Civic Coalition Koalicja Obywatelska | |
|---|---|
| | |
| Abbreviation | KO |
| Leaders | |
| Founded | 7 March 2018 |
| Headquarters | ul. Wiejska 12a, 00-490 Warsaw |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Centre-right [3] |
| Members |
|
| Colors |
|
| 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 | |
The Civic Coalition (Polish : Koalicja Obywatelska, KO) [a] is a 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.
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 would form a joint parliamentary club. [9] The Greens announced at the end of July 2019 that they would 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]
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 the 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 the Silesian Autonomy Movement on a 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] This is the largest part of the 15 October Coalition.
On 25 October 2025, the three main components of the coalition, Civic Platform, Modern, and Polish Initiative, merged into a new party. [19] It was announced that this party would itself be named Civic Coalition.
Civic Coalition presents itself as a coalition of centrist, moderately left-wing and moderately right-wing forces. [20] Shortly after its foundation, media outlets variously described the party as centre-left, [21] centrist, [22] and centre-right. [23] After the 2023 Polish parliamentary election, the coalition came to be described as centre-right by The Guardian, [24] Euractiv, [25] EUobserver, [26] The Telegraph, [27] Heinrich Böll Foundation, [28] and the Financial Times. [29] Afterwards, it has been consistently described as centre-right by political scientists and other academics. [3]
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. [31] 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. [32]
| Name | Ideology | Position | European affiliation | Leader(s) | MPs | Senators | MEPs | Sejmiks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Civic Coalition | 138 / 460 | 36 / 100 | 19 / 53 | 159 / 552 | |||||
| The Greens | Green politics | Centre-left to left-wing | EGP | Przemysław Słowik Urszula Zielińska | 2 / 460 | 0 / 100 | 0 / 53 | 1 / 552 | |
| AGROunia | Agrarian socialism | Left-wing | — | Michał Kołodziejczak | 1 / 460 | 0 / 100 | 0 / 53 | 0 / 552 | |
| Yes! For Poland | Regionalism | Centre-left | — | Rafał Trzaskowski | 2 / 460 | 1 / 100 | 0 / 53 | 4 / 552 | |
| Independents | — | Left-wing to centre-right | — | 20 / 460 | 0 / 100 | 2 / 53 | 8 / 552 [b] | ||
| 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 / 53 | |
| Election | Candidate | 1st round | 2nd round | Result | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | |||
| 2020 | Rafał Trzaskowski | 5,917,340 | 30.46 | 10,018,263 | 48.97 | Lost |
| 2025 | 6,147,797 | 31.36 | 10,237,286 | 49.11 | Lost | |
| 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 | PiS Minority (2023) | |
| KO–PL2050–KP–NL (2023–present) |
| Election | Leader | Popular vote | % of vote | Seats | Seat change | Majority |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Grzegorz Schetyna | 6,490,306 | 35.66 (#2) | 43 / 100 | KO–KP–SLD | |
| 2023 | Donald Tusk | 6,187,295 | 28.91 (#2) | 41 / 100 | KO–PL2050–KP–NL |
| 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 | EPP | |
| 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 | |
| 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 | |
Moreover, it is likely to hand over power to Donald Tusk, the leading candidate of the liberal-conservative Civic Coalition (Koalicja Obywatelska - KO).
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.
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.
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.
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.
On December 13, 2023, following over eight weeks of delaying tactics, Polish President Andrzej Duda appointed Donald Tusk, a figure from the centre-right Civic Coalition (Koalicja Obywatelska, KO), as the head of a new coalition government.
While clear patterns concerning voting for the centre-right KO are not found, there does appear to be a decline in the share of Euroenthusiasts and Moderate Euroenthusiasts among supporters of SLD (The Left) from December 2020 onwards.
Konfederacja (Confederation Liberty and Independence, far-right) used the word once (in the context of protection of monuments and natural sites), while Koalicja Obywatelska (Civic Coalition, center-right) used the word twice (in the context of popularisation of Polish heritage abroad, and in the context of the rural development).
Three opposition parties, the centre-right Civic Coalition, the Left, and the Christian-democratic Poland 2050, voted almost unanimously against these policies, and the agrarian Polish Coalition abstained.
His position was endorsed, though in a milder way, by prime minister Donald Tusk, the leader of the center-right Civic Coalition.
However, the dynamics of the 2023 Polish parliamentary elections, suggest that the memory politics underlying the pre-2005 cleavage are being reincarnated in a new form as a split within the post-Solidarity side, where to use Grabowska (2021)'s words, the centre-right Civic Coalition is being unwittingly "sucked into the vaccum" left by SLD, and finding the position of a mnemonic abnegator increassingly difficult to sustain.
We find no significant effect on the main centre-right opposition party, Civic Coalition.
The runner-up center-right Civic Coalition list (Koalicja Obywatelska, KO) included 43% female candidates and elected 49 female MPs.
In the 2019 election, the pluralist-democratic opposition achieved several gains. While the centre-right alliance Koalicja Obywatelska (Civic Coalition) did not increase its result compared to that of its main parties in 2015 (27,4% of votes, -4 pp.), the united Left reentered Sejm with 12,6% of votes (+5 pp.).
The runner-up center-right Civic Coalition list (Koalicja Obywatelska, KO) included 43% female candidates and elected 49 female MPs.