| New Hope | |
| Native Name: | Nowa Nadzieja |
| Native Name Lang: | pl |
| President: | Sławomir Mentzen |
| Leader2 Title: | Vice-presidents |
| Founder: | Janusz Korwin-Mikke |
| Headquarters: | Warsaw, Masovian Voivodeship |
| Youth Wing: | Youth for Liberty |
| Split: | Congress of the New Right |
| Ideology: | |
| Position: | Right-wing to far-right |
| National: | Confederation Liberty and Independence |
| Europarl: | Europe of Sovereign Nations |
| International: | International Alliance of Libertarian Parties |
| Seats1 Title: | Sejm |
| Seats2 Title: | Senate |
| Seats3 Title: | European Parliament |
| Seats4 Title: | City Presidents |
| Seats5 Title: | Regional assemblies |
| Country: | Poland |
The New Hope (pronounced as /pl/; NN)[1] is a right-wing political party in Poland. It is currently led by Sławomir Mentzen.[2]
Founded in 2015 by Janusz Korwin-Mikke as a result of his removal from the Congress of the New Right, his former party,[3] it was initially called Coalition for the Renewal of the Republic of Liberty and Hope (Polish: Koalicja Odnowy Rzeczypospolitej Wolność i Nadzieja|links=no) and then subsequently Confederation for the Renewal of the Republic of Liberty and Hope (Polish: Konfederacja Odnowy Rzeczypospolitej Wolność i Nadzieja|links=no), both abbreviated to just KORWiN or sometimes Liberty (Polish: Wolność|links=no).
Among the party's other members are Przemysław Wipler, who held a seat in the Polish Sejm, and Robert Iwaszkiewicz, Member of the European Parliament. The party's Polish name was originally a backronym of the founder's name Korwin-Mikke, who took part in the 2015 presidential election.[4]
In 2018, the party formed a coalition with National Movement called Confederation.[5]
The party was formed shortly after Janusz Korwin-Mikke was removed from the chairmanship of the Congress of the New Right (KNP). The pro-Korwin faction of the KNP ended up forming the KORWiN party ahead of the 2015 Polish presidential election. Janusz Korwin-Mikke finished fourth in that election, earning 3.26% of the vote (486,084 votes).[6] In the 2015 Polish parliamentary election the party earned 4.76% of the vote (722,999 votes) but failed to reach the 5% electoral threshold needed to get any seats.[7]
The party gained two seats during the VIII Sejm after Jacek Wilk and later Jakub Kulesza left Kukiz'15 to join KORWiN.
Ahead of the 2019 European Parliament election in Poland, KORWiN formed an alliance with the National Movement (RN) and other right-wing parties called the Confederation.[8] Even though the coalition failed to get any seats, the main parties stayed together to contest the 2019 Polish parliamentary election. The Confederation ended up receiving 6.81% of the vote (1,256,953 votes) and 11 seats, five of which were taken by the KORWiN members.
For the 2020 Polish presidential election, KORWiN endorsed vice-chairman of the RN Krzysztof Bosak following his victory in the 2019–20 Confederation presidential primary. Bosak received 6.8% of the vote (1,317,380) which was by far the best result of any candidate (or party) endorsed by Janusz Korwin-Mikke.
In March 2022, claiming that the party had abandoned its libertarian roots and become Russophilic, three MPs left the party, creating a splinter group called Wolnościowcy.[9]
On 15 October 2022, Korwin-Mikke stepped down as the party president and was replaced by Sławomir Mentzen, the party's then vice president. Mentzen has worked to transform the image of the party away from a personality cult of Korwin-Mikke culminating in changing the party's name to "New Hope."[10] The founder of the party, Janusz Korwin-Mikke, was expelled from the party on October 28, 2023, which the party's leader, Sławomir Mentzen, justified with his controversial statements that harmed the party and contributed to it achieving a lower result than expected in the parliamentary elections this year. "[11]
On April 21, 2024, in the second round of the presidential elections in Bełchatów,, a party member, was elected, becoming the party's and Confederation's first city president.[12]
The New Hope has been described as a right-wing[13] and far-right party.[14] Regarding social issues, the party is conservative,[15] and regarding economic issues, it is right-libertarian.[16] It has been also described as right-wing populist.[17] It has expressed hard Eurosceptic views towards the European Union.[18] After Mentzen replaced Korwin-Mikke as party leader, the party became more critical of Russia, with Mentzen describing Russia as the main threat to Poland, calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a "murderer and a barbarian" and expressing support for Ukraine in the Russo-Ukrainian War, while being sceptical of increased military aid due to equipment shortages in Poland.[19] Mentzen has also said that the Polish state should take no position on the 2023 Israel-Hamas war.[20]
The party's programme preamble calls for:[21]
Other issues mentioned in the program are:
| Election | Leader | Votes | % | Seats | Change | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Janusz Korwin-Mikke | 722,999 | 4.8 (#7) | New | ||
| 2019 | 448,946 | 2.4 (#5) | 5 | |||
| As part of Confederation coalition, which won 11 seats in total. | ||||||
| 2023 | Sławomir Mentzen | 551,901 | 2.6 (#5) | 3 | ||
| As part of Confederation coalition, which won 18 seats in total. | ||||||
| Election year | Candidate | 1st round | 2nd round | Result | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % of overall vote |
| % of overall vote | |||
| 2015 | Janusz Korwin-Mikke | 486,084 | 3.26 (#4) | |||
| 2020 | Supported Krzysztof Bosak | 1,317,380 | 6.78 (#4) | |||
| 2019 | - | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 3 |