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Post by pieter on Aug 16, 2023 6:01:18 GMT -7
NOS NewsCharlotte Waayers Correspondent Central Europe16 August 2023 7:43 European Dutch TimeSuggestive films and referendum: new 'election tricks' in PolandIn two months the Poles will go to the polls. But in addition to the composition of parliament, voters will probably also have to consider a series of other questions. Last week, the government announced that it also wanted to hold a referendum on election day, 15 October.
It was a slow denouement: first the announcement of a referendum without details, and every day since last Friday the unveiling of a new question on which the Poles can vote. For example, whether the wall between Poland and Belarus should remain, and whether state-owned companies may be sold. The Polish parliament will discuss the plan in the coming days.
That smearing is a deliberate strategy of ruling party PiS, thinks Radoslaw Markowsi, professor of political science at SWPS University in Warsaw. "An attempt to be as visible as possible in the media, with your own explanation.""'Sham referendum'Markowski finds the choice of themes, in addition to the border wall and state-owned companies, also migration and the retirement age, striking. His research center has gauged what Poles consider to be the most important problems in their country at the moment, and the questions hardly match that.
Poles most often mention the war in Ukraine (34 percent), followed by the climate crisis (17 percent), economic crisis (9 percent) and poor health and care (7 percent).
The professor sees the fact that the government wants to present other themes to the population instead as an attempt by PiS to manipulate the public debate in the run-up to the elections. They promise to be exciting, so it's a fight for every vote. "Apparently, their research shows that these are the topics that resonate with their own constituencies."
Markowski therefore considers it a mock referendum, following the example of Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán. According to the Polish government, money will be saved by holding the referendum at the same time as the elections. But a serious referendum requires much more time, information and discussion, according to Markowski.Suggestive videosIt is clear that the referendum plan overlaps with the election campaign. "These politicians want to put you in danger," PiS Prime Minister Morawiecki said in a video message to X last Friday. According to him, that danger is the migration deal that the EU concluded last June.
That deal includes agreements on the distribution of migrants entering Europe. Almost all Member States voted in favour. Only Hungary and Poland were against, not enough to stop the agreement.
"We see what is happening in the streets of Western Europe," the prime minister said of images of burning cars, smashed windows and a black man licking a knife. "The referendum question will be: do you support the admission of thousands of illegal immigrants from the Middle East and Africa under the mandatory redistribution mechanism imposed by the European bureaucracy?"
By 'European bureaucracy' he also means opposition leader Donald Tusk. As a former prime minister of Poland, Tusk agreed to a European refugee redistribution plan during the 2015 migration crisis. Later, as EU president, he coordinated the migration deal with Turkey.Score with migrationAlthough few Poles see migration as an important problem according to Markowski's research (3 percent), it is a subject that parties can score with. A large majority of Poles are against the European redistribution plan. Poland is currently already hosting more than a million refugees from Ukraine, for which it receives far too little support from Europe, according to the government.
Tusk himself is now also contributing. In a video message, he spoke of "shocking images of violent riots in France" and warned that the Polish government is actually admitting more citizens from, for example, the Middle East, Asia and Nigeria, in an attempt to recruit workers. "Poland must regain control of their land and borders."
This apparent turn drew him criticism from the left corner. He says that Tusk is trying to outbid the far right: not only PiS, but also the far-right Konfederacja, which is currently climbing in the polls.Too lateAccording to Euro Commissioner Ylva Johansson, the Polish government is distorting reality with the referendum. In an interview with news site Onet, she says that the agreement makes an exception for countries such as Poland, because the country already receives so many refugees. Poland would benefit from the deal.
It remains to be seen what Poland will ultimately gain from a referendum. They can no longer stop the European migration plan; that is already in the hands of the European Parliament.
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Post by pieter on Aug 16, 2023 6:08:08 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Aug 16, 2023 6:43:44 GMT -7
Why Poland Is Quietly Becoming Europe's Next Superpower
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Post by pieter on Aug 16, 2023 6:55:09 GMT -7
The New Hope (Polish: Nowa Nadzieja, NN), is a right-wing populist to right libertarianism political party in Poland. It is currently led by Sławomir Mentzen.
Founded in 2015 by Janusz Korwin-Mikke as a result of his removal from Congress of the New Right, his former party, it was initially called Coalition for the Renewal of the Republic of Liberty and Hope (Polish: Koalicja Odnowy Rzeczypospolitej Wolność i Nadzieja) and then subsequently Confederation for the Renewal of the Republic of Liberty and Hope (Polish: Konfederacja Odnowy Rzeczypospolitej Wolność i Nadzieja), both abbreviated to just KORWiN or sometimes Liberty (Polish: Wolność).
Among the party's other members are Przemysław Wipler, who held a seat in the Polish Sejm and Robert Iwaszkiewicz, Member of the European Parliament. The party's Polish name was originally a backronym of the founder's name Korwin-Mikke, who took part in the 2015 presidential election.
In 2018, the party formed a coalition with National Movement called Confederation. The party has currently three members in the Sejm. The Confederation Liberty and Independence (Polish: Konfederacja Wolność i Niepodległość), frequently shortened to just Confederation (Polish: Konfederacja), is a far-right political alliance in Poland.
It was initially founded in 2018 as a political coalition for the 2019 European Parliament election, although it was later expanded into a political party. It won 11 seats in the Sejm after the 2019 parliamentary election. Its presidential candidate for the 2020 election was Krzysztof Bosak who placed fourth among eleven candidates. A coalition mainly led by New Hope, the National Movement, and the Confederation of the Polish Crown, it is right-orientated and is considered to be a part of the radical right. It has expressed right-wing populist rhetoric, a more hardline opposition stance towards the European Union and immigration. It is economically liberal and has called for lowering taxes, and has also expressed socially conservative and nationalist stances.
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Post by pieter on Aug 16, 2023 6:57:04 GMT -7
Poland’s Controversial ‘Russian Interference’ Law Explained
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Post by pieter on Aug 16, 2023 7:00:21 GMT -7
Thousands of Poles protested against new law in June 2023
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Post by pieter on Aug 18, 2023 9:24:26 GMT -7
The Left (Polish: Lewica) is a political alliance in Poland. Initially founded to contest the 2019 parliamentary election, the alliance now consists of the New Left and Left Together.
It also originally consisted of Democratic Left Alliance and Spring until its merging to create the New Left, including the Polish Socialist Party that left the coalition in 2021. It is also supported by several minor left-wing parties including Your Movement, Yes for Łódź, Urban Movement, and the Polish Communist Party.
The Left is a catch-all coalition of the Polish left, and it is positioned on the centre-left and left-wing. It is mainly orientated towards the principles of social democracy, and democratic socialism. It also advocates progressive, social-liberal[10] and secular policies, including LGBT rights. It is supportive of Poland's membership in the European Union.Voter baseAs Lewica is formed as a unification of the Polish left, it has attempted to diversify its platform and appeal to a broader range of voters, rather than relying mostly on the votes of former officials and civil servants during the PPR period, which had been and continues to be one of the Democratic Left Alliance's largest voting blocs. This attempt, however, was met with somewhat limited success by the fact that the coalition's pro-LGBT rights platform failed to appeal to working class and economically left-leaning Poles, which tend to favour a more socially conservative policy (especially as both economically interventionist and social conservative positions were already being provided by the right-wing PiS party). At the same time, the more liberally-oriented city-dwelling population, which could favour the party's proposed socially progressive policies, found little appeal in the party's platform of economic interventionism.
Despite this, some sociologists theorized that the unification of the parties could lead to an overall mobilization of leftist voters, which could now feel that their vote for the coalition wouldn't be wasted. This was confirmed to be the case when Lewica succeeded in electing 49 members to the Sejm and 2 members to the Senate of Poland in the 2019 Polish parliamentary election, thus making the coalition Poland's third largest political force and overturning a four-year absence of left-wing representatives in Poland's parliament.
In addition, the party's platform, which differs greatly from the platforms of the other major Polish political parties, has managed to find some support among disillusioned younger and secular voters, which don't identify with any political force or even with the left, but instead desire "something new".
At the same time, the party also received a considerable boost in support among older voters after the ruling PiS party passed a "degradation law", which cut retirement pensions and disability benefits for thousands of former bureaucrats during the PPR period, whose main income was now directly threatened by the new government policy. This led to an expansion and consolidation of the otherwise shrinking of the Democratic Left Alliance's previously described voting bloc.Lewica politicians with from left to right Marcelina Zawisza (Nowa Lewica, PPS, Razem), Anna Maria Żukowska (Lewica Razem, Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej), Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus (.Nowoczesna-Teraz!-Wiosna-Lewica), Włodzimierz Czarzasty (PZPR (1983-1990) - SLD (1990-2020) Nowa Lewica (since 2021)), Robert Biedroń (Twój Ruch [2011–2019], Biedroń was party leader of Wiosna from 2019 until 2021, and a member from Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej [SLD} from 1998 until 2005, today Biedroń is a politician of Nowa Lewica), Adrian Zandberg (Former Unia Pracy and Młodzi Socjaliści [Young Socialists] member, former Partia Zieloni [Green Party] member and one of the leaders and politicians of Lewica Razem and Magdalena Biejat (a Polish translator of Spanish-language literature, social and political activist, feminist, and a member of the Sejm for Warsaw I. She is one of the co-leaders of Left Together [Lewica Razem]) IdeologyThe electoral program of the Left includes:
- investments in renewable energy sources and energy efficiency, - rewilding, including reforestation and restoration of wetlands, - appointment of the Commissioner for Animal Rights, prohibition of fur farming, use of animals in circuses and cage farming, - universal national crop insurance against drought and flooding, - cameras on police uniforms recording in continuous mode, - moving 1/4 of ministries and government agencies outside Warsaw, - abolishing the Institute of National Remembrance and the National Day of Remembrance of the "cursed soldiers", - increasing R&D expenditure to 2% of GDP, - sick leave pay and sickness benefit amounting to 100% of the basic salary plus bonuses and allowances, - establishing a minimum wage at 60% of the average wage, - minimum wage of 3500 PLN in the public sector, - widening the competences of the National Labour Inspectorate, - a maximum fee for a prescription drug of 5 PLN, - increasing public healthcare expenditure to 7.2% of GDP in 2024, - introducing health and sex education in schools, - extinguishing the reprivatization claims, - establishing a public enterprise to provide one million flats in the years 2021–2031, - in vitro fertilization reimbursement, - fully paid and compulsory leave with a minimum of 12 weeks for both parents of a newborn, - transparency of church funding and abolishing the Church Fund, - Separation of church and state - liberalising Poland's abortion law, - gender quotas in the Council of Ministers, - introducing same-sex marriage and civil partnerships.
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Post by pieter on Aug 18, 2023 10:22:54 GMT -7
Law and Justice (Polish: Prawo i Sprawiedliwość [ˈpravɔ i spravjɛˈdlivɔɕt͡ɕ] (listen), PiS) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Poland. Its chairman is Jarosław Kaczyński.Jarosław Aleksander Kaczyński (born 18 June 1949) is a Polish lawyer and politician who served as Prime Minister of Poland in years 2006-2007 and is currently a leader of the Law and Justice party (PiS) and Deputy Prime Minister of Poland. It was founded in 2001 by Jarosław and Lech Kaczyński as a direct successor of the Centre Agreement after it split from the Solidarity Electoral Action (AWS). It won the 2005 parliamentary and presidential elections, after which Lech became the president of Poland. It headed a parliamentary coalition with the League of Polish Families and Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland between 2005 and the 2007 election. It placed second and they remained in the parliamentary opposition until 2015. It regained the presidency in the 2015 election, and later won a majority of seats in the parliamentary election. They retained the positions following the 2019 and 2020 election.During its foundation, it sought to position itself as a centrist Christian democratic party, although shortly after, it adopted more culturally and socially conservative views and began their shift to the right. Under Kaczyński's national-conservative and law and order agenda, PiS embraced economic interventionism. It has also pursued close relations with the Catholic Church, although in 2011, the Catholic-nationalist faction split off to form United Poland.
Sovereign Poland (Polish: Suwerenna Polska, SP), known as United Poland (alternatively translated as Solidarity Poland) until 2023, is a Catholic-nationalist political party in Poland led by Zbigniew Ziobro. It was founded in 2012, as the Catholic-nationalist split from the Law and Justice, with whom they later formed the United Right alliance in 2014. ( suwerennapolska.pl/ )
During the 2010s, Prawo i Sprawiedliwość also adopted right-wing populist positions. After regaining power, PiS gained popularity with transfer payments to families with children, but attracted international criticism and domestic protest movements by dismantling liberal-democratic checks and balances. Political scientists have characterized the party's governance as illiberal or authoritarian.
It is a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists, and on national-level, it heads the United Right coalition. It currently holds 198 seats in the Sejm and 44 in the Senate.
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Post by pieter on Aug 18, 2023 12:19:00 GMT -7
Poland's political program of the Civic Platform for upcoming elections - Euro currency in Poland?
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Post by pieter on Aug 18, 2023 12:22:02 GMT -7
Civic Platform (Polish: Platforma Obywatelska, PO) is a centre-right political party in Poland. It is currently led by Donald Tusk.
It was formed in 2001 by splinter factions from the Solidarity Electoral Action, the Freedom Union and the Conservative People's Party, and it later placed second in the 2001 parliamentary election. It served in the parliamentary opposition until 2007, when it overtook Law and Justice, won 209 seats and Tusk was elected as prime minister. Following the Smolensk air disaster in 2010, Bronisław Komorowski served as acting president and was elected as president in the same year. Tusk continued to serve as prime minister and leader of Civic Platform until he resigned in 2014 to assume the post of the president of the European Council. The party was afterwards defeated in the 2015 parliamentary and presidential elections. It also placed second in the 2019 parliamentary election, and its 2020 presidential candidate, Rafał Trzaskowski, won 49% of the popular vote in the second round and lost the election to Andrzej Duda.
Rafał Kazimierz Trzaskowski ([ˈrafaw tʂaˈskɔfskʲi]; born 17 January 1972) is a Polish politician and the current city mayor of Warsaw. He is also a political scientist specializing in European studies. In May 2020, Trzaskowski became the Civic Platform's candidate for Presidency of Poland to stand in the presidential election.[6] He made it into the second round of the election but then went on to lose against incumbent Andrzej Duda, receiving 10,018,263 votes or 48.97% of the vote.
Initially positioned as a Christian democratic party with strong economically liberal tendencies, it soon adopted liberal conservatism throughout the 2000s, although during their time in power they were aligned with more pragmatic and centrist views, and were characterized as a catch-all party. In the 2010s, the Civic Platform adopted more socially liberal policies, aligned itself with conservative liberalism, and it has been since positioned in the centre and leaning towards the centre-right. In 2023, the party shifted back to the centre-right after its leaders drummed up patriotic, anti-immigrant and anti-communist sentiments in preparation for the 2023 Polish parliamentary election. It also strongly advocates Poland's membership in the European Union and NATO. It is a member of the European People's Party.
It currently holds 106 seats in the Sejm and 37 seats in the Senate of Poland, and it also heads the Civic Coalition, which was founded in 2018. Since its creation, it has shown strong electoral performances in Warsaw, the west, and the north of Poland. Since the 2000s, the Civic Platform has established itself as one of the dominant political parties in Poland.
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Post by pieter on Aug 18, 2023 15:41:24 GMT -7
The Republicans (Polish: Republikanie) is a national-conservative political party in Poland, and former political association.
It was founded as an association in 2013, which was instrumental in the creation of Kukiz'15, which it joined in 2017. It was resurrected in June 2021 by a pro-Law and Justice and anti-Gowin faction of the Agreement party led by MEP Adam Bielan, who was joined by 5 of its 18 MPs. This was a result of an internal split, whereby the newly formed party joined the United Right coalition in power as a full member, as the Gowin-loyalist remainder of the Agreement party left the coalition. Adam BielanThe present party leader of Republikanie is Adam Bielan. Adam Jerzy Bielan ([ˈadam ˈjɛʐɨ ˈbjɛlan], born on 12 September 1974 in Gdańsk, Poland) is a Polish politician, Member of the European Parliament for Lesser Poland and Świętokrzyskie.
Bielan sits on the European Parliament's Committee on Regional Development. Bielan is a substitute for the Committee on Transport and Tourism, a member of the Delegation for relations with Mercosur and a substitute for the Delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly. Przemysław WiplerPrzemysław Janusz Wipler (born 15 July 1978 in Piekary Śląskie) is a Polish politician and activist. He is a former vice-president of the Polish party Wolność. Przemysław Wipler is the founder of Republikanie. He describes himself as a Classical liberal / Korwinist Republican, in favour of Laissez-faire capitalism. He was a member of the Polish parliament in the lower chamber, the Sejm.
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Post by pieter on Aug 18, 2023 15:52:53 GMT -7
The Renewal of the Republic of Poland (Polish: OdNowa RP) is a conservative political association in Poland. It was formed on 3 September 2021 by former Agreement MPs that decided to continue their support of Law and Justice government after the remainder of the party went into opposition. The leader of the group is Marcin Ociepa.Marcin Michał Ociepa (born 21 October 1984 in Opole) is a Polish politician. He has been a member of the Sejm since the 2019 election after being elected on the Law and Justice list. He has been a member and Vice President of the Agreement (Porozumienie) political party until 2021. He currently heads the OdNowa RP political party. He previously served as the town councilor in Opole between 2010 and 2018,[6] and from 2018 to 2019 he served as the member of the Opole sejmik. Since 2019, he has been the Vice-Minister of National Defense.Deputies All deputies were elected on the United Right list, and all are former members of Agreement.
- Marcin Ociepa: leader of the group. - Andrzej Gut-Mostowy - Wojciech Murdzek - Grzegorz Piechowiak - Anna Dąbrowska-BanaszekIdeologyThe group has been referred to as a pro-European "deputy ministers union" due to their apparent lack of political ideology and the fact that all but one of their MPs are deputy ministers in the current government. The association is supposed to unveil their political program in the middle of November. Ociepa stated that "the main five priorities of the party are security, economy, self-government, European policy and health policy, with a special opening to the young generation".
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Post by pieter on Aug 18, 2023 16:02:49 GMT -7
.Nowoczesna party leader of the Centrist Liberal Polish political party .Nowoczesna (Modern)Modern (Polish: Nowoczesna, styled as ".Nowoczesna") is a centrist political party in Poland. It is currently led by Adam Szłapka.
It was formed in 2015 as "ModernPL" although due to controversy it had to change the name to ".Modern" later that year. Its first president Ryszard Petru served until 2017, when he was succeeded by Katarzyna Lubnauer. It first gained seats in the 2015 parliamentary election, and in 2018 it joined the Civic Coalition to participate together in the local elections. Szłapka was elected as president in 2019. Modern is a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, and it is orientated towards the principles of liberalism, and classical liberalism. It also supports Poland's membership in the European Union.Ryszard Jerzy Petru (born 6 July 1972 is a Polish politician. He served as an assistant to several members of parliament in the 1990s. He has worked as an economist for the World Bank, PricewaterhouseCoopers and several Polish banks. Since 2011, he has been the chairman of the Association of Polish Economists. He is the author of several books, including two children's books on economics. In 2015, Petru founded a liberal political party .Modern (.Nowoczesna). The party received 7.6% of votes in the 2015 Polish parliamentary election. Petru was elected to the Sejm from Warsaw (19) district. In 2018 he left Modern and he founded new political association - Petru's Plan.History The party was founded in late May 2015 as NowoczesnaPL (ModernPL) by economist Ryszard Petru. The founding convention was held on 31 May 2015 at which around 6,000 people gathered to participate. The chairman presented the program of the party, and besides him, other activists spoke during the convention. Due to some controversy over its name – there had already been a non-governmental organization called the Modern Poland Foundation, In August 2015, the party's name was changed to .Modern (.Nowoczesna). Around the same time, the party's new logo was presented, and Kamila Gasiuk-Pihowicz became its spokesperson. The party received 7.6% of votes in the 2015 parliamentary election, which resulted in winning 28 seats in the Sejm.
The party was admitted into the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) on 4 June 2016. From 2015 election to end of 2016 Nowoczesna had more support in polls than Platforma Obywatelska. It has lost it after image problems of Ryszard Petru. Katarzyna Lubnauer became the leader of Nowoczesna in November 2017. In leader elections at the party congress, Lubnauer received 149 votes and Petru received 140 votes.
In March 2018, Modern and Civic Platform formed the Civic Coalition electoral alliance to contest the 2018 local elections. In May 2018, founder Ryszard Petru left the party. In 2019, Modern was running for the European Parliament as part of the European Coalition. In June 2019, Modern joined the Civic Platform - Civic Coalition parliamentary group. During the 2019 Polish parliamentary elections the party was a member of the Civic Coalition along with the Civic Platform, Polish Initiative and the Greens. After these elections, Modern rejoined the Civic Coalition parliamentary group, and Adam Szłapka was elected as president of the party.IdeologyThe party has been compared to the Free Democratic Party of Germany (FDP), with its emphasis on economic liberalism in its policy platform.
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Post by pieter on Aug 18, 2023 16:14:35 GMT -7
The Green Party (of Poland)The Greens (Polish: Partia Zieloni, PZ) is a political party in Poland.
It was formed in 2003 under the name "Greens 2004" and formally registered itself in February 2004. It supports principles of green politics, and it is positioned on the centre-left and leans towards the left-wing. The party is an international member of the Global Greens, European member of European Green Party and cooperates with the European Greens–European Free Alliance in the European Parliament.HistoryThe party was established in 2003 by activists of several social movements. Among its founding members there were environmentalists, feminists, LGBT people and anti-war activists. The first political campaign of the emerging party concerned the Polish European Union membership referendum, the Greens campaigned for a "yes" vote.
Greens 2004 took part in the movement against the Iraq War in 2003 and participated in Equality Parades and other social protests in the time of "Fourth Republic" (2005–2007). Since 3 March 2013 the official name of the party is Partia Zieloni (The Greens), while Greens 2004 is a historical name and can still be used.Logo of The Greens until November 2022During the late 2000s and the early 2010s the party cooperated with various socialists' parties in the elections.
The party was represented in the Sejm between 2014 and 2015 by Anna Grodzka (she was elected as Polikot's Movement member in 2011). By mid-2010s the party lost many members (e. g. Marcelina Zawisza), who formed new party called Razem (Together).
Since 2018 the party began to cooperate with Civic Platform (Polish: Platforma Obywatelska, PO) and Modern (.Nowoczesna) parties. In 2019, as part of Civic Coalition, it won 3 seats in Sejm. These representatives became members of Civic Coalition parliamentary group. On 8 March 2023, Klaudia Jachira, previously independent representative within Civic Platform, joined The Greens.Webiste of the party: partiazieloni.pl/
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Post by pieter on Aug 18, 2023 16:25:38 GMT -7
The Polish People's Party (Polish: 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 its name was changed to the present one in 1903. During the Second Polish Republic, the Polish People's Party was represented by a number of parties that held its name. They were all supportive of agrarian policies, although they spanned from the left-wing to the centre-right on the political spectrum. It was reformed into the People's Party shortly after the Sanacja regime took power. It took part into the formation of Polish government-in-exile during the World War II, and after the war it was again reformed into the Polish People's Party, and soon after into the United People's Party. During the existence of Polish People's Republic, it was seen as a satellite party of the ruling Polish United Workers' Party that promoted rural interests. After the fall of communism, it participated in the governments led by Democratic Left Alliance. In the mid-2000s, it began shifting more to the centre-right and it adopted more conservative policies. It entered the government again following the 2007 parliamentary election, and since 2015 it has served in the opposition.
Today, it is positioned in the centre and leans towards the centre-right, and besides holding agrarian and conservative views, it is also Christian-democratic, and supports Poland's membership in the European Union. It currently has 19 seats in the Sejm and 2 seats in the Senate. On national level, it heads the Polish Coalition and on European level, it is a part of the European People's Party.
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