Law and Justice

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Prawo i Sprawiedliwość is a Polish conservative political party. It currently forms government, while the President is also a member. The party was established in 2001, by the Kaczyński twins: Lech, the former justice minister and mayor of the capital, Warsaw, current President of Poland, and Jarosław, who is the President of the party. Most party members were at one time associated with the now defunct Akcja Wyborcza Solidarność coalition, or the ROP. Image:Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz and Lech Kaczynski 2005.jpg

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Political program

In comparison with the other major conservative party (the PO), PiS projects a more traditional, eurosceptic and populist image overall. It has been claimed that their social policies are based on the anti-socialist Social Magisterium of the Catholic Church.

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Economy

Economically, the party has rather leftist views. It supports a state-guaranteed minimum social safety-net, and intervention of the state into economic issues (within market economy bounds). It proposes two personal tax rates (18% and 32%), and tax rebates related to the number of children in a family, as well as a reduction of the VAT rate (while keeping a variation between individual types of VAT rates). Also: a continuation of privatisation with the exclusion of several dozen state companies deemed to be of strategic importance for the country. PiS opposes cutting social welfare spending, and also proposes the introduction of a system of state-guaranteed housing loans.

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Communist agents

PiS proposes the public announcement of the names of all special forces agents from the time of the communist Regime.

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Crime and corruption

PiS advocates increased criminal penalties. It postulates aggressive anti-corruption measures (including creation of an Anti-Corruption Office, open disclosure of the assets of politicians and important public servants), as well as broad and various measures to smooth the working of public institutions.

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Constitution, power structures

PiS has presented project for constitutional changes which includes, among others: allowing the president the right to pass laws by decree (when prompted to do so by the Cabinet), a reduction of the number of members of the Sejm and Senat, and removal of constitutional bodies overseeing the media and monetary policy.

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Foreign affairs

The party supports integration with the EU on terms beneficial for Poland. PiS also supported Poland's military presence in Iraq in recent years. Following the election, it declared that Polish soldiers will remain in Iraq for another 12 months.

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Education and health care

PiS supports free education in elementary and secondary schools and free health care.

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Social issues

The party opposes e.g.: -legalization of euthanasia, opposed by 48% of Poles with 35% for legalization[1] -abortion -registration of homosexual marriages, which is opposed by 74% of Poles[2]). -it postulates a return of capital punishment, which according to opinion polls is supported by 77 % of Poles[3].

PiS oppose the legalization of so-called soft drugs.

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Attitude to homosexuals

As mayor of Warsaw, PiS leader Lech Kaczyński refused authorisation for the Equality Parade for gay rights on June 11, 2005 in Warsaw. The Parade took place in spite of this, and eggs, stones and bottles were thrown at participants by young people (nearly all men) from the Młodzież Wszechpolska youth organisation (associated with the League of Polish Families). At least two people were hospitalised.[4]

Lech Kaczyński wrote in Polish daily "Fakt" that any idea that homosexuals shouldn't work in schools as teachers is completely alien to his thinking[5]. As reported by PAP on September 21, 2005, Jarosław Kaczyński said that homosexuals should not be teachers, but that homosexuals would not be persecuted.[6]. On September 22, 2005, another member of PiS, Adam Bielan, in an interview on TVP, made statements indicating that PiS does not yet have a clear policy on whether or not homosexuals should be accepted in jobs in which there is close contact with children.[7]

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Equal opportunity representative

On November 4, 2005, the PiS-led government closed down the Office of Government Representative for the Equal Status of Women and Men (polish: Biura pełnomocnika rządu ds. równego statusu kobiet i mężczyzn). The following day, Magdalena Środa was removed from her job as Government Representative for the Equal Status of Women and Men, which she had held since September 2004. [8]

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Vocal criticism

The party has attracted quite a lot of vocal criticism at home and abroad, especially during the drawn-out pre-election period in late 2005. This criticism was aimed particularly at the party's conservative views.

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Criticism by the European Commission

In October 2005, the European Commission warned that if Kaczyński in his role as President continues to oppose gay rights and seeks to introduce the death penalty, Poland could temporarily lose its voting rights in the European Union. [9]

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History

The party was created on a wave of popularity gained by Lech Kaczyński, while heading the Polish Ministry of Justice (June 2000 to July 2001) in the AWS-led government, although local committees began appearing from March 22, 2001). The AWS itself was created from a diverse array of many small right-wing political parties. According to a claim by the US federal government funded International Republican Institute (IRI), the IRI itself played a significant role in uniting these parties to create the AWS, the "parent" party of both PiS and the PO. [10]

In the 2001 elections PiS gained 44 (of 460) seats in the lower chamber of the Polish Parliament (Sejm) with 9.5% of votes.

On June 20, 2002, PiS formed a coalition with the liberal conservative party Platforma Obywatelska (PO) for local elections (excepting the Mazowsze region). This coalition obtained a poor result (16% of votes), which was caused largely by a lack of television advertising. Another important factor was that PO supporters did not necessarily want to vote for PiS candidates (opting to vote for the UW or SLD, instead), while PiS supporters opted for LPR candidates. In effect, PiS presently forms government coalitions in only 4 out of 16 regions. At the same time Lech Kaczyński was elected the president of Warsaw.

In the 2004 European Parliamentary elections, the party came in third, receiving 12.67% of votes and 7 of 54 Polish seats in the European Parliament. They entered the Union for a Europe of Nations coalition.

For most of 2004 and 2005, opinion polls put PiS at the second or third position, with the PO being in the lead. In the parliamentary election in 2005 PiS unexpectedly took first place with 27% of votes, which gave it 155 out of 460 seats in the Sejm and 49 out of 100 seats in the Senat.

A coalition of PO and PiS had been believed for several years to be the most likely government to form after the election. However, the putative coalition parties had a falling out, related to fierce competition between theim during the presidential election, scheduled two weeks later. In the end, Lech Kaczyński won the second round of the presidential election on October 23, 2005 with 54% of the vote, ahead of Donald Tusk, the PO candidate. He gathered particularly strong support in southern and eastern Poland, in rural and small-town constituencies.

In th end, on November 1, 2005, PiS went on to form a minority government headed by Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz as premier. This has had tacit support from the populist Samoobrona and LPR parties.

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Prominent members

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Party Chairmen

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Members of the Polish Cabinet

(Since October 31, 2005, unless otherwise specified)

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Other prominent positions

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

MP, constituency

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Members of Polish Senate (2001-2005)

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Members of the European Parliament

The PiS MEPs belong to the Union for a Europe of Nations coalition.

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Trivia

  • Lech and Jarosław Kaczyński, the founders of the party, are identical twins.
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See also

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External links

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Articles

de:Prawo i Sprawiedliwość fr:Droit et justice lv:Likums un taisnīgums pl:Prawo i Sprawiedliwość ru:Право и Справедливость sv:Prawo i Sprawiedliwość

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