The Democratic Left Alliance was a social-democratic political party in Poland. It was formed on 9 July 1991 as an electoral alliance of centre-left parties, and became a single party on 15 April 1999. It was the major coalition party in Poland between 1993 and 1997, and between 2001 and 2005, with four Prime ministers coming from the party: Józef Oleksy, Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz, Leszek Miller and Marek Belka. It then faded into opposition, overshadowed by the rise of Civic Platform and Law and Justice.
The Democratic Party, abbreviated to PD, was a minor social-liberal political party in Poland. It had no members of the Sejm, Senate, or European Parliament.
Józef Oleksy was a Polish left-wing politician who served as Prime Minister of Poland from 7 March 1995 to 7 February 1996, when he resigned due to espionage allegations. He was chairman of the Democratic Left Alliance.
Jerzy Andrzej Szmajdziński was a Polish politician who was a Deputy Marshal of Polish Sejm and previously served as Minister of Defence. He was a candidate for President of Poland in the 2010 election.
Democratic Left Alliance-Labour Union was an electoral committee and a coalition of two Polish centre-left political parties: Democratic Left Alliance and Labour Union. At the national level, the alliance arose at the time of the 2001 parliamentary elections and continued through the 2004 elections to the European Parliament. The alliance came together again for the 2009 and 2014 European parliamentary elections.
Poland has a multi-party political system. On the national level, Poland elects the head of state – the president – and a legislature. There are also various local elections, referendums and elections to the European Parliament.
Presidential elections were held in Poland on 5 November 1995, with a second round on 19 November. The leader of Social Democracy, Aleksander Kwaśniewski, and incumbent President Lech Wałęsa advanced to the second round. Kwaśniewski won the election with 52% of the vote in the run-off against 48% for Wałęsa.
The National Broadcasting Council is the Polish broadcasting regulator, which issues radio and television broadcast licenses, ensures compliance with the law by public broadcasters, and indirectly controls state-owned media. It is roughly equivalent to the Federal Communications Commission in the United States.
Joanna Senyszyn is a Polish politician and professor of economics. She served as member of the Sejm and member of the European Parliament (2009–2014).
The Social Alliance was an electoral coalition created for the 1998 Polish local elections. Formed on 27 June 1998, the Social Alliance included the Polish People's Party along with its smaller left-oriented party partners, such as the Labour Union, the National Party of Retirees and Pensioners, the Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland and few members of Alliance of Democrats (Poland). The party represented the "independent left" that challenged the anti-communist and pro-communist dichotomy of Polish politics while maintaining a strongly leftist profile inspired by pre-WW2 socialist and agrarian movements. It protested against the capitalist reforms carried out in Poland such as austerity, criticizing them for creating massive wealth inequality. Nevertheless, the coalition cooperated with the post-communist Democratic Left Alliance as well as the Polish Socialist Party.
Partia Razem is a centre-left to left-wing political party in Poland. It was founded in 2015, and from 2019 to 2024 party's official name was Lewica Razem.
Adrian Tadeusz Zandberg is a Polish historian, computer programmer, doctor of humanities, and left-wing politician serving as a member of the Sejm for Warsaw I. He is one of the co-leaders of Partia Razem.
Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 13 October 2019. All 460 members of the Sejm and 100 senators of the Senate were elected. The ruling right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) won re-election to a second term retaining its majority in the Sejm. However, it lost its majority in the Senate to the opposition. With 43.6% of the popular vote, Law and Justice received the highest vote share by any party since Poland returned to democracy in 1989. The turnout was the highest for a parliamentary election since the first free elections after the fall of communism in 1989. For the first time after 1989, the ruling party controlled one house, while the opposition controlled the other.
The Union of European Democrats is a liberal political party in Poland. It is led by Elżbieta Bińczycka.
Spring was a social democratic and pro-European political party in Poland led by a former mayor of Słupsk, Robert Biedroń. It merged with Democratic Left Alliance and created New Left.
The Left is a political alliance in Poland. Initially founded to contest the 2019 parliamentary election, the alliance now consists of the New Left and other smaller parties.
Włodzimierz Czarzasty is a Polish politician who serves as the co-chairperson of the New Left party. He has been serving as a Deputy Marshal of the Sejm since 12 November 2019.
The New Left is a social-democratic political party in Poland. It is positioned on the centre and centre-left on the political spectrum. Its leaders are Włodzimierz Czarzasty and Robert Biedroń.
The Democratic Party of the Left was a left-wing political party in Poland. The party was founded on 7 December 2002 and formally registered on 23 January 2003. It was founded by former activists of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD). DPL sought to create a "real left-wing" alternative to SLD, dismissing SLD as a corrupt and neoliberal party funded by Western capital. The party sought to create a broad coalition of minor left-wing parties, and participated in numerous Polish elections between 2003 and 2007, forging alliances and agreements with multiple similar parties, but never managed to receive a seat. It participated in social actions, protests and declarations, decrying neoliberalism, capitalism, and Western interventions in the Middle East. The party remained active until 2010, and was dissolved in 2013.
