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

democrats, thereby locating itself in the political middle with a big coalition potential, at least aslong as the majority in the Sejmen belonged to the parties with a background in the Solidaritymovement.In June 1990 Democratic Union’s (UD) the founding congress took place in Warszawa, at whichoccasion the ongoing “wars in the top” inside the Solidarity movement between the Walesa wing”and the “Mazowiecki wing” was clearly reflected. Nevertheless, questions about the readiness tocooperate closely with the trade union Solidarity and president Lech Walesa was not evendiscussed. Only one delegate raised the question about the need of “speeding up” of the fightagainst the old system and lustration of former communists and their agents, but according to theminutes from the meetings the speech was met by ironical remarks that the speaker might havemistaked the UD-congress for the congress of the Center Alliance (PC), another Solidarity faction 68 .The support of the round table negotiations and the aim to “cross out” the time before 1989 ( “grubakreska”), outlined by prime minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki, was maintained.The Liberal-Democratic Congress (KL-D), the Freedom Unions (UW) other leg, originated in theliberal groups in Gdansk in the 1980’s. In the first elected contractual parliament the Liberal-Democratic Club (KL-D) was established as an independent party with a clear neoliberal profile.KL-D belonged to those parties established by an interplay between a faction in the parliament andliberal groups outside the parliament, especially among intellectuals in the bigger towns. In otherwords, the party was at the same time formed externally and internally. The power of penetrationwas relatively weak, even among Polish intellectuals living in the big towns. Thus the voter appealwas too narrow. In spite of a active “'American” type election campaign and financial support fromoutside the party did not pass the threshold requirements and lost its representation in parliament atthe 1993-election.KL-D’s election defeat gave rise to plans about a merger of the Democratic Union (UD) and theLiberal-Democratic Congress (KL-D). However, the merger of the two parties did not give the newFreedom Union (UW) a broader electoral basis, because of the distinct liberal profile of the partychairman Leszek Balcerowicz. The new Freedom Union (UW) strived to combine liberal ideologywith pragmatism, political moral with political realities and social ethics, and at least until year2000 Solidarity type of “wars in the top” camp were avoided. In the first ten years after 1989ROAD, UD and UW had a great impact on Polish politics, for since the democratic break-throughROAD, UD and UW have produced no less than three prime ministers, Tadeusz Mazowiecki,Krzysztof Bielecki and Hanna Suchocka and, not to forget, minister of finance, LeszekBalcerowicz. Despite of that, at the 1995 presidential election the candidate of UD, Jacek Kuron,who according to the opinion polls was one of the most popular politicians in Poland, gained only 9pct. of the votes.From start the Freedom Union (UW) was composed of different non-veto political platforms. Thosegroups did not, like inside AWS, and behave like veto-groups, rather as policy-formulating fractionsor fractions of the band-wagon type. The division inside UW goes back to the merger between UDand KL-D, dseparating social liberals from “staunch” neo-liberals 69 . Other observers distinguishbetween “ideologists” (“ideowców”), the “old hyenas” “(stare hieny”) and the “young wolves”. Inother words, the Freedom Union (UW) included a group that supported Tadeusz Mazowiecki’s68 See minutes from the DU founding congress in Tygodnik Solidarnosc 17 May, 1991:8, ”Wezmy slub, jakos tobedzie”.69 Jan Król, ”Polityka Arystotelesa”, Wprost, 24 January, 1999:24-25.80