| Sandra Lewandowska | |
|---|---|
| member of Sejm 2005-2007 | |
| In office 25 September 2005 – ? |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1977 |
| Nationality | Polish |
| Political party | Samoobrona |
Sandra Lewandowska (born 8 June 1977) is a Polish political figure who served in the national Parliament (Sejm) from September 2005 to October 2007, and whose high public profile is owed to her activities outside of the legislative field, including a tabloid-publicized romance with a much-older, leading member of her party as well as participation as a contestant on Taniec z gwiazdami, the Polish version of Strictly Come Dancing/Dancing with the Stars.
Contents |
A native of the city of Jelenia Góra, then the seat of Jelenia Góra Voivodeship and, since 1999, part of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Sandra Magdalena Lewandowska studied at the Regional and Tourist Economy Department of Wrocław University of Economics, graduating in 2002 with a major in business operations.
Although initially associated with the Democratic Left Alliance, she was also a member, from 1999 to 2001, of Polish Socialist Youth Union and, between October 2001 and October 2004, was a leader in the Alliance's Jelenia Góra youth chapter as well as deputy leader of the city's Stowarzyszenie Młodej Lewicy Demokratycznej [Young Democratic Left Association]. During 2002–04 she worked at the Ministry of Interior and Administration and, concurrently, from March 2002 to December 2003, was an assistant at the political office of cabinet member Krzysztof Janik, the Minister of Interior and Administration. Also, from January to June 2004, she served as the chief advisor in the Ministry's Office of Social Communication.
In July 2005, at the age of 28, she joined the Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland Party and, in the September 25 election, having received 5215 votes, became one of the Party's 56 representatives in the 460-member Sejm during the legislative body's 5th term. Placed by the Party in the constituency covering Opole Voivodeship, she was assigned to the Committee for Defense of the Environment, Natural Resources and Forestry as well as to the Committee for Entrepreneurial Growth.
In 2007, after she served a year-and-a-half as a legislator, Sandra Lewandowska's private life became fodder for the tabloid press when stories about her purported romance during a trip to Egypt with one of the Self-Defense Party leaders, 30-years-older Sejm member Janusz Maksymiuk, were splashed, along with photographs, across the pages of publications Super Express and Fakt [Fact]. The public's perception of her political persona was further diminished by a story in the 2 July issue of Poland's largest-circulation newsweekly, Polityka [Politics], ranking the country's best and worst legislators, which placed her among the bottom five, along with four male legislators, and described her as well-tanned and well known for her affair with Maksymiuk, but completely unknown as a legislator.[1]
Her newfound celebrity/notoriety resulted in an invitation to participate in the 6th season of Taniec z gwiazdami, partnered by professional dancer Michał Skawiński. The show's premiere broadcast was on 9 September, with her elimination, ranked in 13th place, coming in the second installment. Political reckoning came the following month with the October 21 election to the Sejm, held only two years and one month after the previous one, in which the Self-Defense Party received less than 5% of the vote, thus losing all of its 56 seats in the Sejm. Nearly two years later, in the June 2009 elections to the European Parliament, her effort at a political comeback proved unsuccessful.