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(Redirected from Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc) Right-wing and nationalist political party in Poland For other uses, see Law and Justice (disambiguation). "PiS" redirects here. For other uses, see PIS (disambiguation).
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Law and Justice Prawo i Sprawiedliwość
AbbreviationPiS
ChairmanJarosław Kaczyński
FoundersLech Kaczyński
Jarosław Kaczyński
Founded13 June 2001; 23 years ago (2001-06-13)
Split from
Headquartersul. Nowogrodzka [pl] 84/86, 02-018 Warsaw
Youth wingLaw and Justice Youth Forum
MembershipIncrease 48,000 (2023 est.)
Ideology
Political positionRight-wing
National affiliationUnited Right
European affiliationEuropean Conservatives and Reformists Party
European Parliament groupEuropean Conservatives and Reformists
Colours  Blue   White   Red
Sejm181 / 460
Senate34 / 100
European Parliament21 / 53
Regional assemblies258 / 552
Voivodes0 / 16
Voivodeship Marshals3 / 16
City Presidents4 / 107
Website
www.pis.org.pl
 A: The party is also considered economically left-wing, or left-leaning.

Law and Justice (Polish: Prawo i Sprawiedliwość [ˈpravɔ i ˌspravjɛˈdlivɔɕt͡ɕ] , PiS) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Poland. The party is a member of European Conservatives and Reformists Group. Its chairman had been Jarosław Kaczyński since 18 January 2003.

It was founded in 2001 by Jarosław and Lech Kaczyński as a direct successor of the Centre Agreement after it split from the Solidarity Electoral Action (AWS). It won the 2005 parliamentary and presidential elections, after which Lech became the president of Poland. It headed a parliamentary coalition with the League of Polish Families and Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland between 2005 and the 2007 election. It placed second and they remained in the parliamentary opposition until 2015. It regained the presidency in the 2015 election, and later won a majority of seats in the parliamentary election. They retained the positions following the 2019 and 2020 election, but lost their majority following the 2023 Polish parliamentary election.

During its foundation, it sought to position itself as a centrist Christian democratic party, although shortly after, it adopted more culturally and socially conservative views and began their shift to the right. Under Kaczyński's national-conservative and law and order agenda, PiS embraced economic interventionism. It has also pursued close relations with the Catholic Church, although in 2011, the Catholic-nationalist faction split off to form United Poland. During the 2010s, it also adopted right-wing populist positions. After regaining power, PiS gained popularity with transfer payments to families with children.

It is a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists, and on national-level, it heads the United Right coalition. It currently holds 190 seats in the Sejm and 34 in the Senate.

It has attracted widespread international criticism and domestic protest movements for allegedly dismantling liberal-democratic checks and balances.

History

Formation

The party was created on a wave of popularity gained by Lech Kaczyński while heading the Polish Ministry of Justice (June 2000 to July 2001) in the AWS-led government, although local committees began appearing from 22 March 2001. The AWS itself was created from a diverse array of many small political parties. In the 2001 general election, PiS gained 44 (of 460) seats in the lower chamber of the Polish Parliament (Sejm) with 9.5% of votes. In 2002, Lech Kaczyński was elected mayor of Warsaw. He handed the party leadership to his twin brother Jarosław in 2003.

In coalition government: 2005–2007

Former regional office of PiS in Zwycięstwa Street in Antoniuk District of Białystok, May 2019

In the 2005 general election, PiS took first place with 27.0% of votes, which gave it 155 out of 460 seats in the Sejm and 49 out of 100 seats in the Senate. It was almost universally expected that the two largest parties, PiS and Civic Platform (PO), would form a coalition government. The putative coalition parties had a falling out, however, related to a fierce contest for the Polish presidency. In the end, Lech Kaczyński won the second round of the presidential election on 23 October 2005 with 54.0% of the vote, ahead of Donald Tusk, the PO candidate.

After the 2005 elections, Jarosław should have become prime minister. However, in order to improve his brother's chances of winning the presidential election (the first round of which was scheduled two weeks after the parliamentary election), PiS formed a minority government headed by Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz as prime minister, an arrangement that eventually turned out to be unworkable. In July 2006, PiS formed a right-wing coalition government with the agrarian populist Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland and the nationalist League of Polish Families, headed by Jarosław Kaczyński. Association with these parties, on the margins of Polish politics, severely affected the reputation of PiS. When accusations of corruption and sexual harassment against Andrzej Lepper, the leader of Self-Defence, surfaced, PiS chose to end the coalition and called for new elections.

In opposition: 2007–2015

Jarosław Kaczyński and Andrzej Duda, 18 April 2013

In the 2007 general election, PiS managed to secure 32.1% of votes. Although an improvement over its showing from 2005, the results were nevertheless a defeat for the party, as Civic Platform (PO) gathered 41.5%. The party won 166 out of 460 seats in the Sejm and 39 seats in Poland's Senate.

On 10 April 2010, its former leader Lech Kaczyński died in the 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash. Jarosław Kaczyński became the sole leader of the party. He was the presidential candidate in the 2010 elections. In the 2010 election, Jarosław gathered 46.99% of the vote, losing to Civic Platform candidate Bronislaw Komorowski, who won with 53.01%.

In majority government: 2015–2023

See also: 2015 Polish Constitutional Court crisis and Polish rule-of-law crisis
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A Committee for the Defence of Democracy demonstration in Warsaw against the ruling Law and Justice party, on 7 May 2016

The party won the 2015 parliamentary election, this time with an outright majority—something no Polish party had done since the fall of communism. In the normal course of events, this should have made Jarosław Kaczyński prime minister for a second time. However, Beata Szydło, perceived as being somewhat more moderate than Kaczyński, had been tapped as PiS's candidate for prime minister.

The party supported controversial reforms carried out by the Hungarian Fidesz party, with Jarosław Kaczyński declaring in 2011 that "a day will come when we have a Budapest in Warsaw". PiS's 2015 victory prompted creation of a cross-party opposition movement, the Committee for the Defence of Democracy (KOD). Law and Justice has Proposed 2017 judicial reforms, which according to the party were meant to improve efficiency of the justice system, sparked protest as they were seen as undermining judicial independence. While these reforms were initially unexpectedly vetoed by President Duda, he later signed them into law. In 2017, the European Union began an Article 7 infringement procedure against Poland due to a "clear risk of a serious breach" in the rule of law and fundamental values of the European Union.

The party has caused what constitutional law scholar Wojciech Sadurski termed a "constitutional breakdown" by packing the Constitutional Court with its supporters, undermining parliamentary procedure, and reducing the president's and prime minister's offices in favour of power being wielded extra-constitutionally by party leader Jarosław Kaczyński. After eliminating constitutional checks, the government then moved to curtail the activities of NGOs and independent media, restrict freedom of speech and assembly, and reduce the qualifications required for civil service jobs in order to fill these positions with party loyalists. The media law was changed to give the governing party control of the state media, which was turned into a partisan outlet, with dissenting journalists fired from their jobs. Due to these political changes, Poland has been termed an "illiberal democracy", "plebiscitarian authoritarianism", or "velvet dictatorship with a façade of democracy".

The party won reelection in the 2019 parliamentary election. With 44% of the popular vote, Law and Justice received the highest vote share by any party since Poland returned to democracy in 1989, but lost its majority in the Senate.

In opposition: 2023–present

The United Right alliance placed first for the third straight election and won a plurality of seats but fell short of a Sejm majority. The opposition, consisting of the Civic Coalition, Third Way, and The Left, achieved a combined total vote of 54%, managing to form a majority coalition government. Although PiS would be unable to govern on its own, the Polish president Andrzej Duda stated his intention to re-appoint the incumbent Mateusz Morawiecki as prime minister due to the existing albeit unofficial convention of nominating a member of the winning party. The four opposition parties criticized Duda's decision as a delay tactic. The opposition parties subsequently signed a coalition agreement on 10 November, de facto taking over control of the Sejm, and agreed to nominate former prime minister and European Council President Donald Tusk as their candidate. Morawiecki's new cabinet, dubbed "two-week government" and "zombie government" by the media due to its anticipated short-livedness, was sworn in on 27 November 2023. As expected, the Morawiecki's government was defeated in the Sejm on 11 December 2023, effectively ending its tenure.

Breakaways

In January 2010, a breakaway faction led by Jerzy Polaczek split from the party to form Poland Plus. Its seven members of the Sejm came from the centrist, economically liberal wing of the party. On 24 September 2010, the group was disbanded, with most of its Sejm members, including Polaczek, returning to Law and Justice.

On 16 November 2010, MPs Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska, Elżbieta Jakubiak and Paweł Poncyljusz, and MEPs Adam Bielan and Michał Kamiński formed a new political group, Poland Comes First (Polska jest Najważniejsza). Kamiński said that the Law and Justice party had been taken over by far-right extremists. The breakaway party formed following dissatisfaction with the direction and leadership of Kaczyński.

On 4 November 2011, MEPs Zbigniew Ziobro, Jacek Kurski, and Tadeusz Cymański were ejected from the party, after Ziobro urged the party to split further into two separate parties – centrist and nationalist – with the three representing the nationalist faction. Ziobro's supporters, most of whom on the right-wing of the party, formed a new group in Parliament called Solidary Poland, leading to their expulsion, too. United Poland was formed as a formally separate party in March 2012, but has not threatened Law and Justice in opinion polls.

United Poland which would later become Sovereign Poland merged with Law and Justice on 12 October 2024 during PiS congress in Przysucha.

Base of support

See also: Poland A and B
Law and Justice's main support (dark blue). PiS has seen decreased support in the 2023 Polish parliamentary election.
Law and Justice's main support (dark blue) is concentrated in the south-east of the country (former Russian Partition and Austrian Partition). Results of the 2015 Polish parliamentary election.
Law and Justice's main support (dark blue). PiS has seen increased support in the 2019 Polish parliamentary election.

Like Civic Platform, but unlike the fringe parties to the right, Law and Justice originated from the anti-communist Solidarity trade union (which is a major cleavage in Polish politics), which was not a theocratic organisation. Solidarity's leadership wanted to back Law and Justice in 2005, but was held back by the union's last experience of party politics, in backing Solidarity Electoral Action.

Today, the party enjoys great support among working class constituencies and union members. Groups that vote for the party include miners, farmers, shopkeepers, unskilled workers, the unemployed, and pensioners. With its left-wing approach toward economics, the party attracts voters who feel that economic liberalisation and European integration have left them behind. The party's core support derives from older, religious people who value conservatism and patriotism. PiS voters are usually located in rural areas and small towns. The strongest region of support is the southeastern part of the country. Voters without a university degree tend to prefer the party more than college-educated voters do.

Regionally, it has more support in regions of Poland that were historically part of western Galicia-Lodomeria and Congress Poland. Since 2015, the borders of support are not as clear as before and party enjoys support in western parts of country, especially these deprived ones. Large cities in all regions are more likely to vote for a more liberal party like PO or .N. Still, PiS receives good support from poor and working class areas in large cities.

Based on this voter profile, Law and Justice forms the core of the conservative post-Solidarity bloc, along with the League of Polish Families and Solidarity Electoral Action, as opposed to liberal conservative post-Solidarity bloc of Civic Platform. The most prominent feature of PiS voters was their emphasis on decommunisation.

Ideology

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The ideological roots of Law and Justice go back to the late 1980s to a Christian-democratic and nationalist wing of the Solidarity movement. The party derives from a dissident faction of Solidarity which felt alienated from the economically liberal policies of the post-communist Polish establishment. This faction was centered around Jarosław Kaczyński as well as President Lech Wałęsa, and was powerful, albeit briefly, in the early 1990s when the capitalist transition was in its early stages. However, it suddenly lost all influence when Kaczyński's party, Centre Agreement, failed to reach the newly-established 5% electoral threshold in the 1993 Polish parliamentary election. This led the political movement that would later form PiS to spend the rest of the 1990s with only marginal political influence. It slowly started to re-establish itself in the late 1990s, as this period marked the strongest and most persistent wave of public dissatisfaction with economic liberalism and corruption.

For the first years after its foundation, Law and Justice was characterized as a moderate, single-issue party narrowly focused on the issue of 'law and order', appealing to voters concerned about corruption and high crime rates. In its 2002 assessment of Poland, the Immigration and Nationality Directorate led by the UK government described Law and Justice as "basically a law and order party". In 2003, German political scientist Nikolaus Werz classified Law and Justice as a centrist, law-and-order party that "advocates a strong state, the fight against corruption and the tightening of criminal law". Werz contrasted the moderation of PiS with the radicalism of League of Polish Families, which he described as a nationalist and 'Catholic-fundamentalist' party.

The party then started radicalizing and broadening its program following its victory in the 2005 Polish parliamentary election. In 2006, Chicago Tribune wrote that "President Kaczynski's Law and Justice Party ran on a populist reform platform but veered sharply to the right after its victory". The same year, Polish journalist Krzysztof Bobiński wrote: "When they started out, the Kaczynski brothers were fairly mainstream … but now they've gotten into bed with the League of Polish Families and Samoobrona. They are moving to the right, and it's a pretty intolerant right." The party had undergone a radical ideological change, abandoning its centrist position towards an increasingly populist and nationalist political orientation. This change was also marked by a pivot on the party's position towards the European Union - initially strongly supportive of European integration, PiS became an Eurosceptic party that criticized the EU from nationalist, protectionist, and anti-neoliberal perspectives.

According to Polish political scientists Krzysztof Kowalczyk and Jerzy Sielski, Law and Justice had moved from a single-issue party in 2001 to a staunchly and broadly conservative one by 2006. They noted that by 2006 the party started calling for a "conservative revolution" that would restore traditional values to Poland, and gradually adopted right-wing populist rhetoric characterized by a "somewhat leftist" economical policy to undercut the appeal of far-right anti-capitalist League of Polish Families (LPR), agrarian socialist Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland (Samoobrona) and the agrarian Polish People's Party (PSL). The populist pivot of PiS is credited with causing the electoral blowout of Samoobrona and LPR in the 2007 Polish parliamentary election.

Initially, the party was broadly pro-market, although less so than the Civic Platform. It has adopted the social market economy rhetoric similar to that of western European Christian democratic parties. In the 2005 election, the party shifted to the protectionist left on economics. As prime minister, Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz was more economically liberal than the Kaczyńskis, advocating a position closer to Civic Platform. In 2005, Law and Justice made Civic Platform its main ideological opponent despite their previous closeness - Law and Justice posed a difference between Civic Platform's "liberal Poland" and its "social Poland". The former was marked by economic liberalism, austerity, deregulation and "serving the rich". In contrast, Law and Justice stressed its "social" character, pledging policies that would help the poor. The party attacked Civic Platform's flat tax proposal and advocated a much more active role of the state in the economy. Law and Justice also made "an offer to the left", stressing its economically left-wing policies. This pivot led the leader of far-left Samoobrona, Andrzej Lepper, to endorse Lech Kaczyński in the 2005 Polish presidential election, arguing that left-wing voters must vote against the neoliberalism of Civic Platform; Lepper also justified his decision on the basis of Kaczyński's declarations in support of funding social welfare, fighting unemployment and taking a tougher stance towards the European Union.

On foreign policy, PiS is Atlanticist and less supportive of European integration than Civic Platform. The party is soft eurosceptic and opposes a federal Europe, especially the Euro currency. In its campaigns, it emphasises that the European Union should "benefit Poland and not the other way around". It is a member of the anti-federalist European Conservatives and Reformists Party, having previously been a part of the Alliance for Europe of the Nations and, before that, the European People's Party. Although it has some elements of Christian democracy, it is not a Christian democratic party. The party is commonly placed on the right wing to far-right of the political spectrum, although its economic ideology is also classified as left-wing, or left-leaning.

Platform

Economy

Beata Szydło during the National Independence Day

The party supports a state-guaranteed minimum social safety net and extensive state intervention in the economy, and argues that a "more socially sensitive and less market-dominated" economic system is necessary. It advocates progressive taxation that would redistribute the wealth from the wealthy to the poor, and it supports a large-scale social housing program. The party promised and implemented tax and welfare benefits to married couples and family. It also adheres to the principles of economic nationalism, postulating state control over key sectors of the economy. It seeks to increase healthcare spending to 6% of the Polish GDP, and nationalize hospital debts. During the 2015 election campaign, it proposed tax rebates related to the number of children in a family, as well as a reduction of the VAT rate (while keeping a variation between individual types of VAT rates). In 2019, the lowest personal income tax threshold was decreased from 18% to 17%.

PiS opposes cutting social welfare spending, and also proposed the introduction of a system of state-guaranteed housing loans. The party also opposes foreign ownership of crucial industries and businesses, and proposed buying back the largest convenience store chain in Poland, Żabka, from its foreign owners. It also supports state provided universal health care. PiS has been also described as statist, protectionist, solidarist, and interventionist. They also hold agrarianist views. Given the redistributive and protectionist agenda of the party as well as its focus on welfare and nationalization, some political scientists classify Law and Justice as economically left-wing. Stephen Park Turner likewise classified it as left-wing. It has also been described as economically left-leaning by the Centre for European Reform, Reuters, and The Routledge Handbook of East European Politics. Political economist Cédric M. Koch wrote that PiS combines "political communitarianism with neo-socialist economic views".

The economic views and policies of Law and Justice derive from the Polish political party Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland (Samoobrona) led by Andrzej Lepper. Law and Justice appropriated the economic rhetoric and views of Samoobrona following its complete collapse in the 2007 Polish parliamentary election. Samoobrona is an economically far-left party, much further left than parties of post-communist origin such as the social-democratic Democratic Left Alliance. After Samoobrona and the far-right anti-capitalist League of Polish Families (LPR) formed a coalition with PiS in 2006 in order to prevent the neoliberal Civic Platform from coming to power, Law and Justice managed to claim the voters of both parties by "taking up economically inclusionary discourse from the originally left-wing Self-Defence and outbidding the LPR on cultural conservatism". Ever since, Law and Justice has been critical of the capitalist transformation in Poland, accusing the 1990s Polish cabinets of 'choosing the wrong path of transformation after the 1989 system change' and leading to 'beneficiaries under such capitalist conditions become undeservedly privileged'.

The party claims to represent the "marginalised vast majority of Poles" who had to bear the costs of capitalist transformation, and states that its main goal is to provide the "common man its fair economic share of societal resources". Law and Justice is highly critical of neoliberalism, describing it as "anti-family" and arguing that neoliberal policies are responsible for social inequality, as well as maximizing profit at the cost of the "ordinary people" and "Catholic values". The party proposes increasing social benefit payments, raising the minimum wage, increasing expenditures on child nutrition and benefits to worse-off families. It also postulates more subsidies and state control of the Polish infrastructure, and expansion of the healthcare and education system. The party also opposes privatization, stating: "We cannot deprive the state of influence and responsibility for the social order, in particular for the weakest social groups whose situation as a result of the transformation has been rapidly deteriorating."

National political structures

PiS meeting on National Independence Day

PiS has presented a project for constitutional reform including, among others: allowing the president the right to pass laws by decree (when prompted to do so by the Cabinet), a reduction of the number of members of the Sejm and Senat, and removal of constitutional bodies overseeing the media and monetary policy. PiS advocates increased criminal penalties. It postulates aggressive anti-corruption measures (including creation of an Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA), open disclosure of the assets of politicians and important public servants), as well as broad and various measures to smooth the working of public institutions.

PiS is a strong supporter of lustration (lustracja), a verification system created ostensibly to combat the influence of the Communist era security apparatus in Polish society. While current lustration laws require the verification of those who serve in public offices, PiS wants to expand the process to include university professors, lawyers, journalists, managers of large companies, and others performing "public functions". Those found to have collaborated with the security service, according to the party, should be forbidden to practice in their professions.

Diplomacy and defence

The party is in favour of strengthening the Polish Army through diminishing bureaucracy and raising military expenditures, especially for modernisation of army equipment. PiS planned to introduce a fully professional army and end conscription by 2012; in August 2008, compulsory military service was abolished in Poland. It is also in favour of participation of Poland in foreign military missions led by the United Nations, NATO and United States, in countries like Afghanistan and Iraq.

Visegrád Group leaders' meeting in Prague, 2015

PiS is eurosceptic, although the party supports integration with the European Union on terms beneficial for Poland. It supports economic integration and tightening cooperation in areas of energy security and military operations, but is sceptical about closer political integration. It is against the formation of a European superstate or federation. PiS is in favour of a strong political and military alliance between Poland and the United States.

In the European Parliament, it is a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists, a group founded in 2009 to challenge the prevailing pro-federalist ethos of the European Parliament and address the perceived democratic deficit existing at a European level.

They have frequently expressed anti-German, and anti-Russian stances.

Law and Justice has taken a hardline stance against Russia in its foreign policy since the party's foundation. The party vocally advocated for military aid to Ukraine during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, but announced it would halt arms transfers in September 2023 following disagreements over the export of Ukrainian grain to Poland. The party has been described as divided between pro-Ukrainian and anti-Ukrainian factions.

Though the PiS government initially advocated a pro-Israel policy, relations with Israel deteriorated following the 2018 Amendment to the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance and subsequent diplomatic incidents. In opposition, PiS called for the expulsion of the Israeli Ambassador following the World Central Kitchen drone strikes and criticized the 2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip.

The PiS government supported accession of Turkey to the European Union. PiS also advocates for a strong relationship with Hungary under Viktor Orbán, though they diverged over the Russo-Ukrainian War. Law and Justice criticised the Polish government's decision in 2008 to recognise the independence of Kosovo from Serbia.

Social policies

The party's views on social issues are much more traditionalist than those of social conservative parties in other European countries, and its social views reflect those of the Christian right. PiS has been described to hold right-wing populist views.

Family

The party strongly promotes itself as a pro-family party and encourages married couples to have more children. Prior to 2005 elections, it promised to build three million inexpensive housing units as a way to help young couples start a family. Once in government, it passed legislation lengthening parental leaves.

In 2017, the PiS government commenced the so-called "500+" programme under which all parents residing in Poland receive an unconditional monthly payment of 500 PLN for each second and subsequent child (the 500 PLN support for the first child being linked to income). It also revived the idea of a housing programme based on state-supported construction of inexpensive housing units.

Also in 2017, the party's MPs passed a law that bans most retail trade on Sundays on the premise that workers will supposedly spend more time with their families.

Abortion

Anti-PiS poster during the October 2020 protests in Kraków (Five stars represent a common profanity, three represent the party name.)

The party is anti-abortion and supports further restrictions on Poland's abortion laws which are already one of the most restrictive in Europe. PiS opposes abortion resulting from foetal defects which is currently allowed until specific foetal age.

In 2016, PiS supported legislation to ban abortion under all circumstances, and investigate miscarriages. After the black Protests the legislation was withdrawn.

In October 2020, the Constitutional Court ruled that one of three circumstances (foetal defects) is unconstitutional. However, many constitutionalists argue that this judgement is invalid.

The party is against euthanasia and comprehensive sex education. It has proposed a ban of in-vitro fertilisation.

Disability rights

In April 2018, the PiS government announced a PLN 23 billion (EUR 5.5 billion) programme (named "Accessibility+") aimed at reducing barriers for disabled people, to be implemented 2018–2025.

Also in April 2018, parents of disabled adults who required long-term care protested in Sejm over what they considered inadequate state support, in particular, the reduction of support once the child turns 18. As a result, the monthly disability benefit for adults was raised by approx. 15 per cent to PLN 1,000 (approx. EUR 240) and certain non-cash benefits were instituted, although protesters' demands of an additional monthly cash benefit were rejected.

Gay rights

See also: LGBT rights in Poland

The party opposes the LGBT movement and many of its postulates, in particular same-sex marriages and any other form of legal recognition of same-sex couples. In 2020, Poland was ranked the lowest of any European Union country for LGBT rights by ILGA-Europe. The organisation also highlighted instances of anti-LGBT rhetoric and hate speech by politicians of the ruling party. A 2019 survey by Eurobarometer found that more than two-thirds of LGBT people in Poland believe that prejudice against them has risen in the last five years.

On 21 September 2005, PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński said that "homosexuals should not be isolated, however they should not be school teachers for example. Active homosexuals surely not, in any case", but that homosexuals "should not be discriminated otherwise". He has also stated, "The affirmation of homosexuality will lead to the downfall of civilization. We can't agree to it". Lech Kaczyński, while mayor of Warsaw, refused authorisation for a gay pride march; declaring that it would be obscene and offensive to other people's religious beliefs. He stated, "I am not willing to meet perverts." In Bączkowski and Others v. Poland, the European Court of Human Rights unanimously ruled that the ban of the parade violated Articles 11, 13 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The judgement stated that "The positive obligation of a State to secure genuine and effective respect for freedom of association and assembly was of particular importance to those with unpopular views or belonging to minorities".

In 2016, Beata Szydło's government disbanded the Council for the Prevention of Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Intolerance, an advisory body set up in 2011 by then-Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The council monitored, advised and coordinated government action against racism, discrimination and hate crime.

Many local towns, cities, and Voivodeship sejmiks comprising a third of Poland's territory have declared their respective regions as LGBT-free zones with the encouragement of the ruling PiS. Polish President Andrzej Duda, who was the Law and Justice party's candidate for presidency in 2015 and 2020, stated that "LGBT is not people, it's an ideology which is worse than Communism." During his successful 2020 election campaign, he pledged he would ban teaching about LGBT issues in schools; he also proposed changing the constitution to ban LGBT couples from adopting children.

Nationalism

See also: Historical policy of Law and Justice

Academic research has characterised Law and Justice as a partially nationalist party, but PiS's leadership rejects this label. Both Kaczyńskis look up for inspirations to the pre-war Sanacja movement with its leader Józef Piłsudski, in contrast to the nationalist Endecja that was led by Piłsudski's political archrival, Roman Dmowski. However, parts of the party, especially the faction around Radio Maryja, are inspired by Dmowski's movement. Polish far-right organisations and parties such as National Revival of Poland, National Movement and Autonomous Nationalists regularly criticise PiS's relative ideological moderation and its politicians for "monopolizing" official political scene by playing on the popular patriotic and religious feelings. However, the party does include several overtly nationalist politicians in senior positions, such as Digital Affairs Minister Adam Andruszkiewicz, the former leader of the All-Polish Youth; and deputy PiS leader and former Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz, the founder of the National-Catholic Movement. It has been also described as national-conservative.

Refugees and economic migrants

PiS opposed the quota system for mass relocation of immigrants proposed by the European Commission to address the 2015 European migrant crisis. This contrasted with the stance of their main political opponents, the Civic Platform, which have signed up to the commission's proposal. Consequently, in the campaign leading to the 2015 Polish parliamentary election, PiS adopted the discourse typical of the populist-right, linking national security with immigration. Following the election, PiS sometimes utilised Islamophobic rhetoric to rally its supporters.

Examples of anti-migration and anti-Islam comments by PiS politicians when discussing the European migrant crisis: in 2015, Jarosław Kaczyński stated that Poland can not accept any refugees because "they could spread infectious diseases." In 2017, the first Deputy Minister of Justice Patryk Jaki stated that "stopping Islamization is his Westerplatte". In 2017, Interior minister of Poland Mariusz Błaszczak stated that he would like to be called "Charles the Hammer who stopped the Muslim invasion of Europe in the 8th century". In 2017, Deputy Speaker of the Sejm Joachim Brudziński stated during the pro-party rally in Siedlce; "if not for us (PiS), they (Muslims) would have built mosques in here (Poland)."

Structure

Internal factions

Law and Justice is divided into many internal factions, but they can be grouped into three main blocs.

The most influential group within PiS is unofficially named "Order of the Centre Agreement". It is led by leader is Jarosław Kaczyński, and its main members are Joachim Brudziński, Adam Lipiński and Mariusz Błaszczak.

The second major group is a radical, religious and hard Eurosceptic right-wing faction focused around Antoni Macierewicz, Beata Szydło that has close views to United Poland party of Zbigniew Ziobro. This faction opts for radical reforms and is supported by Jacek Kurski and Tadeusz Rydzyk.

The third major group is a Christian-democratic, republican and moderate social conservative faction focused around Mateusz Morawiecki, Łukasz Szumowski, Jacek Czaputowicz that has close views to The Republicans party of Adam Bielan. Although not officially a party member, Polish president Andrzej Duda can also be placed in this faction.

Political committee

President:

Vice-presidents:

Treasurer:

  • Henryk Kowalczyk

Spokesperson:

Party discipline spokesman:

Chairman of the Executive Committee:

President of the Parliamentary Club:

Leadership

No. Image Name Tenure
1. Lech Kaczyński 13 June 2001 – 18 January 2003
2. Jarosław Kaczyński 18 January 2003
Incumbent

Election results

Presidential

Election year Candidate 1st round 2nd round
# of overall votes % of overall vote # of overall votes % of overall vote
2005 Lech Kaczyński 4,947,927 33.1 (#2) 8,257,468 54.0 (#1)
2010 Jarosław Kaczyński 6,128,255 36.5 (#2) 7,919,134 47.0 (#2)
2015 Andrzej Duda 5,179,092 34.8 (#1) 8,719,281 51.5 (#1)
2020 Supported Andrzej Duda 8,450,513 43.5 (#1) 10,440,648 51.0% (#1)
2025 Supported Karol Nawrocki TBD TBD TBD TBD

Sejm

Election Leader Votes % Seats +/– Government
2001 Lech Kaczyński 1,236,787 9.5 (#4) 44 / 460 New SLD–UP–PSL (2001-2003)
SLD–UP Minority (2003-2004)
SLD-UP-SDPL Minority (2004-2005)
2005 Jarosław Kaczyński 3,185,714 27.0 (#1) 155 / 460 Increase 111 PiS Minority (2005-2006)
PiS–SRP–LPR
PiS Minority (2007)
2007 5,183,477 32.1 (#2) 166 / 460 Increase 11 PO–PSL
2011 4,295,016 29.9 (#2) 157 / 460 Decrease 9 PO–PSL
2015 5,711,687 37.6 (#1) 193 / 460 Increase 36 PiS
As a part of the United Right coalition, which won 235 seats in total.
2019 8,051,935 43.6 (#1) 187 / 460 Decrease 6 PiS
As a part of the United Right coalition, which won 235 seats in total.
2023 7,640,854 35.4 (#1) 161 / 460 Decrease 26 PiS Minority (2023)
KO–PL2050–KP–NL
As a part of the United Right coalition, which won 194 seats in total.

Senate

Election Seats +/– Majority
2001 0 / 100 New Opposition
As part of the Senate 2001 coalition, which won 15 seats.
2005 49 / 100 Increase 49 Coalition
2007 39 / 100 Decrease 10 Opposition
2011 31 / 100 Decrease 8 Opposition
2015 61 / 100 Increase 30 PiS
2019 38 / 100 Decrease 23 Opposition
As part of the United Right coalition, which won 48 seats.
2023 29 / 100 Decrease 9 Opposition
As part of the United Right coalition, which won 34 seats.

European Parliament

Election Leader Votes % Seats +/– EP Group
2004 Jarosław Kaczyński 771,858 12.67 (#3) 7 / 54 New UEN
2009 Jarosław Kaczyński 2,017,607 27.40 (#2) 15 / 50 Increase 8 ECR
2014 Jarosław Kaczyński 2,246,870 31.78 (#2) 15 / 51 Steady 0 ECR
2019 Jarosław Kaczyński 6,192,780 45.38 (#1) 21 / 51 Increase 6 ECR
As part of the United Right coalition, that won 27 seats in total.
2024 Jarosław Kaczyński 4,253,169 36.16 (#2) 18 / 53 Decrease 3 ECR
As part of the United Right coalition, that won 20 seats in total.

*Currently 16: Zdzisław Krasnodębski is elected from the PiS register, but not a member of the party, Mirosław Piotrowski left PiS (08.10.2014), Marek Jurek is a member of Right Wing of the Republic.

Regional assemblies

Election year % of
vote 		# of
overall seats won 		+/–
2002 12.1 (#4) 79 / 561 New
In coalition with Civic Platform as POPiS.
2006 25.1 (#2) 170 / 561 Increase 91
2010 23.1 (#2) 141 / 561 Decrease 29
2014 26.9 (#1) 171 / 555 Increase 30
2018 34.1 (#1) 254 / 552 Increase 83
2024 34.3 (#1) 239 / 552 Decrease 15

County councils

Election year % of
vote 		# of
overall seats won 		+/–
2002 no data 0 / 6,294 New
2006 19.8 (#1) 1,242 / 6,284 Increase 1242
2010 17.3 (#2) 1,085 / 6,290 Decrease 157
2014 23.5 (#1) 1,514 / 6,276 Increase 429
2018 30.5 (#1) 2,114 / 6,244 Increase 600
2024 30.0 (#1) 2,080 / 6,170 Decrease 34

Mayors

Election No. Change
2002 2 New
2006 77 Increase 75
2010 37 Decrease 40
2014 124 Increase 87
2018 234 Increase 110
2024 105 Decrease 129

Presidents of the Republic of Poland

Name Image From To
Lech Kaczyński 23 December 2005 10 April 2010
Andrzej Duda 6 August 2015 incumbent

Prime Ministers of the Republic of Poland

Name Image From To
Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz 31 October 2005 14 July 2006
Jarosław Kaczyński 14 July 2006 16 November 2007
Beata Szydło 16 November 2015 11 December 2017
Mateusz Morawiecki 11 December 2017 13 December 2023

Voivodeship Marshals

Name Image Voivodeship Date vocation
Jarosław Stawiarski Lublin Voivodeship 21 November 2018
Władysław Ortyl [pl] Podkarpackie Voivodeship 27 May 2013
Łukasz Smółka Lesser Poland Voivodeship 4 July 2024
Renata Janik

(Renewal of the Republic of Poland)

Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship 6 May 2024

See also

Explanatory notes

  1. During the 2008 Polish Independence Day celebrations, Lech Kaczyński said in his speech during the visit to the city of Elbląg that "the state is a great value, and attachment to the state, to one's fatherland, we call patriotism – beware of the word nationalism, as nationalism is evil!" On the same day during the celebrations in Warsaw, L. Kaczyński again stated: "patriotism doesn't equal nationalism." In 2011, Jarosław Kaczyński criticised pre-war Polish nationalism for "its intellectual, political and moral failure" by emphasising that the movement "did not know how to deal with and solve the problems of Polish minorities."

Citations

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