nationalist
League of Polish FamiliesThe League of Polish Families is a right-wing political party in Poland. It was represented in the Polish parliament, forming part of the cabinet of Jarosław Kaczyński, until the latter dissolved in September 2007....
and the
agrarianAgrarianism has two common meanings. The first meaning refers to a social philosophy or political philosophy which values rural society as superior to urban society, the independent farmer as superior to the paid worker, and sees farming as a way of life that can shape the ideal social values...
-
populistPopulism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...
Self-Defense of the Republic of PolandSelf-Defence of the Republic of Poland , abbreviated to SRP, is an agrarian political party and trade union in Poland led by Andrzej Lepper. Its platform combines left-wing populist economic policies with religious conservative social policies....
. PO became the opposition to this PiS-led coalition government.
The PiS-led coalition fell apart in 2007 amid corruption scandal with
Andrzej LepperAndrzej Zbigniew Lepper was a Polish politician who was the leader of Samoobrona RP political party....
and
Tomasz LipiecTomasz Lipiec is a retired Polish race walker and former Polish Minister for Sport. Lipiec has recently been released from Prison after paying a $40K release bail, after being accused of corruption.-Achievements:...
and internal leadership disputes. These events led to the
new electionsEarly parliamentary elections for both houses of parliament were held in Poland on 21 October 2007 after the Sejm voted for its own dissolution on 7 September 2007. The election took place two years before the maximum tenure of four years, with the previous elections having been in September 2005...
. In the 21 October 2007
parliamentary electionEarly parliamentary elections for both houses of parliament were held in Poland on 21 October 2007 after the Sejm voted for its own dissolution on 7 September 2007. The election took place two years before the maximum tenure of four years, with the previous elections having been in September 2005...
, PO won 41.51% of the popular vote and 209 out of 460 seats (now 201) in the
SejmThe Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Poseł in Polish . It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm ....
and 60 out of 100 seats (now 56) in the
Senate of PolandThe Senate is the upper house of the Polish parliament, the lower house being the 'Sejm'. The history of the Polish Senate is rich in tradition and stretches back over 500 years, it was one of the first constituent bodies of a bicameral parliament in Europe and existed without hiatus until the...
. Civic Platform, now the largest party in both houses of parliament, subsequently formed a coalition with the Polish People's Party.
At the Polish presidential election in 2010, following the
Smolensk air crashThe 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash occurred on 10 April 2010, when a Tupolev Tu-154M aircraft of the Polish Air Force crashed near the city of Smolensk, Russia, killing all 96 people on board...
which killed Polish president
Lech KaczyńskiLech Aleksander Kaczyński was Polish lawyer and politician who served as the President of Poland from 2005 until 2010 and as Mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 22 December 2005. Before he became a president, he was also a member of the party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość...
,
Donald TuskDonald Franciszek Tusk is a Polish politician who has been Prime Minister of Poland since 2007. He was a co-founder and is chairman of the Civic Platform party....
decided not to present his candidature, considered an easy possible victory over PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński. During the PO
primary electionA primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
s, Bronisław Komorowski defeated the
OxfordThe University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
-educated, PiS defector Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski. At the polls, Komorowski defeated Jarosław Kaczyński, ensuring PO dominance over the current Polish political landscape.
In November 2010, local elections granted Civic Platform about 30.1 percent of the votes and PiS at 23.2 percent, an increase for the former and a drop for the latter compared to the 2006 elections.
PO succeeded in winning four consecutive elections (a record in post-communist Poland), and
Donald TuskDonald Franciszek Tusk is a Polish politician who has been Prime Minister of Poland since 2007. He was a co-founder and is chairman of the Civic Platform party....
remains as
kingmakerKingmaker is a term originally applied to the activities of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick — "Warwick the Kingmaker" — during the Wars of the Roses in England. The term has come to be applied more generally to a person or group that has great influence in a royal or political succession,...
. PO's dominance is also a reflection of left-wing weakness and divisions, with PiS suffering a splinter in Autumn 2010.
Ahead of the 2011 Parliamentary Elections, the party has shown increasing populism with its leader Donald Tusk, whilst travelling around Poland in the so-called Tuskobus (by some comically referred to as Cyrkobus), concentrating solely on warning Poles of the danger of PiS returning to power and offering little in terms of genuine programme or reforms. The Civic Platform campaign was marred by frequent prostests amongst the general populace, football fans being the foremost.
The 9 October 2011
parliamentary electionA parliamentary election to both the Senate and the Sejm was held in Poland on 9 October 2011. The previous election, in 2007, resulted in a Civic Platform–Polish People's Party government...
was won by Civic Platform with 39.18% of the popular vote, 207 of 460 seats in the
SejmThe Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Poseł in Polish . It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm ....
, 63 out of 100 seats in the
Senate of PolandThe Senate is the upper house of the Polish parliament, the lower house being the 'Sejm'. The history of the Polish Senate is rich in tradition and stretches back over 500 years, it was one of the first constituent bodies of a bicameral parliament in Europe and existed without hiatus until the...
.
Ideology
The Civic Platform combines liberal conservative stances on the economy with conservative stances on social and ethical issues, including opposition to
abortionAbortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
,
same-sex marriageSame-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
,
soft drug decriminalisationDrug liberalization is the process of eliminating or reducing drug prohibition laws. Variations of drug liberalization include drug relegalization, drug legalization, and drug decriminalization -Policies:...
,
euthanasiaEuthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering....
, fetal
stem cellThis article is about the cell type. For the medical therapy, see Stem Cell TreatmentsStem cells are biological cells found in all multicellular organisms, that can divide and differentiate into diverse specialized cell types and can self-renew to produce more stem cells...
research, and partially to wide availability of
in vitro fertilisationIn vitro fertilisation is a process by which egg cells are fertilised by sperm outside the body: in vitro. IVF is a major treatment in infertility when other methods of assisted reproductive technology have failed...
. On the other hand, there is growing
centristIn politics, centrism is the ideal or the practice of promoting policies that lie different from the standard political left and political right. Most commonly, this is visualized as part of the one-dimensional political spectrum of left-right politics, with centrism landing in the middle between...
"faction" favoring
progressiveProgressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
modernisation of country,
social justiceSocial justice generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being. The term and modern concept of "social justice" was coined by...
, social tolerance (especially
civil pacts of solidarityIn France, a pacte civil de solidarité commonly known as a PACS /paks/ , is a form of civil union between two adults for organising their joint life. It brings rights and responsibilities, but less so than marriage...
), a
social market economyThe social market economy is the main economic model used in West Germany after World War II. It is based on the economic philosophy of Ordoliberalism from the Freiburg School...
,
FlexicurityFlexicurity is a welfare state model with a pro-active labour market policy. The term was first coined by the social democratic Prime Minister of Denmark Poul Nyrup Rasmussen in the 1990s....
and environmental
sustainabilitySustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...
. The party also wants to criminalise
gamblingGambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
.
Core proposals from the party programme in the past included
privatisationPrivatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
of the remaining public sectors of Polish economy, direct elections of mayors and regional governors, the
first-past-the-postThe plurality voting system is a single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member constituencies...
electoral system instead of
proportional representationProportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...
, labor law reform, independence over
monetary policyMonetary policy is the process by which the monetary authority of a country controls the supply of money, often targeting a rate of interest for the purpose of promoting economic growth and stability. The official goals usually include relatively stable prices and low unemployment...
by the
National Bank of PolandNarodowy Bank Polski is the central bank of Poland. It controls the issuing of Poland's currency, the złoty. The Bank is headquartered in Warsaw, and has branches in every major Polish town...
, a 15%
flat taxA flat tax is a tax system with a constant marginal tax rate. Typically the term flat tax is applied in the context of an individual or corporate income that will be taxed at one marginal rate...
, and the decentralization of the state. As of the third year of Civic Platform's rule, privatisation is creeping with only a few enterprises privatised every year.
Current Board
- Donald Tusk
Donald Franciszek Tusk is a Polish politician who has been Prime Minister of Poland since 2007. He was a co-founder and is chairman of the Civic Platform party....
- chairman, Prime Minister
- Grzegorz Schetyna
Grzegorz Juliusz Schetyna is a Polish politician. He was elected to the Sejm as a candidate of the Civic Platform on September 25, 2005 after receiving 14,978 votes in 1 Legnica district...
- first vice chairman, Marshal of Sejm
- Waldy Dzikowski
Waldy Dzikowski is a Polish politician. He was elected to Sejm on September 25, 2005 getting 54959 votes in 39 Poznań district, candidating from Platforma Obywatelska list.He was also a member of Sejm 2001-2005....
- vice chairman
- Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz
Hanna Beata Gronkiewicz-Waltz is a Polish liberal-conservative politician who has been the Mayor of Warsaw since 2 December 2006. She is the first woman to ever hold this position....
- vice chairman, mayor of WarsawWarsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, capital of Poland
- Jacek Saryusz-Wolski
Jacek Emil Saryusz-Wolski is a Polish diplomat, politician and a MEP: member of the European Parliament...
- vice chairman
- Tomasz Tomczykiewicz
Tomasz Kazimierz Tomczykiewicz is a Polish politician. He was elected to Sejm on September 25, 2005 getting 22221 votes in 27 Bielsko-Biała district, candidating from Platforma Obywatelska list....
- vice chairman
- Zbigniew Chlebowski
Zbigniew Chlebowski is a Polish politician. He was elected to Sejm on 25 September 2005 getting 18281 votes in 2 Wałbrzych district, candidating from Platforma Obywatelska list.He was also a member of Sejm 2001-2005....
- Urszula Augustyn
Urszula Augustyn is a Polish politician. She was elected to Sejm on September 25, 2005 getting 4890 votes in 15 Tarnów district, as a candidate from Platforma Obywatelska list.- External links :...
- Bogdan Zdrojewski
Bogdan Zdrojewski is a Polish politician who was the first president of Wrocław after the fall of communism in Poland, and held the seat from 1990 to 2001. Afterwards he was a senator and member of the Polish Sejm. Since November 2007, he has been the Minister of Culture and National...
- Minister of Culture and National Heritage
- Andrzej Czerwiński
Andrzej Czerwiński is a Polish politician.He has been a member of the Sejm since 2001.In 1979, he graduate from AGH University of Science and Technology.From 1994 to 2001, he was the mayor of Nowy Sącz...
- Cezary Grabarczyk
Cezary Stanisław Grabarczyk is a Polish politician.He was elected to the Sejm on September 25, 2005, getting 13,775 votes in the 11th Sieradz district. He stood for election as a candidate on the Platforma Obywatelska list...
- Minister of Infrastructure
- Sławomir Nitras
- Sławomir Nowak - secretary of State in the Chancellery of the President of Poland
- Andrzej Czuma
Andrzej Czuma is a Polish politician, lawyer and historian, an activist of the Polish anti-Communist opposition in the Polish People's Republic. Oppressed and imprisoned by the Communist authorities. In the 1980s he left for the USA where he became an activist in the community of Polish expats....
- Bronisław Komorowski - president of Poland (elected in 2010)
See also
Sources
- Adam Zakowski, A leading force, Polityka
Polityka is a centre-left weekly newsmagazine in Poland. With a circulation of 170,000 it is the country's biggest selling weekly, ahead of Newsweek's Polish edition and Wprost. Today, the magazine has a slightly intellectual, social liberal profile, setting it apart from the more conservative...
, March 2009
External links