Poland History – Democracy

The center-right and center-left governments that alternated at the helm of the executive during the 1990s failed to give political and economic stability to the country, which had also achieved some important objectives at the turn of the century, consolidating democratic structures with the launch of a new Constitution (1997), creating a market economy that attracted foreign capital. However, the economic recovery was not accompanied by widespread benefits: the unemployment rate had risen and the support offered by social services, reduced by cuts in public spending, had ceased. The legislative elections of September 2001 radically changed the political scenario of Poland, marking the defeat of the Electoral Action of Solidarność; a center-left government was formed chaired by L. Miller, strong advocate of European integration. In 2004, the official entry of the Poland into the EU took place together with 9 other states, which was followed by a change in leadership of the government between Miller and the social democrat M. Belka. In the European elections of that year, the formation of the Civic Platform center emerged (Platforma Obywatelska, PO). After the 2005 legislative elections, in which the conservative Party for Law and Justice ( Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, PIS)prevailed,economist K. Marcinkiewicz took over the government. The subsequent presidential elections saw the affirmation of the mayor of Warsaw and founder of the PIS, L. Kaczyński. In 2006, a center-right majority government led by Marcinkiewicz was launched, who however resigned in July following serious disagreements with the president, who in his place appointed his twin brother J. Kaczyński as prime minister. For Poland democracy and rights, please check intershippingrates.com.

The nationalist and Eurosceptic position of the new majority gave rise to deep concern in the EU. In the summer of 2007 the ruling coalition was wrecked and the new elections sanctioned the defeat of the Kaczyński and the victory of the Civic Platform. At the head of the government was called D. Tusk, who requested the intervention of the International Monetary Fund to deal with the heavy repercussions on the Polish economy of the global crisis of 2008-09. Early presidential elections were called in June 2010, due to the tragic accident that occurred in April, in which President L. Katyń in 1940. Leadership of the country was taken on an interim basis by the liberal B. Komorowski (b. 1952), who was elected president the following July after a ballot with J. Kaczyński. In the political elections held in October 2011, the Civic Platform party obtained 37.5% of the votes, a result that allowed the governing coalition to retain the majority in parliament and Tusk to remain in office, becoming the first Polish prime minister to obtain a second consecutive term since the fall of communism. The consultations marked a new defeat for the challenger J. Kaczyński and recorded 10% of the preferences granted to the Palikot Movement, a radical and anticlerical group that presented a program of social reforms on issues such as abortion, homosexual unions and legalization of the use of soft drugs. In 2014 Tusk, after being appointed president of the European Council, he resigned and Komorowski entrusted E. Kopacz, former president of the lower house and militant of the Civic Platform party, with the task of forming a new government.

In the first round of the presidential elections held in May 2015, outgoing President Komorowski obtained 32.2% of the votes, against the 34.8% awarded by A. Duda, of the right-wing national-populist Law and Justice party and former assistant of L. Kaczyński, who achieved a narrow victory in the ballot (51.5% of the preferences against 48.5%), taking over from the outgoing president. The Law and Justice party confirmed its advance with the clear affirmation at the legislative consultations of October 2015, obtaining the 37, 6% of the votes and the majority of seats with the candidate premier B. Szydlo, while the formation Civic platform of the outgoing premier Kopacz received 24.1% of the votes. Resigned in December 2017, Prime Minister Szydlo was replaced by M. Morawiecki. The European elections held in May 2019 recorded the success of Kaczynski’s Law and Justice party (43%), followed by the European Coalition (38%), composed of the centrists of the Civic Platform, the Polish People’s Party, the Alliance of the democratic left and the Greens, while in the political consultations held in October 2019 the Law and Justice party clearly established itself, winning the absolute majority with 43.6% of the votes, against the 27.4% obtained by the opposition force Civic coalition.