| Civic Platform Platforma Obywatelska |
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|---|---|
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| Leader | Donald Tusk |
| Founded | 1 July 2001 |
| Headquarters | Władysław Anders st. 21 00-159 Warsaw |
| Ideology | Christian democracy, social conservatism, centrism, |
| Political position | conservative |
| International affiliation | Centrist Democrat International |
| European affiliation | European People's Party |
| European Parliament Group | European People's Party |
| Official colours | Blue, Orange |
| Sejm |  |
| Senate |  |
| European Parliament |  |
| Website | |
| http://www.platforma.org/ | |
| Politics of Poland Political parties Elections |
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The Civic Platform (Polish: Platforma Obywatelska, PO) is a political party in Poland, that describes its stance as a synthesis of conservatism and Christian democracy. Since the 2007 general election, it is the largest party in the Sejm, the lower chamber of the Polish parliament. Civic Platform is a member of the European People's Party (EPP).
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Civic Platform was founded in 2001 as a split-off from existing parties. Founders: Andrzej Olechowski, Maciej Płażyński and Donald Tusk were 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 (nicnamed:PO-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. Due to the demands of PiS for all armed ministries (the MOD, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and the office of the Prime Minister, PO and PiS were unable to form a coalition. PiS wanted to create a government it could dominate; therefore, PiS had to form a coalition with the support of the conservative Catholic-nationalist League of Polish Families and the agrarian-populist Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland parties which were later called the addons (in Polish przystawki) by the Polish media. Only with these parties could PiS create a government it would dominate. The PO became the opposition to this PiS-led coalition government.
This coalition fell apart in 2007 amid corruption scandals[1] 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.
Civic Platform is a Christian-democratic and conservative party, combining conservative to liberal conservative stances on the economy with conservative stances on social and ethical issues, including opposition to abortion, same-sex marriage, soft drug decriminalisation and civil unions, euthanasia, fetal stem cell research and partially to wide availability of in vitro fertilisation.
Core proposals in the party program included in the past privatization of the remaining public sectors of Polish economy; direct elections of mayors and regional governors; first-past-the-post electoral system instead of proportional representation; labor law reform; independence over monetary policy by the National Bank of Poland; a 15% flat tax; the decentralization of the state. As of third year of Civic Platform's rule, privatisation is creeping with only several enterprises privatised yearly[2], instead of tax-cuts the opposite was proposed [3].
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   | corruption scandals - BBC NEWS | Europe | Massive win for Polish opposition |
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