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United Right (Poland)

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United Right
Zjednoczona Prawica
AbbreviationZP
LeaderJarosław Kaczyński
Founded11 July 2014; 10 years ago (2014-07-11)
Ideology
Political positionRight-wing
Factions:
Centre-right to far-right
European Parliament groupEuropean Conservatives and Reformists
ColoursBlue, Red
Sejm
190 / 460
Senate
34 / 100
European Parliament
21 / 53
Regional assemblies
234 / 552
City Presidents
4 / 107
Voivodes
0 / 16
Voivodeship Marshals
4 / 16

The United Right (Polish: Zjednoczona Prawica [zjɛd.nɔˈt͡ʂɔ.na praˈvi.t͡sa], initially Fair Poland, Polish: Sprawiedliwa Polska) was a parliamentary group formed by Jarosław Gowin and Zbigniew Ziobro with their respective parties, Poland Together and United Poland. After their cooperation at 2015 Polish parliamentary election with the Law and Justice party, 'United Right' became a media label for the then-ruling right-wing political alliance of Law and Justice with its aforementioned partners in Poland.[1]

History

[edit]

Creation

[edit]

The alliance was formed in 2014.[2] The alliance initially took the form of a parliamentary club in the Sejm called Just Poland (alternatively translated as Fair Poland; Polish: Sprawiedliwa Polska) formed by politicians of Poland Together and United Poland.[3] They then agreed to co-operate with the Law and Justice party (the Piast Faction were already incorporated with them) and joined Law and Justice's parliamentary club and electoral lists that same year, in time for the 2014 local elections and the 2015 parliamentary elections.[4]

Ascent to power

[edit]

The alliance was in power from the 2015 elections to their defeat in the 2023 elections. It was opposed by the Civic Coalition, led by Civic Platform, since 2018.[5][6]

Throughout the parliamentary term the coalition expanded its absolute majority by crossers of the floor from Polish People's Party, Civic Platform, Modern and Kukiz'15. A major factor was when in 2017, Poland Together merged with individual centre-right orientated defectors from The Republican Association, Civic Platform, Liberty, Law and Justice, Christian National Union, Polish People's Party and Kukiz'15 to form the Agreement Party centred around the leadership of Jarosław Gowin.[7] In 2018, Free and Solidarity, a splinter group of Kukiz'15, joined the coalition.[8] Its candidate for the 2018 Warsaw election was Patryk Jaki.[9]

Internal disputes

[edit]

In the 2019 parliamentary election the alliance gained more votes, but due to appearance of the Confederation and The Left in Sejm and cooperation between the Civic Coalition, The Left, and the Polish Coalition in the Senate, it failed to increase its majority in Sejm and even lost their majority in the Senate.

In 2020 and 2021, the alliance has been affected by actions of rebellious MPs. This was in part caused by the results of 2019 parliamentary elections, whereby the Law and Justice representation was reduced to 199 MPs, whilst United Poland and Agreement increased their tallies to 18 MPs each. This led to the notion that it is enough for just some MPs in one of constituent parties (and not the whole party) to rebel and bring down the government. Inter-party rebellion occurred on several occasions, although never managing to dissolve the alliance or bring down the government.

The first such instances were during the preparations to the 2020 presidential election. The Agreement Party did not support the Law and Justice proposal on postal voting in these elections. A second crucial instance was when the near-total abortion ban was drafted, initiated by United Poland, but initially provoking some scepticism in the Law and Justice and the Agreement parties. The third major rift was during the proposed changes to animal rights' which sought to ban animal breeding for fur production and energy policies which proposed speeding up the reduction of coal production and the sudden suspension of the Ostrołęka power plant construction. Law and Justice had proposed the opposite policies in their election manifestos, but due to pressure from the leader of the party, Jarosław Kaczyński, and the European Commission, the policies were changed.[10][11]

Major reshuffling and loss of absolute majority in Sejm

[edit]

On 20 June 2021, the reactivation of the congress of the Republicans took place, with some Agreement members joining the Republican association and restructuring it into a party. The newly formed party subsequently joined the governing coalition as a full member. In response, the Law and Justice chairman Jarosław Kaczyński made a speech praising the new reformed party.[12]

After Jarosław Gowin's scepticism with the "Polish Deal" proposal (an economic recovery plan for countering the COVID-19 recession in Poland) and media law changes that would have affected a major foreign owned news channel TVN24, Gowin was publicly removed from his position as deputy prime minister, resulting in a realignment of the composition of the coalition.[13] As result, Adam Bielan's "Agreement rebels" new party joined the coalition as replacements. The remaining Kukiz '15 MP's led by Paweł Kukiz declared their support for the ruling coalition by signing a confidence and supply agreement without formally joining the government.[14]

After this, coalition lost its majority in Sejm, which it enjoyed since 2015 parliamentary election.[15] On 3 September 2021, five more former Agreement MPs decided to continue their support of Law and Justice government after the remainder of the party went into opposition, creating the Renew PR political party under the leadership of Marcin Ociepa.[16] The other four MPs were Andrzej Gut-Mostowy, Wojciech Murdzek, Grzegorz Piechowiak and Anna Dąbrowska-Banaszek.[17]

Further internal disputes

[edit]

In April 2022 it was noted that SP, most notably its leader Zbigniew Ziobro,[18] and PiS were in a major dispute regarding the dissolution of the Supreme Court Disciplinary Chamber and repealing the law concerning the matter, a focal point of an ongoing constitutional crisis.[18]

The proposal was made by the president Andrzej Duda, noting a complete u-turn on the subject.[19] The escalation of the dispute was further noted by accusatory statements between Ziobro and Ryszard Terlecki,[19] leading the former to call the situation a "real pâté" (Polish idiom equivalent of a sticky wicket).[19]

On 22 June 2022, Andrzej Sośnierz was thrown out of the Agreement Party after his parliamentary group "Polish Affairs" (Polish: Polskie Sprawy) signed an agreement with Law and Justice.[20] Sośnierz, along with the leader of the group Agnieszka Ścigaj (who was appointed Minister without portfolio) confirmed their participation in the coalition as independent MPs, with Paweł Szramka leaving the group.[21]

Loss of Power

[edit]

After the 2023 parliamentary election, the United Right won a plurality of seats but fell short of a Sejm majority. The opposition, consisting of the Civic Coalition, Third Way, and The Left achieved a combined vote total of 54% and formed a coalition government.[22][23] In the Senate, the opposition electoral alliance Senate Pact 2023 won a plurality of the vote and a majority of seats. Turnout was 74.4%, the highest in contested elections and the highest since the fall of the Polish People's Republic, beating the previous records set in 1989 and 2019.

On 6 November, Duda named Law and Justice's incumbent prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki as his prime ministerial nominee.[24] This move was criticized by the opposition, as no party that would allow PiS to reach a majority agreed to join them for coalition talks.[25] On 13 November, the newly elected Sejm held its first session. Szymon Hołownia, leader of Poland 2050, was elected Marshal of the Sejm, winning over the incumbent Elżbieta Witek of PiS.[26] Later that day, on the first meeting of the Senate, former Marshal of the Sejm Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska of Civic Coalition was elected Marshal of the Senate.[27]

On 11 December, Mateusz Morawiecki's caretaker cabinet lost a vote of no confidence in the Sejm by 190 votes to 266.[28][29] Later that day, the Sejm nominated Donald Tusk for prime minister, who was subsequently confirmed by 248 votes in favour and 201 against.[30] Tusk's cabinet was sworn in at 9:13 CET on 13 December.

Law and Justice has won 2024 local elections and then has lost the European election in the same year.

After the 2023 loss of power the Republicans party was merged into the Law and Justice.[31] After that, talks about potential name changing and unification with Sovereign Poland has begun.[32][33][34][35]

Sovereign Poland merged with Law and Justice on 12 October 2024 during PiS congress in Przysucha,[36] despite concerns from some high-ranking members of both parties.[37][38]

Ideology and factions

[edit]

Law and Justice is generally a right-wing coalition,[39] with strong far-right (focused around Sovereign Poland or politicians as Beata Szydło or Antoni Macierewicz) and small centre-right factions (like Renewal of the Republic of Poland and formerly Piast Faction and Agreement parties).[40][41][42][43][44] The United Right coalition has been described as solidarist,[45] and fiscally statist.[46][47][48] It previously used to include a paternalistic conservative faction.[49][50][51]

Order of the Centre Agreement is the unofficial name of the most influential, although not the most numerous faction of PiS. Its leader is Jarosław Kaczyński, main members are Joachim Brudziński, Adam Lipiński and Mariusz Błaszczak. It is economically left-wing.[52]

Composition

[edit]

Current

[edit]
Name Years Ideology Position Leader MPs Senators MEPs Sejmiks
Law and Justice 2014– National conservatism
Right-wing populism 		Right-wing Jarosław Kaczyński
171 / 460
29 / 100
20 / 53
206 / 552
Renewal of the Republic of Poland 2021– Conservatism Centre-right Marcin Ociepa
5 / 460
0 / 100
0 / 52
3 / 552
Independents (MPs) 2020– N/A N/A N/A
0 / 460
3 / 100
[a]
0 / 52
0 / 552
(President) 2015- N/A N/A Andrzej Duda N/A

Former

[edit]
Name Years Ideology Position Leader
(at the time) 		Reasons for leaving
Sovereign Poland 2014–2024 Social conservatism
Right-wing populism 		Far-right Zbigniew Ziobro Merged into the Law and Justice
Piast Faction 2014-2024 Agrarianism

Christian democracy

Centre-right Zdzisław Podkański Party disbanded after lack of activity[53]
Poland Together 2014–2017 Liberal conservatism Centre-right Jarosław Gowin Merged into new Agreement party[54]
Right Wing of the Republic 2015–2017 Political Catholicism
Conservatism
Anti-abortion 		Right-wing to
far-right[55][56] 		Marek Jurek Political disagreement[57][58][59]
Republican Party 2017–2019 Political Catholicism
Republicanism 		Right-wing Marek Wróbel Party disbanded[60]
Agreement 2017–2021[61] Liberal conservatism
Economic liberalism 		Centre-right to
right-wing 		Jarosław Gowin Political disagreement[62]
Free and Solidary 2018–2019 Solidarism
Anti-communism 		Right-wing Kornel Morawiecki[b] Disagreements over electoral lists and foreign policy towards Russia. Party disbanded in 2020[63]
The Republicans 2021–2023 National conservatism Right-wing Adam Bielan Merged into the Law and Justice party[31]
Kukiz'15 2021–2023 Conservatism
Right-wing populism 		Centre-right Paweł Kukiz "The desire to abandon party discipline and be independent of PiS"[64]

Election results

[edit]

The difference between Poland A and B is particularly evident in the voting patterns of the two regions. Since circa 2005, when Poland saw a realignment in its political system, residents of Poland "A" have supported the liberal conservative party Civic Platform (PO). Residents of Poland "B" (excluding Warsaw), on the other hand, tend to support the national conservative Law and Justice party (PiS).

United Right's main support (blue). United Right has seen decreased support in the 2023 Polish parliamentary election. It remains the largest single parliamentary group in the Sejm.

Presidential

[edit]
Election year Candidate 1st round 2nd round
# of overall votes % of overall vote # of overall votes % of overall vote
2015 Andrzej Duda 5,179,092 34.8 (#1) 8,630,627 51.6 (#1)
2020 Supported Andrzej Duda 8,450,513 43.5 (#1) 10,440,648 51.0 (#1)

Sejm

[edit]
Election Leader Votes % Seats +/– Government
2015 Jarosław Kaczyński 5,711,687 37.6 (#1)
235 / 460
 Increase PiS
2019 8,051,935 43.6 (#1)
235 / 460
 Steady PiS
2023 7,640,854 35.4 (#1)
194 / 460
 Decrease KO-PL2050-PSL-NL

European Parliament

[edit]
Election Leader Votes % Seats +/– EP Group
2019 Jarosław Kaczyński 6,192,780 45.38 (#1)
27 / 51
 New ECR
2024 4,253,169 36.16 (#2)
20 / 53
 Decrease 7

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Rafał Ambrozik, Grzegorz Bierecki, Michał Seweryński
  2. ^ Prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki's father.

References

[edit]
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  2. ^ "Nowa umowa koalicyjna Zjednoczonej Prawicy podpisana". www.gazetaprawna.pl. 28 November 2019.
  3. ^ S.A, Wirtualna Polska Media (11 July 2014). ""Sprawiedliwa Polska" - to nowy klub, który powstanie w sejmie". wiadomosci.wp.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  4. ^ S.A, Wirtualna Polska Media (19 July 2014). "Jarosław Kaczyński podpisał porozumienie ze Zbigniewem Ziobro i Jarosławem Gowinem". wiadomosci.wp.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  5. ^ "Zjednoczona Prawica z dwa razy większym poparciem niż PO i Nowoczesna". 4 July 2018.
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