Kukiz'15 Explained

Kukiz'15
Leader:Paweł Kukiz
Foundation:May 2015
Headquarters:ul. Słowackiego 17
49-330 Łosiów
Youth Wing:Kukiz'15 Youth Club
Position:Centre-right to right-wing
National:United Right (2021-2023)Polish Coalition (2019-2020)
European:European Alliance for Freedom and Democracy
Five Star Direct Democracy (2019)
Seats1 Title:Sejm
Seats2 Title:Senate
Seats3 Title:European Parliament
Seats4 Title:Regional assemblies
Country:Poland

Kukiz'15 is a right-wing populist political party in Poland led by Paweł Kukiz.

It was formed in 2015 as a loose movement that registered itself as an association in 2016 and later as a political party in 2020. Initially, it was connected with far-right parties such as the National Movement, although it has moderated its political outlook since 2016. During the 2018 local elections, it coordinated with the socially conservative Right Wing of the Republic; in 2019, it joined the Polish Coalition. Due to its eurosceptic stances, its membership was terminated from the coalition. In May 2021 it announced its support for the ruling United Right coalition.

Political positions

Kukiz'15 was initially connected with the National Movement party,[1] [2] although Kukiz'15 itself was not characterized as far right but rather national-conservative,[3] conservative-liberal,[4] and anti-establishment.[5] [3] After 2016, they ceased operations with far-right organizations and politicians.[6] [7] [8] Since its inception, it has lacked programmatic coherence and thus has been described as a big tent party.[9] [10] [11] In its program, they have expressed support for direct democracy.[12] [13] Its leader and the party has expressed eurosceptic stances,[14] and has been described as a right-wing populist,[15] [16] [17] and conservative party,[18] that sits on the centre-right and right wing on the political spectrum.[19]

The key postulates upon foundation of the party were:

History

The movement was founded after Kukiz stood in the 2015 presidential election, winning 21% of the vote and coming in third during the election's first round. Kukiz's primary issue during the election was the replacement of Poland's proportional representation electoral system with single member constituencies,[24] [25] which was the subject of a referendum in September 2015.

The movement was particularly popular among young people: Kukiz won 42% among voters aged 18 to 29 in the 2015 presidential election.[26]

In the 2015 parliamentary election, Kukiz'15 cooperated with the far-right National Movement, which gained 5 of Kukiz' 42 parliamentary seats.[1] [27]

In April 2016, the National Movement leadership decided to end its collaboration with Kukiz'15 and instructed its MPs to leave the Kukiz'15 parliamentary club, but only one MP followed party instructions.[28] These ones, who stayed in Kukiz'15, together with a few other Kukiz' MPs, formed National Democracy (Endecja).[29]

There was a Sejm scandal in April 2016. Kornel Morawiecki of Kukiz'15 left his Sejm member card in the voting device when he felt sick and went out from the debating hall and then Małgorzata Zwiercan voted for him. After this he left Kukiz'15 and launched a new party Free and Solidary (Wolni i Solidarni) along with two other Kukiz'15 MPs.

In February 2017, three Kukiz'15 MPs left the group and became a parliamentary representation of the association "Republicans" (Republikanie).

In February 2018, Paweł Kukiz apologised for having introduced the nationalists into the Sejm.[8]

In May 2018, Kukiz'15 has coordinated with the social conservative Right Wing of the Republic in local elections.[30]

In August 2019, Kukiz'15 joined the Polish People's Party (PSL) to set up a joint list for the 2019 parliamentary election named Polish Coalition. This alliance helped both parties overcome the 5%-threshold and Kukiz kept 6 MPs in the Sejm. Because of that alliance, the Real Politics Union ended cooperation with Kukiz'15.

However, the ideological differences between the Pro-European PSL and the Eurosceptic Kukiz MPs led to a quick fallout. In November 2020, a PiS motion was put to a vote on the support for the Polish government in the EU budget negotiations (in which Poland and Hungary used their veto). 5 of the 6 Kukiz MPs voted in support. This led the PSL and Kukiz'15 to part ways.[31]

On 20 June 2021, the reactivation of the congress of the Republicans, which were instrumental in the creation of Kukiz'15 in 2015, took place. Karol Rabenda announced that some Agreement members will join the Republican association and restructure it into a party, and that the newly formed party will subsequently join the governing coalition as a full member. In response, the Law and Justice chairman Jarosław Kaczyński made a speech praising the new reformed party.[32]

After Jarosław Gowin's scepticism with the "Polish Deal" proposal (an economic recovery plan for countering the COVID-19 recession in Poland) and media law changes that would inevitably force the American company Discovery, Inc. to sell its TVN Group, Gowin was publicly removed from his position as deputy prime minister, resulting in realignment of the composition of the coalition.[33] As result, Adam Bielan's "Agreement rebels" new party joined the coalition as replacements, and the remaining Kukiz '15 MP's led by Paweł Kukiz declared their support for the coalition, except Stanisław Tyszka.[34]

Deputies

All deputies were elected on United Right list

Election results

Sejm

Election yearLeaderNumber of
votes
Percentage of
vote
Number of
overall seats won
+/–Government
2015Paweł Kukiz1,339,0948.81 (#3)New
20191,578,5238.55 (#4) 36
As part of Polish Coalition, which won 30 seats in total.
20237,640,85435.39 (#1) 3
As part of the United Right coalition, which won 194 seats in total.

Presidential

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Tom Lansford. Political Handbook of the World 2016-2017. 2017. SAGE Publications. 978-1-5063-2715-0. 1219.
  2. Book: Leruth. Benjamin. Startin. Nicholas. Usherwood. Simon. The Routledge Handbook of Euroscepticism. 2017. Routledge. 9781315463995. en.
  3. Web site: Sawicka. Joanna. Skibicki. Juliusz. Szacki. Wojciech. 3 November 2015. Kto jest kim u Kukiza. 13 December 2017. polityka.pl. Polityka.
  4. Web site: 3 November 2015. Ludzie od Kukiza w Sejmie: Kim są, czego chcą, kto może ich przejąć.
  5. News: Nardelli. Alberto. Polish elections 2015: a guide to the parties, polls and electoral system. The Guardian. 22 October 2015.
  6. Web site: 23 April 2016. Ruch Narodowy kończy współpracę z Kukiz'15. 14 June 2019. 9 November 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191109124920/https://polskatimes.pl/ruch-narodowy-konczy-wspolprace-z-kukiz15-ale-klub-opuszcza-tylko-robert-winnicki-video/ar/9911989. dead.
  7. Web site: Kornel Morawiecki odchodzi z Kukiz'15. 14 April 2016 .
  8. News: Wyborcza.pl.
  9. Book: Napieralski. Bartosz. Political Catholicism and Euroscepticism: The Deviant Case of Poland in Comparative Perspective. 2017. Routledge. 9781315281674. 115. en.
  10. News: The Cult of Kukiz The Krakow Post. The Krakow Post. 7 September 2015.
  11. Web site: Poland's rock star-politician: What happened to Paweł Kukiz?. 11 May 2016.
  12. Web site: Nordsieck. Wolfram. 2019. Poland. 2 December 2019. Parties and Elections in Europe.
  13. Web site: Kukiz: Rejestracja koła Kukiz'15-Demokracja Bezpośrednia w poniedziałek. 31 January 2021 .
  14. Web site: Kukiz: Nie chcę Polski w Unii, która jest popychadłem.
  15. Kasprowicz. Dominika. Hess. Agnieszka. 2017-06-15. Populizm w Polsce – między demagogią i demofilią. Środkowoeuropejskie Studia Polityczne. 2. 201–214. 10.14746/ssp.2017.2.10. 1731-7517. free. 10593/22600. free.
  16. Book: European Economic and Social Committee.. Societies outside metropolises: the role of civil society organisations in facing populism.. European Citizen Action Service.. 2019. Publications Office. LU. 10.2864/975141. 9789283044765 .
  17. University of West Bohemia. Naxera. Vladimír. Glied. Viktor. University of Pécs. Filipec. Ondřej. University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava. Kaczorowska. Małgorzata. University of Warsaw. 2020. To protect national sovereignty from the EU? The 2019 EP elections and populist parties in V4 countries. UNISCI Journal. 18. 54. 71–106. 10.31439/UNISCI-98. free. 11025/42608. free.
  18. Stetka. Vaclav. Surowiec. Paweł. Mazák. Jaromír. 2019. Facebook as an instrument of election campaigning and voters' engagement: Comparing Czechia and Poland. European Journal of Communication. en. 34. 2. 8. 10.1177/0267323118810884. 149482174 . 0267-3231.
  19. Right-wing:
  20. News: . Kukiz: narodził się ruch, który przywróci państwo obywatelom. pikio.pl. pl. 2015-10-25. 2015-10-31.
  21. Web site: . official site. 2016-07-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20160712043915/http://ruchkukiza.pl/klub-poselski/strategia-zmiany/. 2016-07-12. dead.
  22. Web site: Nowa ordynacja wyborcza jeszcze w tej kadencji. PiS z Kukizem chcą zmienić sposób wybierania posłów. 14 October 2021 . 2022-01-23.
  23. Web site: Winnicki o zmianie konstytucji: powrót do klasycznego trójpodziału władzy.
  24. Web site: What does Paweł Kukiz's election success mean for Polish politics? . Aleks . Szczerbiak . 15 May 2015 . . 25 July 2015.
  25. News: Wąsik . Zosia . 6 May 2015 . Ex-rock star is third most popular candidate for Polish presidency . . 25 July 2015 .
  26. News: Moskwa . Wojciech . 16 July 2015 . Rock Star's Campaign Burns Out in Boost to Polish Opposition . . 25 July 2015.
  27. http://derstandard.at/2000024619829/Radikale-Nationalisten-im-polnischen-Parlament Radikale Nationalisten im polnischen Parlament
  28. Web site: Narodowcy opuszczają klub Kukiza, ale czterech zostaje. "Jedność Ruchu Narodowego jest fikcją". 23 April 2016.
  29. Web site: Powstaje Stowarzyszenie "Endecja". 19 May 2016.
  30. News: Onet.pl.
  31. Web site: Paweł Kukiz: Klub Koalicja Polska podziękował nam za współpracę. Kosiniak-Kamysz: Zbyt daleko idące różnice.
  32. Web site: Powstała Partia Republikańska – nowa siła polityczna Adama Bielana. Na sali Jarosław Kaczyński. 20 June 2021. 20 June 2021.
  33. Web site: Polish ruling coalition collapses amid media law protests – POLITICO. 10 August 2021.
  34. Web site: PiS podpisało z Kukiz'15 umowę o współpracy programowej. 31 May 2021.