Civic Platform

Civic Platform (Platforma Obywatelska, PO), is a Christian-democratic and liberal-conservative Polish political party. Since the 2007 general election, it is the largest party in Sejm.

Civic Platform is a member of the European People's Party (EPP).

History

Civic Platform was founded in 2001 by Andrzej Olechowski, Maciej Płażyński and Donald Tusk, sometimes jokingly called "the Three Tenors" by Polish media and commentators. Olechowski and Płażyński left the party during the 2001-2005 parliamentary term, leaving Donald Tusk as the sole remaining founder, and current party leader.

In the 2001 general election the party scored 12.6% and won 58 deputies in the Sejm, making it the largest party in opposition to the government led by the Democratic Left Alliance.

In 2005, the PO led all opinion polls with 26% to 30% support, however in the 2005 general election, in which it was led by Jan Rokita, the PO scored 24.1% and came second only to Law and Justice (PiS), which took 27,0%. A coalition of PO and PiS was expected to be the most likely government to form after the election. The putative coalition parties had a falling out, however, related to the fierce contest for the Polish presidency.

In the end, Lech Kaczyński (PiS) won the second round of the presidential election on 23 October 2005 with 54.0% of the vote, ahead of Donald Tusk, the PO candidate. As a result, PiS chose instead to govern with the support of the Christian-nationalist League of Polish Families and the agrarian-populist Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland parties. The PO became the Opposition to this PiS-led coalition government.

This coalition fell apart in 2007 amid corruption scandals and internal leadership disputes. These events led to the new elections. In the 21 October 2007 National Assembly election, the party won 41.51 % of the popular vote and 209 out of 460 seats in the Sejm and 60 out of 100 seats in the Senate of Poland. Civic Platform defeated the PiS in these elections and subsequently formed a government along with the People's Party.

Ideology

Civic Platform is a Christian-democratic and liberal conservative party, combining liberal stances on the economy with conservative stances on social and ethical issues, including opposition to abortion, gay marriage, euthanasia and fetal stem cell research.

Core proposals in the party program include:

• flat tax (15% for personal income tax (PIT), corporate income tax (CIT) and VAT);
• privatization of the remaining public sectors of Polish economy;
• privatization of health care;
• decentralization through allocating a larger portion of the budget for local governments;
• direct elections of mayors and regional governors;
• higher education reform with equal rights for private and public universities;
• expanding the teaching of economics in secondary schools;
• halving the number of MPs in the Sejm from 460 to 230 and depriving them of parliamentary immunity from prosecution;
• first-past-the-post electoral system instead of proportional representation;
• labor law reform;
• independence over monetary policy by the National Bank of Poland.

Leadership

Chairmen

• Maciej Płażyński (2001–2003)
• Donald Tusk (2003–...)

Current Board

• Donald Tusk - chairman, Prime Minister
• Waldy Dzikowski - vice chairman
• Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz - vice chairman, mayor of Warsaw
• Bronisław Komorowski - vice chairman, marshal of Sejm
• Jacek Saryusz-Wolski - vice chairman
• Tomasz Tomczykiewicz - vice chairman
• Grzegorz Schetyna - general secretary, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Interior and Administration
• Mirosław Drzewiecki - treasurer, Minister of Sport and Tourism
• Zbigniew Chlebowski- floor leader in the Sejm
• Urszula Augustyn
• Bogdan Zdrojewski - Minister of Culture and National Heritage
• Andrzej Czerwiński
• Cezary Grabarczyk - Minister of Infrastructure
• Sławomir Nitras
• Sławomir Nowak
• Andrzej Czuma

See also

• Politics of Poland
• List of political parties in Poland

External links

• Official website