Civic Coalition (Poland)

Civic Coalition Koalicja Obywatelska
Abbreviation	KO
Leaders	Donald Tusk Rafał Trzaskowski Adam Szłapka Barbara Nowacka Urszula Zielińska
Founded	7 March 2018
Headquarters	ul. Wiejska 12a, 00-490 Warsaw
Ideology	Liberal conservatism [1] Pro-Europeanism [2] Anti-immigration [3]
Political position	Big tent [A]
Members	Civic Platform (PO) Modern (.Nowoczesna) Polish Initiative (iPL) The Greens (Zieloni) AGROunia (AU) [4] Yes! For Poland (T!DPL) [5] Supported by: League of Polish Families [6] [7] Democratic Left Association Silesian Regional Party Silesian Autonomy Movement
Colors	Red   Blue   Orange (customary)
Sejm	157 / 460
Senate	42 / 100
European Parliament	21 / 53
Regional assemblies	210 / 552
Voivodes	11 / 16
Voivodeship Marshals	10 / 16
City Presidents	40 / 107
Mayors	63 / 906
Wójts	27 / 1,463
Powiat Councils	1,056 / 6,170
Gmina Councils	1,649 / 39,416
Website
koalicjaobywatelska.pl
Politics of Poland Political parties Elections ^  A: The largest party in the alliance, the Civic Platform (PO), is a broadly centre-right party, with the much smaller parties ranging from centre-right to left-wing (see table below).

The Civic Coalition (Polish : Koalicja Obywatelska, KO) ^[a] is a big tent political alliance currently ruling in Poland. The alliance was formed in 2018 around Civic Platform, in opposition to the then-ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party.

History

The Civic Coalition was originally created by the Civic Platform and Modern parties for 2018 local elections. ^[8] In June 2019, it was announced that the Civic Coalition would be slated to participate in the 2019 Polish parliamentary election and Civic Platform and Modern will form a joint parliamentary club. ^[9] The Greens announced at the end of July 2019 that they will participate in the elections as part of the Coalition. ^[10] In August 2019, the Silesian Autonomy Movement and other member organisations of the Silesian Electoral Agreement joined the Coalition. ^[11]

2018 local elections and present

In the 2018 local elections, the Civic Coalition received 26.97% of votes (second place after Law and Justice), winning 194 seats. In 8 voivodeships, it obtained the best result, and in the Pomerania the majority of seats. The coalition fared worse in the powiat and mayoral election. In the first round of 11 candidates of the Civic Coalition won elections for mayors of cities (including Rafał Trzaskowski in Warsaw). In addition, 15 candidates of the Civic Coalition went through to the second round, of which 8 were elected. Candidates of Civic Coalition were elected presidents of 19 cities, while it was placed second to the national-conservative Law and Justice in four. ^[12]

The committee has shown stronger electoral performances in large cities, such as, Warsaw, Poznań, Gdańsk, Wrocław, Łódź, and Kraków. Better than average results were achieved in West and North Poland (Recovered Territories). In the Opole Voivodeship, Civic Coalition received high support among the German minority. However, it has weaker support in the villages and in the conservative eastern Poland. ^[13]

In the 2019 parliamentary elections, the Coalition received most of its votes in major cities (as in 2018 local elections) and areas surrounding them. For the 2019 election, the coalition entered an agreement with Silesian Regional Party and Silesian Autonomy Movement, and activists and politicians associated with these Silesian parties were included on the Civic Coalition's electoral lists. ^[14] The electoral pact between the Civic Coalition and Silesian regionalists declared three demands – the strengthening of regional government, an increase in the share of tax revenues allocated to local governments, and the recognition of Silesian language as a regional language. ^[15]

Civic Platform already cooperated with Silesian Autonomy Movement on local level – in 2015, both parties entered a local coalition in the Silesian Voivodeship Sejmik. ^[16] In March 2023, Civic Coalition again pledged to recognize Silesian as a regional language. ^[17]

After exit polls for the 2023 parliamentary elections showed KO having taken a strong enough second place finish to oust the ruling Law and Justice party, KO leader Donald Tusk said, "I have been a politician for many years. I'm an athlete. Never in my life have I been so happy about taking seemingly second place. Poland won. Democracy has won." ^[18]

Ideology

The Civic Coalition is a catch-all coalition, that is made up of political parties that occupy political positions from the centre-left to the centre-right. ^{[19] [20]} Media and academics have also described the coalition as centre-left, ^[21] centrist, ^[22] and centre-right. ^[23] It was described as centre-right by The Guardian, ^[24] Euractiv, ^[25] EUobserver, ^[26] The Telegraph, ^[27] Heinrich Böll Foundation, ^[28] and the Financial Times ^[29] during the 2023 Polish parliamentary election. The coalition's positions on social issues range from progressivism to Christian democracy. It is mainly oriented towards the principles of liberal conservatism ^[1] and liberalism, ^[30] and it aims to protect liberal democracy in Poland. ^[19] The coalition was also described as anti-immigration, mostly because of the rhetoric of its dominating party, centre-right Civic Platform. The coalition also supports Poland's membership in the European Union and NATO. ^[20]

Composition

Name		Ideology	Position	European affiliation	Leader(s)	MPs	Senators	MEPs	Sejmiks
	Civic Platform	Liberal conservatism Pro-Europeanism Anti-immigration	Centre-right	EPP	Donald Tusk	122 / 460	36 / 100	18 / 52	152 / 552
	Modern	Liberalism Pro-Europeanism	Centre to centre-right	ALDE	Adam Szłapka	10 / 460	0 / 100	0 / 52	21 / 552
	Polish Initiative	Social liberalism Progressivism	Centre-left	—	Barbara Nowacka	2 / 460	0 / 100	1 / 52	0 / 552
	The Greens	Green politics	Centre-left to left-wing	EGP	Przemysław Słowik Urszula Zielińska	3 / 460	0 / 100	0 / 52	0 / 552
	AGROunia	Agrarian socialism	Left-wing	—	Michał Kołodziejczak	1 / 460	0 / 100	0 / 52	0 / 552
	Yes! For Poland	Regionalism	Centre-left	—	Jacek Karnowski	2 / 460	1 / 100	0 / 52	4 / 552
	Independents [note 1]	—	Left-wing to centre-right	—	—	20 / 460	4 / 100 [b]	2 / 52	8 / 552 [c]

Supported by

Name		Ideology	Position	European affiliation	Leader(s)	MPs	Senators	MEPs
	League of Polish Families	Social conservatism	Right-wing		Witold Bałażak	0 / 460	0 / 100	0 / 52
	Democratic Left Association	Social democracy Pro-Europeanism	Centre-left	—	Jerzy Teichert	0 / 460	0 / 100	0 / 52
	Silesian Regional Party	Silesian regionalism Pro-Europeanism	Centre-left	—	Ilona Kanclerz	0 / 460	0 / 100	0 / 52
	Silesian Autonomy Movement	Silesian regionalism Fiscal federalism	Left-wing	European Free Alliance	Jerzy Gorzelik	0 / 460	0 / 100	0 / 52
	Citizens of Lower Silesia	Regionalism Conservatism	Centre-right	—	Rafał Dutkiewicz	0 / 460	0 / 100	0 / 52

Electoral performance

Presidential

Election	Candidate	1st round		2nd round
		# of overall votes	% of overall vote	# of overall votes	% of overall vote
2020	Rafał Trzaskowski	5,917,340	30.5 (#2)	10,018,263	49.0 (#2)

Sejm

Party groupings, who received most votes in powiats (Civic Coalition in orange) in 2023

Election	Leader	Popular vote	% of vote	Seats	Seat change	Government
2019	Grzegorz Schetyna	5,060,355	27.4 (#2)	134 / 460	New	PiS
2023	Donald Tusk	6,629,402	30.7 (#2)	157 / 460	23	PiS Minority (2023)
						KO–PL2050–KP–NL (2023-present)

Senate

Election	Leader	Popular vote	% of vote	Seats	Seat change	Majority
2019	Grzegorz Schetyna	6,490,306	35.66 (#2)	43 / 100	17	KO–KP–SLD
2023	Donald Tusk	6,187,295	28.91 (#2)	41 / 100	2	KO–PL2050–KP–NL

European Parliament

2024 elections to the European parliament (constitutencies) PiS (blue), KO (orange)

Election	Leader	Popular vote	% of vote	Seats	Seat change	EP Group
2019	Grzegorz Schetyna	5,249,935	38.47 (#2)	14 / 52	New	EPP
	As part of the European Coalition coalition, which won 22 seats in total.
2024	Donald Tusk	4,359,443	37.06 (#1)	21 / 53	7	EPP

2024 local

2024 Polish local elections to regional assemblies (constitutencies) PiS (blue), KO (orange)

Voivodeship	Seats	Governance
Lower Silesian	15 / 36	Coalition
Kuyavian-Pomeranian	14 / 30	Coalition
Lublin	6 / 33	Opposition
Lubusz	14 / 30	Coalition
Łódź	12 / 33	Coalition
Lesser Poland	12 / 39	Opposition
Masovian	20 / 51	Coalition
Opole	14 / 30	Coalition
Subcarpathian	6 / 33	Opposition
Podlaskie	8 / 30	Coalition
Pomeranian	20 / 33	Majority
Silesian	20 / 45	Coalition
Świętokrzyskie	6 / 30	Opposition
Warmian-Masurian	13 / 30	Coalition
Greater Poland	15 / 39	Coalition
West Pomeranian	15 / 30	Coalition
All seats		210 / 552

2018 local

2018 Polish local elections to regional assemblies (voivodeships) PiS (blue), KO (orange)

Voivodeship	Seats	Governance
Lower Silesian	13 / 36	Opposition (2018-2024)
		Coalition (2024-)
Kuyavian-Pomeranian	14 / 30	Coalition
Lublin	7 / 33	Opposition
Lubusz	11 / 30	Coalition
Łódź	12 / 33	Opposition
Lesser Poland	11 / 39	Opposition
Masovian	18 / 51	Coalition
Opole	13 / 30	Coalition
Subcarpathian	5 / 33	Opposition
Podlaskie	9 / 30	Opposition
Pomeranian	18 / 33	Coalition
Silesian	20 / 45	Opposition (2018-2022)
		Coalition (2022-)
Świętokrzyskie	3 / 30	Opposition (2018-2023)
		Coalition (2023-)
Warmian-Masurian	12 / 30	Coalition
Greater Poland	15 / 39	Coalition
West Pomeranian	13 / 30	Coalition
All seats		194 / 552

See also

• European Coalition
• Polish Coalition

Notes and references

Notes

1. The Civic Coalition's name that was used in the 2019 parliamentary election was the "Coalition Electoral Committee Civic Coalition PO .N iPL Greens" (Polish: Koalicyjny Komitet Wyborczy Koalicja Obywatelska PO .N iPL Zieloni).
2. Andrzej Dziuba, Zygmunt Frankiewicz, Krzysztof Kwiatkowski, Wadim Tyszkiewicz
3. Roman Jasiakiewicz (Kuyavia-Pomerania), Iwona Jelonek (Silesia), Marek Kopel (Silesia), Igor Łukaszuk (Podlaskie), Antoni Pikul (Podlaskie), Tadeusz Sławek (Silesia), Anna Synowiec (Lubusz), Henryk Szymański (Greater Poland)

1. The Civic Coalition electoral committee lists also include a handful of candidates who are members of the Silesian Autonomy Movement, Social Democracy of Poland, the Polish People's Party, Your Movement, Freedom and Equality, Democratic Left Alliance, and Labour Union, as well as independents.

References

1. • Barbora Krempaská; Lars-Andre Richter; Florentyna Martyńska (18 October 2023). "Victory for Democracy in Poland". Friedrich Naumann Foundation. Moreover, it is likely to hand over power to Donald Tusk, the leading candidate of the liberal-conservative Civic Coalition (Koalicja Obywatelska - KO).
   • Anna Noryskiewicz (16 October 2023). "Poland election could oust conservative party that has led country for 8 years". CBS News. The opposition liberal-conservative Civic Coalition of former Prime Minister Donald Tusk was the second-strongest force with 31.6% of the vote and 163 seats.
   • Piotr Zagórski (31 October 2023). "Poland Has Woken Up". El Pais. Donald Tusk's liberal-conservative Civic Coalition with 30.7% of the vote and 157 seats, the Third Way coalition (which unites the peasant party with another conservative party) with 14.4% and 65 seats, and the New Left with 8.6% and 26 seats will try to form a government backed by 248 MPs, 17 above the majority.
   • "Poland: PiS government steps down as parliament meets". Deutsche Welle. 13 November 2023. The alliance will put forth Tusk, the head of the liberal-conservative Civic Coalition (KO), as its candidate for prime minister; and Szymon Holowina of the centrist 2050 party, as candidate for speaker.
   • Wallace Jones (13 December 2023). "The government is installed and Tusk is sworn in as the new Polish Prime Minister". todaytimeslive.com. The three-way alliance consisting of Tusk's liberal-conservative Civic Coalition, the Christian-conservative Third Way and the left-wing Lewica alliance won a government majority in the October 15 parliamentary elections.
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