Civic Platform
| Civic Platform Platforma Obywatelska |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Leader | Donald Tusk |
| Founded | 1 July 2001 |
| Headquarters | Władysław Anders st. 21 00-159 Warsaw |
| Ideology | Conservative liberalism, Neoliberalism, Social liberalism,Liberalism, Christian democracy, Pro-Europeanism, Democratic liberalism |
| Political position | Centre right |
| International affiliation | Centrist Democrat International |
| European affiliation | European People's Party |
| European Parliament Group | European People's Party |
| Official colours | Blue, Orange |
| Sejm |
206 / 460
|
| Senate |
59 / 100
|
| European Parliament |
25 / 50
|
| Website | |
| http://www.platforma.org/ | |
| Politics of Poland Political parties Elections |
|
The Civic Platform (Polish: Platforma Obywatelska, PO) is a liberal conservative political party in Poland. It has formed Poland's government since the 2007 general election, and is the largest party in the Sejm, the lower chamber of the Polish parliament. Civic Platform is a member of the European People's Party (EPP).
Contents |
History
Foundation
The Civic Platform was founded in 2001 as a split-off from existing parties. Founders Andrzej Olechowski, Maciej Płażyński, and Donald Tusk 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 Tusk as the sole remaining founder, and current party leader.
Development
In the 2001 general election the party secured 12.6% of the vote and 58 deputies in the Sejm, making it the largest party in opposition to the government led by the Democratic Left Alliance.
PO-PiS failure
In 2005, the PO led all opinion polls with 26% to 30% of public support. However, in the 2005 general election, in which it was led by Jan Rokita, the PO polled 24.1% and came second to Law and Justice's 27%. A coalition of PO and PiS (nicknamed:PO-PiS) were 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.
In the end, Lech Kaczyński (PiS) won the second round of the presidential election on 23 October 2005 with 54% of the vote, ahead of Donald Tusk, 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 agree on a coalition arrangement. PiS wished to create a government in which it would dominate; therefore, PiS in the end formed a coalition with the support of the conservative Catholic-nationalist League of Polish Families and the agrarian-populist Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland. These two smaller parties were called the "add-ons" (Polish: przystawki) in the Polish media. The PO became the opposition to this PiS-led coalition government.
Run for power
That coalition fell apart in 2007 amid corruption scandals[1] and internal leadership disputes. These events led to the new elections. In the 21 October 2007 National Assembly election, the PO won 41.51% of the popular vote and 209 out of 460 seats in the Sejm and 60 out of 100 seats in the Senate of Poland. The Civic Platform, now the largest party in both houses of parliament, subsequently formed a coalition with the People's Party.
Ideology
The Civic Platform combines liberal conservative stances on the economy with conservative stances on social and ethical issues, including opposition to abortion, same-sex marriage, soft drug decriminalisation, civil unions, euthanasia, fetal stem cell research, and partial to wide availability of in vitro fertilisation.
Core proposals in the party program included in the past privatization of the remaining public sectors of Polish economy, direct elections of mayors and regional governors, the first-past-the-post electoral system instead of proportional representation, labor law reform, independence over monetary policy by the National Bank of Poland, a 15% flat tax, and the decentralization of the state. As of the third year of Civic Platform's rule, privatisation is creeping with only several enterprises privatised yearly[2].
Leadership
Chairmen
- Maciej Płażyński (2001–2003)
- Donald Tusk (2003–...)
Current Board
- Donald Tusk - chairman, Prime Minister
- Waldy Dzikowski - vice chairman
- Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz - vice chairman, mayor of Warsaw, capital of Poland
- Bronisław Komorowski - vice chairman, Marshal of Sejm, President-Elect of Poland
- Jacek Saryusz-Wolski - vice chairman
- Tomasz Tomczykiewicz - vice chairman
- Grzegorz Schetyna - general secretary, Marshal of Sejm
- Zbigniew Chlebowski
- Urszula Augustyn
- Bogdan Zdrojewski - Minister of Culture and National Heritage
- Andrzej Czerwiński
- Cezary Grabarczyk - Minister of Infrastructure
- Sławomir Nitras
- Sławomir Nowak - chief of prime minister's Politic Cabinet
- Andrzej Czuma
References
Sources
- Adam Zakowski, A leading force, Polityka, March 2009
See also
- List of Civic Platform politicians
- Politics of Poland
- List of political parties in Poland
External links
|
|||||||||||
