Democratic Party (Poland)

Not to be confused with Democratic Party – demokraci.pl.

Democratic Party Stronnictwo Demokratyczne
Leader	Paweł Piskorski
Founded	18 September 1937
Headquarters	ul. Chmielna 9, 00-021 Warsaw
Ideology	Liberalism
Political position	Centre
European affiliation	European Democratic Party
Official colours	Blue
Sejm	0 / 460
Senate	0 / 100
European Parliament	0 / 50
Website
sd.org.pl
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The Democratic Party (Polish: Stronnictwo Demokratyczne, SD) is a Polish centrist party. The party faced a revival in 2009, when it was joined by liberal politician Paweł Piskorski, formerly member of Civic Platform.

History

The party was established on April 15, 1939. Its historical leaders were Mieczysław Michałowicz and Mikołaj Kwaśniewski.

In 1940 SD split into two factions, one of which supported the Polish Government in Exile in London, and the second co-operated with the communist Polish Workers' Party and recognized the National Country Council as the actual parliament and the Provisional Government of National Unity as the actual government of Poland.

The London faction ceased to exist in 1945.

In the People's Republic of Poland SD became a "satellite" party of the communist Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) regime (similar parties existed in East Germany, as well as in Czechoslovakia). Even so, the party managed to sustain its non-Marxist orientation. After 1982, it was a member of the Patriotic Movement for National Rebirth.

In 1989 both PZPR satellites, the Democratic Party and the United People's Party, broke their ties with the communists and formed a coalition government with the Solidarity movement.

Subsequently, most of the members of the SD joined other parties, such as the Freedom Union. The party continued to exist, but had only a small support base, and was not represented in the Polish parliament.

Rebirth after 2009

Due to financial conditions of Polish political system, parties need to have sufficient funding to finance large-scale campaigns if they are new on the market or obtained under 3% of voters' support. Democratic Party possessed large amount of properties, which made it possible to finance several political campaigns after sale of these properties. The value of its assets is estimated at PLN 65 to 120 million, as Rzeczpospolita newspaper calculated.^{[citation needed]}

After 2009 new politicians joined the party, such as centrist-conservative Paweł Piskorski. The party restored their representation in parliament, by taking over of the members of the Democratic Party – demokraci.pl group counting 3 members. In the 2009 European Elections, the party's candidates obtained 0.027% of votes.

Elected representatives

Members of the Sejm

The party has three members of the Sejm:

• Marian Filar (5 – Toruń)
• Bogdan Lis (25 – Gdańsk)
• Jan Widacki (13 – Kraków) – to June 2011

External links

• Official website