Law and Justice

For other uses, see Law and Justice (disambiguation).
"PiS" redirects here. For other uses, see PIS (disambiguation).

Law and Justice
Prawo i Sprawiedliwość
AbbreviationPiS
ChairmanJarosław Kaczyński
FoundersLech Kaczyński[1]
Jarosław Kaczyński
Founded13 June 2001; 23 years ago (2001-06-13)
Split from
Headquartersul. Nowogrodzka [pl] 84/86, 02-018 Warsaw
Youth wingLaw and Justice Youth Forum
MembershipIncrease 48,000 (2023 est.)[2]
Ideology
Political positionRight-wing[A][3]
National affiliationUnited Right
European affiliationEuropean Conservatives and Reformists Party
European Parliament groupEuropean Conservatives and Reformists
Colours  Blue   White   Red[4]
Sejm
181 / 460
Senate
30 / 100
European Parliament
20 / 53
Regional assemblies
258 / 552
Voivodes
0 / 16
Voivodeship Marshals
4 / 16
City Presidents
4 / 107
Website
www.pis.org.pl
^ A: The party is also considered economically left-wing,[10] or left-leaning.[14]

Law and Justice (Polish: Prawo i Sprawiedliwość [ˈpravɔ i ˌspravjɛˈdlivɔɕt͡ɕ] ⓘ, PiS) is a right-wing populist 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, after which 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. It placed second and they remained in the parliamentary opposition until 2015. It regained the presidency in the 2015 election, and later won a majority of seats in the parliamentary election. They retained the positions following the 2019 and 2020 election, but lost their majority following the 2023 Polish parliamentary election.

During its foundation, it sought to position itself as a centrist Christian democratic party, although shortly after, it adopted more culturally and socially conservative views and began their shift to the right. Under Kaczyński's national-conservative and law and order agenda, PiS embraced economic interventionism.[15][16][17][18][19] It has also pursued close relations with the Catholic Church, although in 2011, the Catholic-nationalist faction split off to form United Poland.[20] During the 2010s, it also adopted right-wing populist positions. After regaining power, PiS gained popularity with transfer payments to families with children.[21]

It is a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists,[22] and on national-level, it heads the United Right coalition. It currently holds 190 seats in the Sejm and 34 in the Senate.

It has attracted widespread international criticism and domestic protest movements for allegedly dismantling liberal-democratic checks and balances.[23][improper synthesis?]

  1. ^ "Historia PiS". e-sochaczew.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 11 November 2023.
  2. ^ Drabik, Piotr (1 June 2023). "PiS nie jest największą partią w Polsce. "Liczy się tylko kartel czterech"". Radio ZET (in Polish). Drugie miejsce należy do Prawa i Sprawiedliwości, które przez 22 lata istnienia mocno ugruntowało się także w terenie. Sekretarz generalny partii Krzysztof Sobolewski przekazał nam, że ugrupowanie rządzące ma ok. 48 tys. członków. - Najwięcej w województwie mazowieckim - dodał. Na pytanie, jak liczebność PiS zmieniła się w ostatnich trzech latach, odpowiedział tylko: - Znacząco wzrosła. [Second place belongs to Law and Justice, which has also become firmly established on the ground over its 22 years of existence. The party's general secretary Krzysztof Sobolewski told us that the ruling grouping has around 48,000 members. - The largest number in the Mazowieckie Voivodeship," he added. When asked how the size of PiS had changed in the last three years, he replied only: - It has increased significantly.]
  3. ^ Hrudka, Orysia (28 January 2024). "Hungary far-right party calls for seizing Ukraine's Zakarpattia if Russia wins". Euromaidan Press.
  4. ^ Fijołek, Marcin (2012). "Republikańska symbolika w logotypie partii politycznej Prawo i Sprawiedliwość". Ekonomia I Nauki Humanistyczne (19): 9–17. doi:10.7862/rz.2012.einh.23.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference left1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference left2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference left3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference sagehandbook was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference kossack_q was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ [5][6][7][8][9]
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference lean1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference lean2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference lean3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ [11][12][13]
  15. ^ "Premier o PiS. "Myśl socjalistyczna również jest dla nas ważna"". Wirtualna Polska (in Polish). 21 July 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  16. ^ Turczyn, Andrzej (22 July 2019). "Mateusz Morawiecki: robotnicza myśl socjalistyczna jest głęboko obecna w filozofii Prawa i Sprawiedliwości". Trybun Broni Palnej (in Polish). Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  17. ^ Szeląg, Wojciech (24 May 2021). "Marek Goliszewski, prezes BCC: Polski Ład wystraszył nawet tych, którzy wspierają PiS". Interia (in Polish). Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  18. ^ Kołakowska, Agnieszka (9 October 2019). "In defense of Poland's ruling party". Politico. Archived from the original on 9 October 2019. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  19. ^ Orenstein, Mitchell (4 July 2018). "Populism with socialist characteristics". The Jordan Times. Archived from the original on 4 July 2018. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  20. ^ Bale, Tim; Szczerbiak, Aleks (December 2006). "Why is there no Christian Democracy in Poland (and why does this matter)?". SEI Working Paper (91). Sussex European Institute.
  21. ^ Santora, Marc (14 October 2019). "In Poland, Nationalism With a Progressive Touch Wins Voters (Published 2019)". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  22. ^ Nordsieck, Wolfram (5 June 2019). Parties and Elections in Europe: Parliamentary Elections and Governments since 1945, European Parliament Elections, Political Orientation and History of Parties. BoD – Books on Demand. ISBN 9783732292509.
  23. ^ Licia Cianetti; James Dawson; Seán Hanley (2018). "Rethinking "democratic backsliding" in Central and Eastern Europe – looking beyond Hungary and Poland". East European Politics. 34 (3): 243–256. doi:10.1080/21599165.2018.1491401. Over the past decade, a scholarly consensus has emerged that that democracy in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is deteriorating, a trend often subsumed under the label 'backsliding'. ... the new dynamics of backsliding are best illustrated by the one-time democratic front-runners Hungary and Poland.</ref/> Authoritarianism or dictatorship: Both: