The Left (Poland)

Last updated
The Left
Lewica
Leaders
Parliamentary leader Anna Maria Żukowska
Founded19 July 2019
Preceded by United Left
Ideology
Political position Centre-left to left-wing
National affiliation Senate Pact 2023 (for 2023 Senate election)
European Parliament group Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (NL)
Members New Left
Left Together
Polish Socialist Party
Labour Union
Social Democracy of Poland
Freedom and Equality
The City Is Ours
Sejm
26 / 460
Senate
9 / 100
European Parliament
3 / 53
Regional assemblies
8 / 552
City Presidents [1]
11 / 107
Website
klub-lewica.org.pl
Members of The Left - from left: Wlodzimierz Czarzasty, Dorota Olko, Agata Diduszko-Zyglewska, Anna Maria Zukowska, Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bak, Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus, Magdalena Biejat, Daria Gosek-Popiolek, Robert Biedron. Konwencja Nowej Lewicy w Warszawie 2023.jpg
Members of The Left - from left: Włodzimierz Czarzasty, Dorota Olko, Agata Diduszko-Zyglewska, Anna Maria Żukowska, Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk, Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus, Magdalena Biejat, Daria Gosek-Popiołek, Robert Biedroń.

The Left (Polish : Lewica) is a political alliance in Poland. Initially founded to contest the 2019 parliamentary election, the alliance now consists of the New Left and Left Together. [2]

Contents

It also originally consisted of Democratic Left Alliance and Spring until its merging to create the New Left, including the Polish Socialist Party that left the coalition in 2021. It is also supported by several minor left-wing parties, including Your Movement, Yes for Łódź, [3] Urban Movement, [4] and the Polish Communist Party. [5]

The Left is a catch-all coalition of the Polish left, [6] and it is positioned on the centre-left [6] [7] and left-wing. [8] It is mainly orientated towards the principles of social democracy, [9] and democratic socialism. [10] It also advocates progressive, social-liberal [11] and secular policies, including LGBT rights. [12] [13] It is supportive of Poland's membership in the European Union. [13]

In the 2023 Polish parliamentary election, The Left coalition technically participated as the New Left party, whose list included representatives of Left Together, Labour Union, Polish Socialist Party, Freedom and Equality and Social Democracy of Poland. [14] [15]

Voter base

As Lewica is formed as a unification of the Polish left, it has attempted to diversify its platform and appeal to a broader range of voters, rather than relying mostly on the votes of former officials and civil servants during the PPR period, which had been and continues to be one of the Democratic Left Alliance's largest voting blocs. This attempt, however, was met with somewhat limited success by the fact that the coalition's pro-LGBT rights platform failed to appeal to working class and economically left-leaning Poles, which tend to favour a more socially conservative policy (especially as both economically interventionist and social conservative positions were already being provided by the right-wing PiS party). At the same time, the more liberally-oriented city-dwelling population, which could favour the party's proposed socially progressive policies, found little appeal in the party's platform of economic interventionism. [6] [16] [17]

Despite this, some sociologists theorized that the unification of the parties could lead to an overall mobilization of leftist voters, [18] which could now feel that their vote for the coalition wouldn't be wasted. [6] This was confirmed to be the case when Lewica succeeded in electing 49 members to the Sejm and 2 members to the Senate of Poland in the 2019 Polish parliamentary election, thus making the coalition Poland's third largest political force and overturning a four-year absence of left-wing representatives in Poland's parliament. [19] [20]

In addition, the party's platform, which differs greatly from the platforms of the other major Polish political parties, has managed to find some support among disillusioned younger and secular voters, which don't identify with any political force or even with the left, but instead desire "something new". [17] [21]

At the same time, the party also received a considerable boost in support among older voters after the ruling PiS party passed a "degradation law", which cut retirement pensions and disability benefits for thousands of former bureaucrats during the PPR period, whose main income was now directly threatened by the new government policy. This led to an expansion and consolidation of the otherwise shrinking of the Democratic Left Alliance's previously described voting bloc. [21]

Ideology

The 2019 electoral program of the Left included: [22] [23]

Parliamentary group

Parliamentary group under the name Coalition Parliamentary Club of the Left (Polish : Koalicyjny Klub Parlamentarny Lewicy) is chaired by Anna Maria Żukowska. [24] It currently has 26 members of the Sejm, [24] and 9 senators. [25]

Current members

Party Sejm [24] [26] Senate [25]
New Left
5 / 100
See list
Left Together
Polish Socialist Party
0 / 460
1 / 100
Labour Union
0 / 460
1 / 100

Election results

Sejm

ElectionLeaderPopular vote% of votesSeats+/−GovernmentRef
2019 Włodzimierz Czarzasty 2,319,946
(#3)
12.56
49 / 460
New PiS [27]
Officially registered as Democratic Left Alliance party list.
2023 Włodzimierz Czarzasty,
Robert Biedroń
1,859,018
(#4)
8.61
26 / 460
Decrease2.svg 23 KOPL2050PSLNL [28]
Officially registered as New Left party list.

Senate

ElectionLeaderPopular vote% of votesSeats+/−MajorityRef
2019 Włodzimierz Czarzasty 415,745
(#4)
2.28
2 / 100
New KOPSLL [29]
Officially registered as Democratic Left Alliance party list.
2023 Włodzimierz Czarzasty,
Robert Biedroń
1,131,639
(#5)
5.29
9 / 100
Increase2.svg 7 KOTDL [30]
Officially registered as New Left party list.

Presidential

ElectionCandidate1st round2nd roundRef
Popular vote% of votesPopular vote% of votes
2020 Robert Biedroń 432,129
(#6)
2.22 [31]

Local elections

Regional Assemblies

ElectionLeaderPopular vote% of voteSeats+/−Ref
2024 Włodzimierz Czarzasty,
Robert Biedroń
911,430
(#5)
6.32
8 / 552
Decrease2.svg 3 [32]

European Parliament

ElectionLeaderPopular vote% of votesSeats+/−Ref
2024 Robert Biedroń [lower-alpha 1] 741,071
(#5)
6.30
3 / 53
Decrease2.svg 5 [33]

Notes

  1. Candidate listed no. 1 in Warsaw.

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References

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