Law and Justice

Law and Justice ( PiS) is a right-wing populist, far-rightPolish media conflict pits government against far right Jacek Lepiarz 01/03/2024The rise of the far right- building a trade union response and national-conservative political party in Poland. Its chairman is Jarosław Kaczyński.

It was founded in 2001 by Jarosław and Lech Kaczyński as a direct successor of the Centre Agreement after it split from the Solidarity Electoral Action (AWS). It won the 2005 parliamentary and presidential elections. Lech became the president of Poland. It headed a parliamentary coalition with the League of Polish Families and Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland between 2005 and the 2007 election. In 2007 it was second. It was the parliamentary opposition until 2015. It won the presidency in the 2015 election, and later won a majority of seats in the parliamentary election. They kept the positions following the 2019 and 2020 election, but lost their majority following the 2023 Polish parliamentary election.  The  President Andrzej Duda is a PiS nominee.

At the start it was a centrist Christian democratic party.  Then it had more socially conservative views. It shifted to the right. Under Kaczyński's national-conservative and law and order agenda, it wanted economic interventionism. It has close relations with the Catholic Church, although in 2011, the Catholic-nationalist faction split off to form United Poland. During the 2010s, it also adopted right-wing populist positions. After regaining power, PiS gained popularity with transfer payments to families with children.

It is a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists, and on national-level, it heads the United Right coalition. In 2024 it had 163 seats in the Sejm and 34 in the Senate.

References

Category:Political parties in Poland