Civic Platform

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Template:Politics of Poland Image:Platforma Obywatelska.jpg

The Civic Platform (Platforma Obywatelska, also called the Citizens' Platform) is a liberal conservative political party in Poland. Since the 2005 parliamentary elections, it is the main and largest opposition party, with 133 seats (29%) in the Sejm, and 34 seats (34%) in the Senate.

It was the first Polish political party to form a shadow cabinet, and also the first to have chosen candidates for Parliament through primary elections. In 2005, however, it abandoned the primaries and the selection of its candidates was made by the party's grassroots and confirmed by its leader and 2005 presidential candidate, Donald Tusk.

1 Political program
2 Leaders
3 Members of Polish Parliament (Sejm) (2001-2005)
4 Members of the European Parliament
5 Pre-2005-election history
6 See also
7 External links

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Political program

The Civic Platform's program includes:

Flat tax rates: 15% personal income tax (PIT), corporate income tax (CIT) and VAT.
Tertiary education reform, with equal rights for private and public universities.
A larger portion of the budget for local government.
Privatization and demonopolization of some remaining sectors.
Direct elections of mayors and governors.
Private health care (currently, public healthcare is mandatory).
Single-seat parliamentary elections.
Labor law reform.
Narrowing the privileges enjoyed by trade unions.
Teaching economics in all schools.
Retaining full control over monetary policy by the National Bank of Poland.
Lowering the number of MPs in the Sejm from 460 to 230, and depriving them of parliamentary immunity from prosecution.

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Leaders

Donald Tusk - party chairman, presidential runner-up in the 2005 presidential election.
Jan Rokita - parliamentary club chairman, and leader of the shadow cabinet.
previously Zyta Gilowska - chief economist, who left the party amid a nepotism scandal that involved her son, Paweł Gilowski, whom she hired using public money. Since January 7, 2006, minister of finance in the PiS-led government.

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Members of Polish Parliament (Sejm) (2001-2005)

This list is incomplete - your can help! - it would be greatly appreciated.

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Members of the European Parliament

The Citizen's Platform obtained the largest number of votes (25%) of any Polish party in the 2004 elections to the European Parliament, giving it 15 of 54 Polish seats in the European Parliament. It is part of the European People's Party coalition.

Jerzy Buzek, ex prime minister, professor of technical sciences
Zdzisław Chmielewski, historian, rector of Szczecin University
Małgorzata Handzlik, publisher and journalist
Stanisław Jałowiecki, sociologist and politician
Filip Kaczmarek, historian and journalist
Bogdan Klich, expert on international politics
Barbara Kudrycka, professor of law
Janusz Lewandowski, economist, ex-minister of privatisation
Paweł Piskorski, politician, ex-mayor of Warsaw
Jan Olbrycht, politician, ex-mayor of Cieszyn
Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, economist, former Poland-EU negotiator, vicepresident of the European Parliament
Jacek Protasiewicz, fililogist and politician
Bogusław Sonik, lawyer and politician
Zbigniew Zaleski, professor of psychology
Tadeusz Zwiefka, journalist

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Pre-2005-election history

In the years 2001-2005, the party had 58 deputies in the Sejm. In 2005, the PO led all opinion polls with 26% to 30% support (The PO had 12% in the 2001 elections). That rise in popularity was in part the effect of Jan Rokita's participation in the Sejm's Special Investigative Committee (investigating the Lew Rywin Affair), where he managed to uncover many irregularities in the post-communist SLD run cabinet.

However, the PO lost a significant amount of support immediately prior to the vote in 2005, and ended up with only the second-largest group of MPs in the Sejm. Despite widespread public anticipation of a coalition between PO and the conservative PiS party, this did not eventuate. The PO is now in opposition to a minority PiS government, which also receives some support from the populist LPR and Samoobrona parties.

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Founders

The PO was founded in 2001 by Andrzej Olechowski, Maciej Plazynski, and Donald Tusk, sometimes jokingly called "the Three Tenors" of Polish politics. Olechowski and Płażyński left the party during the 2001-2005 parliamentary term.

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