Sovereign Poland (, SP), also known as United Poland (; alternatively translated to Solidarity Poland), until 2023, was a Catholic-nationalist

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

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

led by

Zbigniew Ziobro Zbigniew Tadeusz Ziobro (; born 18 August 1970) is a Polish politician. He served as the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Poland in the Cabinet of Mateusz Morawiecki until 27 November 2023. He previously served in the same role from Octo ...

. It was founded in 2012, as the Catholic-nationalist split from the

Law and Justice Law and Justice ( , PiS) is a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative List of political parties in Poland, political party in Poland. The party is a member of European Conservatives and Refo ...

, with whom they later formed the United Right alliance in 2014. Sovereign Poland merged with

on 12 October 2024.

Ideology

The party has been described as

national-conservative National conservatism is a nationalism, nationalist variant of conservatism that concentrates on upholding National identity, national and cultural identity, communitarianism and the public role of religion. It shares aspects of traditionalist c ...

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

, and Catholic-nationalist. It was also staunchly

socially conservative Social conservatism is a political philosophy and a variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional social structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institu ...

. It was opposed to

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

and

euthanasia Euthanasia (from : + ) is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering. Different countries have different Legality of euthanasia, euthanasia laws. The British House of Lords Select committee (United Kingdom), se ...

, and supported extending

maternity leave Parental leave, or family leave, is an employee benefit available in almost all countries. The term "parental leave" may include maternity, paternity, and adoption leave; or may be used distinctively from "maternity leave" and "paternity leave ...

to nine months. It was

eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies and seek refor ...

Anti-LGBT The following outline offers an overview and guide to topics about LGBTQ people. ''LGBTQ'' is an initialism that stands for "lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer". It may refer to anyone who is non-heterosexual, non-heteroroman ...

, and its staunch opposition to

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

was cited as a main reason it left the ECR group in the European Parliament in 2012. It has also been described as

right-wing populist Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right populism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics with populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti- elitist sentiments, opposition to the Establishm ...

mainly due to their

opposition to immigration Opposition to immigration, also known as anti-immigration, is a political position that seeks to restrict immigration. In the modern sense, immigration refers to the entry of people from one state or territory into another state or territory in ...

. It was the most anti-EU party in the United Right coalition. Between 2012 and 2021 it was described as

right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...

and

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

, and after the

2023 Polish parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 15 October 2023 to elect members of the Sejm and Senate of Poland, Senate. A 2023 Polish referendum, referendum containing four questions concerning economic and immigration policy of the government ...

, it started leaning towards the

centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

. In its 2013 program, United Poland called for the government intervention in the economy, especially tax policy. The party has called for a 'fat cat' tax on big companies, including

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...

s, and backs higher taxes on those who earn over 10,000 złotych (€2,400) a month. During the tenure of then-United Poland leader

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

, Ziobro was the architect of judicial reforms to the Constitutional Tribunal, which resulted in the Polish Constitutional Tribunal crisis. Law and Justice Prime Minister

Mateusz Morawiecki Mateusz Jakub Morawiecki (; born 20 June 1968) is a Polish economist, historian and politician who served as the prime minister of Poland between 2017 and 2023. A member of the Law and Justice (PiS) party, he previously served in the Cabinet of ...

has blamed United Poland for failures associated with these reforms, while Ziobro has criticised Law and Justice and President

Andrzej Duda Andrzej Sebastian Duda (born 16 May 1972) is a Polish lawyer and politician who has served as the sixth president of Poland since 2015. Before becoming president, he served as a Member of the Sejm from 2011 to 2014 and before becoming Member of ...

for blocking elements of the reform package. In 2022, United Poland called for tougher blasphemy laws in Poland, such as three-year jail terms for insulting church or interrupting Mass.

History

After Ziobro and fellow MEPs Tadeusz Cymański and Jacek Kurski were ejected from PiS for disloyalty on 4 November 2011, Ziobro's supporters within PiS formed a new group in the

Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

. Despite claims that the new group was not attempting to form a new party, the MPs were expelled from Law and Justice. The party was founded in 2012 by

(PiS) MEP

, who led the party's conservative Catholic-nationalist faction. In 2012, their MEPs left the

European Conservatives and Reformists European Conservatives and Reformists may refer to: *European Conservatives and Reformists Party (ECR Party), a soft Eurosceptic European political party *European Conservatives and Reformists Group The European Conservatives and Reformists ...

(ECR) to join the

Europe of Freedom and Democracy Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) was a far-right,gay marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 billion people (20% ...

, its support for the EU's

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

policy, and its advocacy of cuts to the

Common Agricultural Policy The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is the agricultural policy of the European Commission. It implements a system of agricultural subsidies and other programmes. It was introduced in 1962 and has since then undergone several changes to reduce ...

. The party was officially launched on 24 March 2012. At the time, opinion polls put the party just around 2%. In a 2020 poll, it found that if the party ran independent from the United Right it would gain 5.4% votes. Sovereign Poland merged with

on 12 October 2024 during PiS congress in

Przysucha Przysucha is a town in south-central Poland. Located in historic Lesser Poland, it is part of the Masovian Voivodeship, about southwest of Warsaw and west of Radom. It is the capital of Przysucha County, and the town 6,762 inhabitants (2004). ...

, despite concerns from some high-ranking members of both parties.

Representatives

Leadership

Leader: *

Vice-Leaders: * Beata Kempa * Michał Woś * Michał Wójcik Secretary: * Piotr Cieplucha Chairman of the General Council: * Edward Siarka

Members of the Sejm

* Mariusz Kałużny ( 5 - Toruń) *

Jan Kanthak Jan Kanthak (born 20 September 1991) is a Polish politician serving as a member of the Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. Th ...

( 6 - Lublin) * Marcin Romanowski ( 7 - Chełm) * Tadeusz Woźniak ( 11 – Sieradz) * Edward Siarka ( 14 - Nowy Sącz) * Norbert Kaczmarczyk ( 15 - Tarnów) * Jacek Ozdoba ( 16 - Płock) * Sebastian Kaleta ( 19 - Warsaw I) * Janusz Kowalski ( 21 - Opole) * Maria Kurowska ( 22 - Krosno) * Piotr Uruski ( 22 - Krosno) * Marcin Warchoł ( 23 - Rzeszów) *

( 23 - Rzeszów) * Sebastian Łukaszewicz ( 24 - Białystok) * Michał Woś ( 30 - Bielsko-Biała II) * Michał Wójcik ( 31 - Katowice II) * Mariusz Gosek ( 33 - Kielce) * Dariusz Matecki ( 41 - Szczecin)

Member of the Senate

* Mieczysław Golba (Senate Constituency no. 58)

Members of the European Parliament

* Patryk Jaki ( Lesser Poland and Świętokrzyskie) * Jacek Ozdoba ( Masovian)

Election results

Presidential

Sejm

Senate

European Parliament

Notes

References

External links

United Poland official website
{{Polish political parties Right-wing populist parties Far-right political parties in Poland 2012 establishments in Poland Organizations that oppose LGBTQ rights in Poland Right-wing parties in Europe Anti-immigration politics in Europe Opposition to same-sex marriage in Europe Anti-imperialism in Europe Anti-globalization movement Christian fundamentalist organizations in Europe Christian nationalism in Europe Political parties disestablished in 2024