The Social Democracy of Poland ( pl, Socjaldemokracja Polska, SDPL) is a

social-democratic Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

Foundation

The party was founded in April 2004 as a splinter group from the post-communist Democratic Left Alliance (SLD). The SDPL should not be confused with a former party Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland (SdRP) which existed between 1990–99 and was a direct predecessor of the SLD.

First elections

SDPL contested its first elections in June 2004, these being for Polish representation to the

European parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the Legislature, legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven Institutions of the European Union, institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and in ...

. The party gained 5.3%, which saw three members elected to parliament. In May 2005 the party reached an agreement with Labour Union (UP) and

Greens 2004 The Greens ( pl, Partia Zieloni, PZ) is a political party in Poland. It was formed in 2003 under the name "Greens 2004" and formally registered itself in February 2004. It supports principles of green politics, and it is positioned on the ce ...

to jointly contest the forthcoming Polish parliamentary elections, under the SDPL banner. SDPL managed to gain 3.9% of the vote, but fell short of the 5% threshold required to win parliamentary representation. SDPL put forward its party leader

Marek Borowski Marek Stefan Borowski (; born 4 January 1946 in Warsaw, Poland) is a Polish left-wing politician. He led the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) for a time and was Speaker of the Sejm (the lower, more powerful, house of Poland's parliament) from 2 ...

, as candidate for the Polish presidential elections held in the following month of October. Borowski came fourth in the first round, winning 10.3% of the vote.

Coalition within LiD

On 3 September 2006, SDPL joined the newly formed

Left and Democrats Left and Democrats ( pl, Lewica i Demokraci, LiD) was a centre-left electoral alliance of political parties in Poland which was created on 3 September 2006, before the Warsaw municipal election of 2006. The coalition's aim was to provide an ...

(LiD) coalition, made up of the centre-left parties SDPL, SLD, UP and the centrist Democratic Party – demokraci.pl. This alliance was created with a view to jointly contest the upcoming local government elections. The LiD alliance was maintained for the Polish parliamentary elections of October 2007, and LiD achieved 13.2% of the vote. This translated into 53

lower house A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has co ...

seats, 10 of which were won by SDPL. After LiD dissolved, 8 out of 10 SDPL MPs formed a new parliamentary caucus called ''Social Democracy of Poland – New Left'' (''Socjaldemoracja Polska – Nowa Lewica'', SDPL-NL). On 3 February 2013, SDPL leader

Wojciech Filemonowicz Wojciech () is a Polish name, equivalent to Czech Vojtěch , Slovak Vojtech, and German Woitke. The name is formed from two components in archaic Polish: * ''wój'' (Slavic: ''voj''), a root pertaining to war. It also forms words like ''wojownik ...

and

Palikot's Movement Your Movement ( pl, Twój Ruch, which can also be translated as ''Your Move'', TR) is a social liberal, populist and anti-clerical political party in Poland. The party was founded by Janusz Palikot, a former Civic Platform MP, in October 2010 a ...

leader Janusz Palikot stated an ambition to form an

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 ...

between the two parties to contest the European elections in 2014. The alliance was named Europa Plus. The SDPL withdrew from the alliance, along with the Union of the Left, on 7 February 2014.

Election results

Sejm

Senate

Presidential

European Parliament

Elected representatives

Members of the Sejm

Prior to the October, 2011, Polish parliamentary election, where the party's representation was wiped out, SDPL had three members of the Sejm: *

( 19 – Warsaw I) * Grażyna Ciemniak ( 4 – Bydgoszcz) *

Izabella Sierakowska Izabella Antonina Sierakowska, née Kruszyńska (; 22 September 1946 – 31 March 2021) was a Polish politician and one of the leading and the most popular persons of the Polish left. Life She was born in Góra Śląska. Her parents, Krysty ...

( 6 – Lublin) Marek Borowski, was elected to the Polish Senate in the 2011 elections as an independent candidate. He retained his membership of SDPL.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Social Democracy Of Poland 2004 establishments in Poland Parties related to the Party of European Socialists Political parties established in 2004 Political parties in Poland Social democratic parties in Poland