The Center Civic Alliance ( pl, Porozumienie Obywatelskie Centrum), abbreviated as POC, was a

center-right Centre-right politics lean to the right of the political spectrum, but are closer to the centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and mer ...

electoral alliance An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand in elections. E ...

of several political parties that participated in the

1991 Polish parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 27 October 1991 to elect deputies to both houses of the National Assembly.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1491 The 1991 election was notable on severa ...

. The Center Civic Alliance was chiefly organized by the

Centre Agreement Porozumienie Centrum (PC; en, Centre Agreement) was a Polish Christian democratic political party. The party rose in 1990. Its chairman was Jarosław Kaczyński. In its programme, the PC opposed socialism and was anti-communist. In 1997 PC joine ...

, drawing in remnants of the Solidarity Citizens' Committees, independents, and

Christian right The Christian right, or the religious right, are Christian political factions characterized by their strong support of socially conservative and traditionalist policies. Christian conservatives seek to influence politics and public policy with ...

parties, including the Polish People's Christian Forum "Homeland". The alliance was created after its main component, the

, attempted to form a broad alliance supporting President

Lech Wałęsa Lech Wałęsa (; ; born 29 September 1943) is a Polish statesman, dissident, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who served as the President of Poland between 1990 and 1995. After winning the 1990 election, Wałęsa became the first democrati ...

. However, the alliance quickly fell out of favor with the president, failing to gain Wałęsa's approval. In its aftermath,

leader

Jarosław Kaczyński Jarosław Aleksander Kaczyński (; born 18 June 1949) is a Polish politician who is currently serving as leader of the Law and Justice party (known by its Polish acronym PiS), which he co-founded in 2001 with his twin brother, Lech Kaczyński, ...

was subsequently fired from his position as Chief of the Presidential Chancellery. For the 1991 elections, the Center Civic Alliance supported a pro-

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

foreign policy, advocating membership into

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...

, faster

privatization Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

decommunization Decommunization is the process of dismantling the legacies of communist state establishments, culture, and psychology in the post-communist countries. It is sometimes referred to as political cleansing. Although the term has been occasionally ...

, and greater economic reforms. In the election's highly fractious aftermath, the Center Civic Alliance garnered 8.7% of the vote, taking 44 seats in the

Sejm The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland ( Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of ...

. In the Senat, the Alliance took 9 seats. For the coalition building talks that followed, the Alliance selected

Jan Olszewski Jan Ferdynand Olszewski (; 20 August 1930 – 7 February 2019) was a Polish conservative lawyer and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Poland for five months between December 1991 and early June 1992 and later became a leading figure ...

to lead the organization into forming a

minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in t ...

, forging a coalition with the

Peasants' Agreement The Polish People's Party – Peasants' Agreement ( pl, Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe – Porozumienie Ludowe, PSL-PL) was a Christian agrarian political party in Poland. History The party was established in October 1991 by a merger of Rural Solid ...

, the

Christian National Union The Christian National Union ( pl, Zjednoczenie Chrześcijańsko-Narodowe), abbreviated to ZChN,Maher (2004), p. 3458 was a Polish nationalist political party in Poland. Founded on 15 September 1989, the party traced its tradition to the Solida ...

and various independents. However, Olszewski's government proved to be deeply unstable, falling within half a year. By the 1993 election, the Center Civic Alliance had dissolved, due to its former

core suffering from numerous party defections and splits into new independent groups.

References

Conservative parties in Poland Defunct political party alliances in Poland Catholic political parties Political parties with year of disestablishment missing Political parties with year of establishment missing {{Poland-party-stub