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.[1]
The Left Lewica | |
---|---|
Leaders | |
Parliamentary leader | Anna Maria Żukowska |
Founded | 19 July 2019 |
Preceded by | United Left |
Ideology | |
Political position | Centre-left to left-wing |
National affiliation | Senate Pact 2023 (for 2023 Senate election) |
Members | New Left Left Together Polish Socialist Party Labour Union Social Democracy of Poland Freedom and Equality |
Sejm | 26 / 460 |
Senate | 9 / 100 |
European Parliament | 7 / 52 |
Regional assemblies | 8 / 552 |
City Presidents | 12 / 107 |
Voivodes | 0 / 16 |
Voivodeship Marshals | 0 / 16 |
Website | |
klub-lewica | |
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,[2] Urban Movement,[3] and the Polish Communist Party.[4]
The Left is a catch-all coalition of the Polish left,[5] and it is positioned on the centre-left[5][6] and left-wing.[7] It is mainly orientated towards the principles of social democracy,[8] and democratic socialism.[9] It also advocates progressive, social-liberal[10] and secular policies, including LGBT rights.[11][12] It is supportive of Poland's membership in the European Union.[12]
In the 2023 Polish parliamentary election, The Left coalition is technically participating as the New Left party, whose list includes representatives of Left Together, Labour Union, Polish Socialist Party, Freedom and Equality and Social Democracy of Poland.[13][14]
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.[5][15][16]
Despite this, some sociologists theorized that the unification of the parties could lead to an overall mobilization of leftist voters,[17] which could now feel that their vote for the coalition wouldn't be wasted.[5] 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.[18][19]
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".[16][20]
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.[20]
The 2019 electoral program of the Left included:[21][22]
Party | Ideology | Position | Leader | MPs[23] | Senators[24] | MEPs | Sejmiks | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New Left | Social democracy | Centre-left | Włodzimierz Czarzasty, Robert Biedroń | 19 / 460
|
5 / 100
|
4 / 51
|
11 / 552
| |
Left Together | Democratic socialism | Left-wing | Magdalena Biejat, Adrian Zandberg | 7 / 460
|
2 / 100
|
0 / 51
|
0 / 552
| |
Polish Socialist Party | Democratic socialism | Left-wing | Wojciech Konieczny | 0 / 460
|
1 / 100
|
0 / 51
|
0 / 552
| |
Labour Union | Social democracy | Centre-left | Waldemar Witkowski | 0 / 460
|
1 / 100
|
0 / 51
|
0 / 552
| |
Social Democracy of Poland | Social democracy | Centre-left | Wojciech Filemonowicz | 0 / 460
|
0 / 100
|
0 / 51
|
0 / 552
| |
Freedom and Equality | Social democracy Democratic socialism |
Left-wing | Piotr Musiał | 0 / 460
|
0 / 100
|
0 / 51
|
0 / 552
|
Year | Leader | Popular vote | % of vote | Seats | Seat change | Government |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | Włodzimierz Czarzasty | 2,319,946 | 12.56 (#3) | 49 / 460
|
New | PiS |
2023 | Włodzimierz Czarzasty Robert Biedroń |
1,859,018 | 8.61 (#4) | 26 / 460
|
23 | KO–PL2050–PSL–NL |
Year | Leader | Popular vote | % of vote | Seats | Seat change | Majority |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | Włodzimierz Czarzasty | 415,745 | 2.28 (#4) | 2 / 100
|
n/a | KO-PSL-SLD |
2023 | Włodzimierz Czarzasty Robert Biedroń |
1,122,512 | 5.33 (#5) | 9 / 100
|
7 | KO-PSL-PL2050-NL-LR |
Election year | Candidate | 1st round | 2nd round | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
# of overall votes | % of overall vote | # of overall votes | % of overall vote | ||
2020 | Robert Biedroń | 432,129 | 2.22 (#6) | --- | --- |
Year | Leader | Popular vote | % of vote | Seats | Seat change |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2024 | Włodzimierz Czarzasty Robert Biedroń |
911,430 | 6.32 (#5) | 8 / 552
|
3 |
The latest voting intention poll by Kantar has PiS and its allies on 43 per cent, the centre-right liberal Civic Platform on 28 per cent, and the left-of-centre Lewica on 13 per cent.
Today's left-wing Lewica alliance has presented an anti-PiS, pro-EU programme espousing LGBT rights and loosening Poland's restrictive abortion laws.