Szymon Franciszek Hołownia (Polish: ; born 3 September 1976) is a Polish politician and

television personality Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group due to the attention given to them by mass media. The word is also used to refer to famous individuals. A person may attain celebrity status by having great w ...

currently serving as Marshal 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. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

since 13 November 2023. From 2008 to 2019 he co-hosted ''

Mam talent! ''Mam talent!'' () is the Polish version of the '' Got Talent'' series. The aim of the program is to choose the most talented person from people showing their talents. The winner of the show in the first series got €100,000, in the second a ...

'', the Polish version of ''

Got Talent ''Got Talent'' is a British talent show TV format conceived and owned by Simon Cowell's Syco Entertainment. It has spawned spin-offs in over 60 countries, in what is now referred to as the 'Got Talent' format, similar to that described by Frema ...

'', together with

Marcin Prokop Marcin Prokop (born 14 July 1977) is a Polish journalist, television and radio personality. On TVN Turbo he was the presenter of ''Automaniak''. References

1977 births Living people Polish radio journalists Polish television presenter ...

. Candidate in the

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

and

2025 Polish presidential election Presidential elections were held in Poland on . As no candidate received a majority of the vote, a second round was held on . The Term limit, outgoing president Andrzej Duda was ineligible for re-election. The election saw the largest number of ...

. He is the leader of the

Poland 2050 Szymon Hołownia's Poland 2050 (, PL2050) is a centrist to centre-right political party in Poland. It was founded as a social movement in 2020, shortly after that year's presidential election, and was officially registered as a political party ...

political party. In 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 ...

, he was elected to the

from

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

as a member of

Third Way The Third Way is a predominantly centrist political position that attempts to reconcile centre-right and centre-left politics by advocating a varying synthesis of Right-wing economics, right-wing economic and Left-wing politics, left-wing so ...

Journalist

From 1997 to 2000, he worked as an editor of ''

Gazeta Wyborcza (; ''The Electoral Gazette'' in English) is a Polish nationwide daily newspaper based in Warsaw, Poland. It was launched on 8 May 1989 on the basis of the Polish Round Table Agreement and as a press organ of the Solidarity (Polish trade union), t ...

'', and from 2001 to 2004 as a columnist and editor of ''

Newsweek Polska ''Newsweek Polska'' is a Polish language weekly news magazine published in Poland as the Polish edition of ''Newsweek''. History ''Newsweek Polska'' was established in 2001. The founder of the weekly is Tomasz Wróblewski. The magazine is owned ...

''. From April to July 2005 he was the deputy editor-in-chief of Ozon magazine. From September 2005 to 2006, he worked for ''

Rzeczpospolita () is a traditional Polish term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "rzeczpospolita", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage" "thing, matter" and "common" is analogous to the Latin ''rēs pūblica' ...

'' daily as an editor of the Plus Minus appendix. He published – among others – in ''Kultura Popularna'', ''Machina'', ''Przewodnik Katolicki'', ''

Tygodnik Powszechny ''Tygodnik Powszechny'' (, ''The Common Weekly'') is a Polish Roman Catholic weekly magazine, published in Kraków, which focuses on social, cultural and political issues. It was established in 1945 under the auspices of Cardinal Adam Stefan Sap ...

'' and ''Więź''. In the years 2006–2012 he was again a columnist for ''Newsweek Polska''. From September 2012 to April 2013 he was a columnist for the ''

Wprost ''Wprost'' (, meaning "Directly") is a Polish weekly news magazine published in Poznań, Poland.Tygodnik Powszechny ''Tygodnik Powszechny'' (, ''The Common Weekly'') is a Polish Roman Catholic weekly magazine, published in Kraków, which focuses on social, cultural and political issues. It was established in 1945 under the auspices of Cardinal Adam Stefan Sap ...

''. He hosted programs in Radio Białystok, Radio Vox FM, cooperated with Radio PiN. He has authored twenty books on social issues and religion.

Television

Together with Marcin Prokop he co-hosted the Polish edition of

on TVN (2008–2019). In 2006, he was the host of the program "Po prostu pytam" (pl. "I'm just asking") on

TVP1 TVP1 (TVP Jeden, ''Telewizja Polska 1'', ''Program Pierwszy Telewizji Polskiej'', ''"Jedynka"'') is the main public television channel of Telewizja Polska, TVP (Telewizja Polska S.A.), Poland's national television broadcaster. It was the first Po ...

. In the years 2007–2012 he was the program director of Religia.tv. In this station he hosted an ethical talk show "Między sklepami" (pl. "Between Stores") broadcast from the

Złote Tarasy The Złote Tarasy, also known by its anglicized name Golden Terraces, is a commercial, office, and entertainment complex in the city centre of Warsaw, Poland. It is located at 59 Złota Street, between Jana Pawła II and Emilii Plater. It was o ...

shopping mall in Warsaw, the program "Bóg w wielkim mieście" (pl. "God in the Big City") and numerous other programmes. He was a host of press review in

morning show Breakfast television (Europe and Australia) or morning show (Canada and the United States) is a type of news broadcasting, news or infotainment television programme that broadcasts Live television, live in the morning (typically broadcast pro ...

Dzień Dobry TVN ''Dzień Dobry TVN'' (eng. ''Good Morning TVN'') is a Polish morning show broadcast on TVN since 2005 every day between 8:00 and 11:30. It features celebrity guests, advice on health, entertainment, cookery and more. It is presented by three d ...

Humanitarian work

He founded the Białystok branch of the "Pomoc Maltańska" foundation. In April 2013, he founded the "Kasisi" foundation, and in the following year he established the "Dobra Fabryka" foundation. As part of the "Dobra Fabryka", aid organized by Hołownia reached, among others, residents of Bangladesh, Mauritania, Rwanda, Burkina Faso and Senegal. In total, the foundation helps around 40,000 people on a yearly basis. The "Kasisi" foundation focuses on running the largest orphanage in Zambia, where more than two hundred children live permanently. Hołownia is a

children's rights Children's rights or the rights of children are a subset of human rights with particular attention to the rights of special protection and care afforded to minors.

advocate. In 2019, he organized a

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

fundraiser which raised PLN 2 million (including over PLN 1.5 million paid by

Kulczyk Foundation The Kulczyk Foundation is a Polish private foundation founded in 2013 by Grażyna Kulczyk, Jan Kulczyk, and Dominika Kulczyk, who has been the President of the foundation since its establishment. Apart from Dominika Kulczyk, the foundation is ma ...

) for the 24-hour telephone helpline for children and youth run by the "Dajemy Dzieciom Siłę" foundation. The support let the line to operate for another year, though it was rejected by the Ministry of National Education. He is a co-initiator of th
Pomocni.info
website, addressed to people in a difficult life situation. He was an ambassador of the UN

Sustainable Development Goals The ''2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development'', adopted by all United Nations (UN) members in 2015, created 17 world Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The aim of these global goals is "peace and prosperity for people and the planet" – wh ...

Political activity

Hołownia announced his candidacy for in the

2020 Polish presidential election Presidential elections were held in Poland on 28 June 2020. As no candidate received a majority of the vote, a second round was held on 12 July, in which incumbent president Andrzej Duda, running with the support of the incumbent government of t ...

on 8 December 2019 from the

Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre The Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre () is a Shakespearean theatre in Gdańsk, Poland. It is built on the site of a 17th-century theatre, known as the Fencing School, where English travelling players performed works of English Renaissance theatre. The l ...

. On 7 February 2020, he issued a manifesto focused on four aspects:

national security National security, or national defence (national defense in American English), is the security and Defence (military), defence of a sovereign state, including its Citizenship, citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of ...

environmental protection Environmental protection, or environment protection, refers to the taking of measures to protecting the natural environment, prevent pollution and maintain ecological balance. Action may be taken by individuals, advocacy groups and governments. ...

solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...

and activity of the

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

s. The chief of his electoral staff is Jacek Cichocki. He was supported, among others, by

Janina Ochojska Janina Maria Ochojska (Polish pronunciation: ; born 12 March 1955) is a Polish humanitarian, social activist and astronomer, who serves as a Member of the European Parliament (2019–present). She is founder and director of the Polish Humanitar ...

. He based his campaign almost entirely on volunteers operating at the local offices in 16 major Polish cities and on assets from a public fundraiser. Hołownia drummed up 10-20% of support for his candidature. In

he received 2,693,397 votes, which was 13.9% of total votes, coming third out of eleven candidates. After the election, he announced the formation of a new political movement called Poland 2050 Movement (

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

: Ruch Polska 2050). On 13 November 2024 Hołownia announced his start in the 2025 presidential election.

Political views

Hołownia has expressed support for parliamentary

democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

sovereignty Sovereignty can generally be defined as supreme authority. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within a state as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the person, body or institution that has the ultimate au ...

rule of law The essence of the rule of law is that all people and institutions within a Body politic, political body are subject to the same laws. This concept is sometimes stated simply as "no one is above the law" or "all are equal before the law". Acco ...

civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.separation of powers The separation of powers principle functionally differentiates several types of state (polity), state power (usually Legislature#Legislation, law-making, adjudication, and Executive (government)#Function, execution) and requires these operat ...

and political pluralism. He emphasizes the importance of Poland's political transformation after 1989, though considers some of its effects to be negative. He emphasizes the role of local governments. He regards the

Constitution of Poland The Constitution of the Republic of Poland ( or ''Konstytucja RP'' for short) is the supreme law of the Republic of Poland, which is also commonly called the Third Polish Republic ( or ''III RP'' for short) in contrast with the preceding syste ...

as the supreme and indisputable legal act on which the president's conduct is based. He was critical towards the First Cabinet of Mateusz Morawiecki and

Second Cabinet of Mateusz Morawiecki The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...

. He disapproves of the long-term impacts of the

2015 Polish Constitutional Court crisis Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number) *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music *Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak album), 2007 * ''15'' (Phatfish album), 2008 * '' ...

and considers changes in the

Judiciary of Poland The judiciary of Poland ( ) are the authorities exercising the judicial power of the Polish state on the basis of Chapter 8 of the Constitution of Poland. As in almost all countries of continental Europe, the Polish judiciary operates within t ...

carried out by

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 ...

to be unconstitutional. He does not want to be associated with any political ideology, assuming that agreements and common goals can be found with representatives of all views. He supports Poland's membership in

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

and Weimar Triangle. He supports Poland's good relations with

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

and the

Baltic states The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...

. Hołownia has proposed a referendum on increasing the health premium in order to repair health care in Poland. According to Hołownia, Poland should allocate 7% of

GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performance o ...

for this purpose. He points out the need to make the doctors' work lighter and to expand telemedicine services. He has suggested handing over hospitals with their revenues to the

Voivodeship A voivodeship ( ) or voivodate is the area administered by a voivode (governor) in several countries of central and eastern Europe. Voivodeships have existed since medieval times and the area of extent of voivodeship resembles that of a duchy in ...

governments in order to improve the quality and availability of services, as elected councillors would be responsible for them. He supports expanding public transport connecting rural Poland with voivodeship capitals. Hołownia supports depoliticization of state companies. He supports the creation of a National Climate Council to develop a plan for Poland to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 under the

European Green Deal The European Green Deal, approved in 2020, is a set of policy initiatives by the European Commission with the overarching aim of making the European Union (EU) climate neutral in 2050. The plan is to review each existing law on its climate meri ...

, including a move away from coal energy. He considers the water crisis and deforestation for biomass main ecological problems of Poland. He is a supporter of

renewable A renewable resource (also known as a flow resource) is a natural resource which will replenish to replace the portion depleted by usage and consumption, either through natural reproduction or other recurring processes in a finite amount of ti ...

and

nuclear Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: *Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics * Nuclear space *Nuclear ...

energy. Hołownia supports expanding public housing and lowering bank margins to bring down the cost of living and has stated that he would veto any act establishing housing loan subsidies for banks. Hołownia supports military spending as a way to increase economic growth, saying that half of the military spending needs to be made in Poland, as opposed to the United States and South Korea. Hołownia is opposed to

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% ...

, preferring the legalization of same-sex

civil unions A civil union (also known as a Civil partnership in the United Kingdom, civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, primarily created to provide legal recognition for Same-sex relationship, same-sex couples. Civi ...

. He has stated that Third Way would follow "a rule of voting according to one's conscience" if such question was brought up. Hołownia supports a phone ban in primary schools.

Private life

Hołownia is married to Urszula Brzezińska-Hołownia, a

Mikoyan MiG-29 The Mikoyan MiG-29 (; NATO reporting name: Fulcrum) is a twin-engine fighter aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. Developed by the Mikoyan design bureau as an air superiority fighter during the 1970s, the MiG-29, along with the larger Suk ...

jet fighter pilot and a first lieutenant in the

Polish Air Force The Polish Air Force () is the aerial warfare Military branch, branch of the Polish Armed Forces. Until July 2004 it was officially known as ''Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej'' (). In 2014 it consisted of roughly 26,000 military personnel an ...

. They have two daughters, Maria and Elżbieta (as of 2022). He graduated from the Social High School in Białystok. He studied psychology at the

Warsaw School of Social Psychology Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

but did not complete his degree. He is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

. Before getting married, Hołownia had been in the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers (, abbreviated OP), commonly known as the Dominican Order, is a Catholic Church, Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by a Castilians, Castilian priest named Saint Dominic, Dominic de Gu ...

twice and was about to take the monastic ordination. In January 2020 he was denied communion by a priest of the Carmelite Church of Warsaw due to his political views; Hołownia denounced the event on Facebook, leading the

Archdiocese of Warsaw The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Warsaw (, ) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Poland encompassing the Polish capital. It was erected on October 16, 1798 and was elevated to an Archdiocese on June 30, ...

to issue an official apology, stating that the priest had broken Church regulations. He is a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

Awards

Hołownia has won the Grand Press award twice: 2006 in the Interview category for his conversation with the theologian, Rev. Jerzy Szymik, titled "Heaven for pigeons" and in 2007 in the Specialist Journalism category for an interview with the ethicist and philosopher Dr. Kazimierz Szałata. In 2004, he was awarded the Business Center Club Press Prize. In 2007, he was awarded the Ślad Award. In 2011, he received the Wiktor award in the Wiktor Audience category for 2010, he was previously nominated for the Wiktor award in 2008 in the category The Greatest Television Discovery. In 2008, he was awarded the MediaTory award by students of journalism from all over Poland in the NawigaTOR category. In 2016, he was awarded the Honorary Medal by the Ombudsman for Children for Merit for the Protection of Children's Rights.

Electoral history

Presidential elections

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holownia, Szymon 1976 births Living people Polish journalists SWPS University alumni Politicians from Białystok Candidates in the 2020 Polish presidential election Candidates in the 2025 Polish presidential election Former Dominicans Marshals of the Sejm of the Third Polish Republic Polish Roman Catholics Artists from Białystok Members of the Polish Sejm 2023–2027 Polish opinion journalists Polish television journalists Writers from Białystok Freedom Union (Poland) politicians

External links

2025 campaign website