Development of Parties and Party Systems in ... - lah@sam.sdu.dk

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election defeat more cooperation and unification was needed. The victory of SLD and PSL at the1993 election had primarily been due to the deep split among right-wing parties at both actor andpolicy level.Due to the formation of the election alliance AWS the trade union Solidarity again becamerepresented in parliament and in the government at the 1997 election. Most leading personalitiesfrom Solidarity were elected to the parliament; some became ministers in the Buzek-government.Marian Krzaklewski was elected as the chairman for AWS’ parliamentary group. Soon after theelection the characteristics of political movement disappeared. In the trade union Solidarity theposition of Krzaklewski was stronger than in the case of Walesa, for opposite Marian Krzaklewski,former chairman Lech Walesa had to fight energetically to keep his post as chairman of Solidarity.Just opposite, under Krzaklewskis rule the elections and decisions took place top-down according towell-prepared plans. Having taken over government responsibilities Solidarity appealed to”responsibility” and “self-limitation” among the trade union members and had to defend itselfagainst critique of the cooperation with the liberal and more secular Freedom Union (UW).The trade union Solidarity year 2000-2001 was different from the broad social movement in the1980’s. The catch-all character was maintained, but at the same time also a move in the direction ofa post-communist cartel party formation has been observed. According to many observers ofSolidarity the congress in autumn 1998 was evident of the petrification and bureaucratisationprocess and concentration of power to a narrow circle of the chairman (Krzaklewski) with too muchfocus on the “technology of power”. The congress in 1998 took place shortly after the victory overthe ”post-communists”, for that reason the enthusiasm among the delegates was great. LechWalesa's critical remarks directed against the new government were not accepted by a majority ofthe delegates.The situation before the next 1999 congress had changed. The fact that the 1999 congress tookplace at the time when the support of AWS and the government was decreasing gave rise to sharpcritique directed against the policy of the AWS-UW government, e.g. the privatisation policy, thetax policy and the postponement of the law about 40 hours working week with Saturday as workfree day. Nonetheless, this time in his speech to the 1999 congress former president Lech Walesakept a low profile. His proposal about letting the first round of the forthcoming presidential electionbecame an American type primary election with himself as one of the candidates was not acceptedby the majority of the delegates. With the negative experience from the presidential election in 1995in mind, the majority expressed the opinion that the political right should be presented by onecommon candidate with the aim to place the common candidate in the strongest possible position inthe struggle against the post-communist candidate, the then acting president AlexanderKwasniewski.2.6. The foundation of AWSThis section will elaborate on the formation, stabilization and demise of the electoral alliance AWS.The initiative to establish the election alliance AWS shall be seen in the context of the defeat at the1993 election and the presidential election in 1995. At the presidential election 1995 the right wingparties were divided in several small parties, thereby contributing to the ”post-communist”Alexander Kwasniewski's victory at the presidential election. At the presidential election in 1995Solidarity supported Lech Walesa. However, other right wing groups took the decision to supportcandidates from their own political groups. Thus PC (”Porozumienie Centrum”) supported Lech54
Kaczynski, ROP Jan Olszewski and ZChN Hanna Gronkiewicz-Walz. In Solidarity a group led byZbigniew Wrzodak broke the party line and supported Jan Olszewski. Thus, evidence showed thatwithout greater unity on the Right the “power monopoly” of the post-communist would not bebroken.22 different parties and organizations subscribed the declaration of the creation of Election ActionSolidarnosc (AWS), at the 1997 election AWS was composed of no less than 38 different partiesand organisations. As noted earlier, AWS can best be considered as a negative alliance, first as anembryonic, later as a proto-political party with trade union Solidarity as the organizational core.During the election campaign the attempt to mobilise the old Solidarity ethos succeeded to a largeextent, and, most important, the waste of votes was substantially reduced. At the 1993 electionthose groups, which later formed AWS, had obtained 29 pct. of the votes, only 4 pct. less than at the1997 election, but at the 1997 election enough for the Right to obtain the majority in parliament. Asthe right wing “The Movement for Building UP Polan” (ROP) lost votes to AWS the real swing tothe Right was rather modest.The liberal Freedom Union (UW), still working outside AWS, constituted the social liberal parts ofthe Solidarity movement The Workers Union (UP), the centre-left orientated part of Solidarity hasbeen supported by reform-minded former communists. Nevertheless at the 1997 election AWSbecame the greatest single party with support from about one third of the electorate, more thanpredicted in the opinion polls before the election which showed almost “dead heat” between left andright.Thus, from the outset AWS can be considered as a broad right wing negative election alliance, withstrong elements of anti-politics, without the old “self-limitation” and with close links to thepresident (Walesa) and with strong support from the army and the church hierarchy.2.7. The organisational structure of AWSFrom the outset AWS’ different political groups and ”legs” watched zealously over their ownidentity. Several acted as veto-groups even obstructing even already adopted decisions and preventpassage of new. The prospects to form one united right wing party with a high institutionalisationand a common party culture were dark. Plans circulating in the spring 1995 to create an”independent trade union party” – only based on the trade union Solidarity - were impossible tocarry through. The experience from the 1993 election, where the trade union Solidarity lost all theseats in parliament, was frightening. The right wing parties were simply ”doomed to cooperate”.As noted above, the trade union Solidarity was AWS’ organisational nucleus and MarianKrzaklewski the political front figure. Tactical considerations, not ideological unity, were mostdecisive. The different political groups on the Right could easily agree on the anti-communistorientation with the aim to remove the ”post-communists” from power. Many in AWS expressedthe opinion that the round table decisions gave the ”post-communists” too much political influence.Also the support to the church was strong, e.g. in questions about abortion and religious instructionin schools. The close links to the church not only separated Solidarity from the ”post-communists”,but also Solidarity from its coalition partners, e.g. liberals and moderates in the Freedom Union”(UW).55
Page 3: “This provisional situation chara
Page 6 and 7: marketisation and privatisationshor
Page 8 and 9: purposes, are channels for “expre
Page 10 and 11: the significance of strategic choic
Page 12 and 13: presidentialism gave rise to “flo
Page 14 and 15: antipolitics and reinforcement of a
Page 16 and 17: In the late 1990’s elections most
Page 18 and 19: determined primarily by “politica
Page 20 and 21: politics and antipolitics, all sign
Page 22 and 23: which attitudes to state regulation
Page 24 and 25: Anti-communism has been defined in
Page 26 and 27: elections and the Slovak communists
Page 28 and 29: Cartel agreementsbetter representat
Page 30 and 31: Basically the absence of clear cons
Page 32 and 33: After 1989 different types of polit
Page 34 and 35: complex project for transition unde
Page 36 and 37: window of opportunity in spite of s
Page 38 and 39: analyses of party institutionalizat
Page 40 and 41: political messages and slogans. Thu
Page 42 and 43: well established party culture may
Page 44 and 45: expected, much due to the many spli
Page 46 and 47: Furthermore, the polarisation on el
Page 48 and 49: Finally, Solidarity can also be con
Page 50 and 51: whole, on the one side an authorita
Page 52 and 53: The economic recession and the grav
Page 56 and 57: The formation of AWS can be conside
Page 58 and 59: group. RS AWS constituted the Chris
Page 60 and 61: According to the original plans the
Page 62 and 63: values. According to Rybicki, as so
Page 64 and 65: AWS should fight against all types
Page 66 and 67: 2001 parliamentary election, howeve
Page 68 and 69: and workers voted ZChN. At the 1993
Page 70 and 71: The League has been considered as a
Page 72 and 73: establishment like than LPR’s. Th
Page 74 and 75: jobs in rural areas, especially sma
Page 76 and 77: industrial policy. According to the
Page 78 and 79: pressurizing the government to give
Page 80 and 81: democrats, thereby locating itself
Page 82 and 83: To conclude, the Freedom Union (UW)
Page 84 and 85: Polish middle class. Thus, in Janua
Page 86 and 87: such as KSCM and KSS in The Czech R
Page 88 and 89: The SLD leaders were mainly recruit
Page 90 and 91: the falling popular support for pri
Page 92 and 93: innovation was formation of the pol
Page 94 and 95: place after talks with each applica
Page 96 and 97: Has the Left any freedom of manoeuv
Page 98 and 99: medicine, changes in the labour cod
Page 100 and 101: The Labour Union (UP), Democratic U
Page 102: Nevertheless, before that had taken

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