Free and Solidary ( Polish: ''Wolni i Solidarni'', WiS) was a small political party in Poland. Founder Kornel Morawiecki, the Senior Marshal of 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 ...

, led the party until his death in 2019. The party was plagued with poor electoral performances, lack of agreements with other parties, and later legal troubles which led to a court-appointed curator disbanding the party in 2020.

History

MPs of the party were initially elected from the lists of

Kukiz'15 Kukiz'15 is a right-wing populist political party in Poland led by Paweł Kukiz. It was formed in 2015 as a loose movement that registered itself as an association in 2016 and later as a political party in 2020. Initially, it was connected wit ...

, until an acrimonious split as WiS decided to align themselves with the United Right. The party formally declared support for the economic and social policy of the

Law and Justice Law and Justice ( pl, Prawo i Sprawiedliwość , PiS) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Poland. Its chairman is Jarosław Kaczyński. It was founded in 2001 by Jarosław and Lech Kaczyński as a direct s ...

(PiS) governments led by Prime Minister

Beata Szydło Beata Maria Szydło (, née Kusińska , 15 April 1963) is a Polish politician who has served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2019. A member of Law and Justice (PiS), she previously served as Prime Minister of Poland from 2015 ...

and later her successor

Mateusz Morawiecki Mateusz Jakub Morawiecki (; born 20 June 1968) is a Polish economist, historian and politician who has served as prime minister of Poland since 2017. A member of Law and Justice (PiS), he previously served in the cabinet of prime minister Beata ...

. In December 2018, then-WiS Sejm Deputy Ireneusz Zyska

crossed the floor Crossed may refer to: * ''Crossed'' (comics), a 2008 comic book series by Garth Ennis * ''Crossed'' (novel), a 2010 young adult novel by Ally Condie * "Crossed" (''The Walking Dead''), an episode of the television series ''The Walking Dead'' S ...

to join the Law and Justice parliamentary club, followed by Adam Andruszkiewicz when he became Deputy Minister of Digital Affairs in Cabinet of Mateusz Morawiecki. On April 3, 2019,

Sylwester Chruszcz Sylwester Arkadiusz Chruszcz (born 22 August 1972, in Głogów) is a Polish politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Lower Silesian Voivodship and Opole Voivodship with the Naprzód Polsko, part of the Union for Europe ...

also left WiS to join PiS. During the

2019 Polish parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 13 October 2019. All 460 members of the Sejm and 100 senators of the Senate were elected. The ruling Law and Justice (PiS) retained its majority in the Sejm, but lost its majority in the Senate to the ...

, it was announced that all three incumbent WiS deputies are seeking election on the PiS lists, with then-WiS leader Kornel Morawiecki standing as a candidate for the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

in Constituency № 59 (

Białystok Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area. Białystok is located in the Białystok U ...

), while Jarosław Porwich (#15 on the PiS list in Constituency № 8 (

Zielona Góra Zielona Góra is the largest city in Lubusz Voivodeship, located in western Poland, with 140,403 inhabitants (2021). Zielona Góra has a favourable geographical position, being close to the Polish-German border and on several international road ...

)) and Małgorzata Zwiercan (#5 on the PiS list in Constituency № 26 (

Słupsk Słupsk (; , ; formerly german: Stolp, ; also known by several alternative names) is a city with powiat rights located on the Słupia River in the Pomeranian Voivodeship in northern Poland, in the historical region of Pomerania or more specific ...

)) were seeking re-election to the Sejm; however, all three remained as members of the WiS parliamentary club and did not join the PiS group in the Sejm, due to the breakdown of negotiations between the two parties. Allegedly, the party's pro-Russian stance was a major source of contention. With the passing of Morawiecki, he was replaced as the candidate for the

in Constituency № 59 by a member of Law and Justice, and the party no longer has any registered party members standing for election on the PiS electoral committee lists. While the party's entire parliamentary club sought election on PiS list, four party members were candidates for

Piotr Liroy-Marzec Piotr Krzysztof Liroy-Marzec (born July 12, 1971, in Busko Zdrój, Poland as Piotr Krzysztof Marzec), better known as Liroy (Leeroy), is a Polish rapper and politician. He is one of the pioneers of rap and hip-hop culture in Poland. His CDs ...

's "

Effective Effectiveness is the capability of producing a desired result or the ability to produce desired output. When something is deemed effective, it means it has an intended or expected outcome, or produces a deep, vivid impression. Etymology The ori ...

" political party electoral committee ( pl, Skuteczni Piotra Liroya-Marca) in Constituency № 35 (

Olsztyn Olsztyn ( , ; german: Allenstein ; Old Prussian: ''Alnāsteini'' * Latin: ''Allenstenium'', ''Holstin'') is a city on the Łyna River in northern Poland. It is the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, and is a city with county rights. ...

). The party performed very poorly in elections, worsened by a scandal that the party presented signatures of support from the deceased. In February 2020, after long-standing legal problems, further exacerbated by the death of the leader in November 2019, a

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

was finally appointed and the party was disbanded.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control 2015 establishments in Poland 2020 disestablishments in Poland Anti-communism in Poland Anti-communist parties Defunct political parties in Poland Economic nationalism Nationalist parties in Poland Polish nationalism Polish nationalist parties Political parties disestablished in 2020 Political parties established in 2015 Right-wing parties in Europe