DEMOCRATIC LEFT ALLIANCE

(Redirected from Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej)

'Democratic Left Alliance' (Polish: ''Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej'', SLD) is a Polish social democratic political party. A coalition of parties used this name from 1991 to 1999. It was formally established as a single party on April 15, 1999.
Most of the members who established the party in 1999 had previously been members of SdRP (Socjaldemokracja Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej - Social Democrats of the Republic of Poland). SdRP and some other socialist and social democratic parties had formed the original Alliance of the Democratic Left as a left-wing coalition just prior to the nation's first free elections in 1991. At the time, the coalition's membership drew mostly from the Polish communist, the Polish United Workers Party, which ruled the ''People's Republic of Poland'' with Soviet support before 1989. The coalition was formed also thanks to a financial aid from Soviet Union. An alliance between the SLD and the Polish Peasant Party ruled Poland in the years 1993–1997.

Contents
History
Delegalization of SLD
Rationale
Legal grounds
Former SLD MPs
External links

History


In 1999 the coalition became a party, but lost some members. Today SLD is a pro-European (pro-EU) social democratic party.
The president of SLD is former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Wojciech Olejniczak, elected on May 29, 2005. His predecessor was Józef Oleksy. Oleksy's predecessor was Krzysztof Janik, and Janik's predecessor was Leszek Miller, the Prime Minister of Poland from 2001 to 2004. The former president of SLD, Aleksander Kwaśniewski, became President of Poland in December 1995.
In the 2001 elections SLD formed a coalition with Unia Pracy (UP, Labor Union) and gained 200 (of 460) seats in the Sejm (the lower house) and 75 (of 100) in the Senate. After the elections, the coalition was joined by Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe (the Polish Peasants' Party) in forming a government. In March 2003 PSL left the coalition. By 2004 the support for SLD in the polls had dropped from about 30% to just below 10%, and several high ranking party members had been accused of taking part in high profile political scandals by the mainstream press (most notably the Rywin affair).
On March 6, 2004 Leszek Miller resigned as party leader and was replaced by Krzysztof Janik. On March 26 the Diet speaker Marek Borowski, together with other high-ranking SLD officials, announced the creation of a new left-wing party, the Polish Social Democrats (''Socjaldemokracja Polska''). On the next day, Leszek Miller announced he would step down as prime minister on May 2, the day after Poland joins the European Union. He proceeded to do so.
In the 2004 to the European Parliament, the party received 9% of the votes, giving it 5 of 54 seats reserved for Poland in the European Parliament, as part of the Party of European Socialists.
In the elections to the Sejm on September 25, 2005, the Democratic Left Alliance gained only 11.3% of the vote. This gave the party 55 seats, barely a quarter of what it had had prior to the election. It has also lost all of its Senators.

Delegalization of SLD


''Delegalization of SLD'': Proposals for delegalization of Polish former communist party called Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) is a recurrent issue in Polish politics in 1990s and 2000s.

★ delegalization of SLD was first proposed in 1995 by Unia WolnoÅ›ci spokesman Andrzej Potocki at the height of so called "afera Oleksego", where prime minister from SLD Józef Oleksy was implied to have connections with Soviet secret service,

★ the proposal was regularly reiterated in later years, most notably by PiS chairman and current Polish Prime Minister JarosÅ‚aw KaczyÅ„ski in 2004,

★ also by LPR chairman and minister of education Roman Giertych in 2006.
Rationale

The most commonly given grounds for the delegalization are alleged widespread connections of prominent members of SLD with Soviet secret service - this has not been proven to any member of SLD, however:

★ three SLD members were accused and found guilty of corruption and giving away secret information about planned Polish police actions against organized criminals.

★ many of them are members or collaborators of former communist regime repression organs like militsiya, SÅ‚użba BezpieczeÅ„stwa and UrzÄ…d BezpieczeÅ„stwa.

★ as a legal and economical successor of PZPR and its properties - SLD is the organisation responsible by right for crimes of the former regime, that have not been judged yet.
Legal grounds

The rules for delegalization of a party are given by the Constitution of Poland. Article 13 of the Constitution specifically says that:
:''Political parties and other organizations whose programmes are based upon totalitarian methods and the modes of activity of Nazism, fascism and communism, as well as those whose programmes or activities sanction racial or national hatred, the application of violence for the purpose of obtaining power or to influence the State policy, or provide for the secrecy of their own structure or membership, shall be prohibited.''
== Members of the Previous Polish Parliament (Sejm) (2001-2005)==
MP, constituency

Jan Antochowski, ElblÄ…g

Tadeusz Badach, Chełm

Magdalena Banaś, Wałbrzych

Renata Basta, Bydgoszcz

Krzysztof BaszczyÅ„ski, Åódź

Barbara Blida, Katowice

Bogdan Błaszczyk, Koszalin

Anita Błochowiak, Sieradz

Elżbieta Bolek, Sosnowiec

Andrzej Brachmański, Gorzów Wielkopolski - Zielona Góra

Bogdan Bujak, Piotrków Trybunalski

Jan Chojnacki, Gliwice

Kazimierz Chrzanowski, Kraków

Danuta Ciborowska, ElblÄ…g

Grażyna Ciemniak, Bydgoszcz

Wiesław Ciesielski, Rzeszów

Bronisław Cieślak, Kraków

Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz, Białystok

Jerzy Czepułkowski, Olsztyn

Aleksander Czuż, Białystok

Eugeniusz Czykwin, Białystok

Jakub Derech-Krzycki, Gorzów Wielkopolski - Zielona Góra

Bogdan Derwich, Toruń

Wojciech Długoborski, Szczecin

Wojciech Domaradzki, Krosno

Marek Dyduch, Wałbrzych

Jerzy Dziewulski, Olsztyn

Anna Filek, Kraków

Witold Firak, Krosno

Sebastian Florek, Olsztyn

Piotr Gadzinowski, Warszawa

Maria Gajecka-Bożek, Sosnowiec

Andrzej Gawłowski, Piła

Witold Gintowt-Dziewałtowski, Elbląg

Anna Górna-Kubacka, Poznań

Danuta Grabowska, Radom

Aleksandra Gramała, Katowice

Joanna Grobel-Proszowska, Rzeszów

Zofia Grzebisz-Nowicka, Kielce

Jerzy Hausner, Kraków

Ryszard Hayn, Kalisz

Krystyna Herman, Wałbrzych

Barbara Hyla-Makowska, Bydgoszcz

Tadeusz Iwiński, Olsztyn

Aleksandra Jakubowska, Opole

Ewa Janik, Gliwice

Ewa Maria Janik, Częstochowa

Krzysztof Janik, Tarnów - parliamentary caucus chairman

Elżbieta Jankowska, Åódź

Zbigniew Janowski, Chełm

Jerzy Jaskiernia, Kielce - former parliamentary caucus chairman

Teresa Jasztal, Wrocław

Mieczysław Jedoń, Wałbrzych

Wiesław Jędrusik, Sosnowiec

Tadeusz Kaleniecki, Krosno

Ryszard Kalisz, Warszawa

Zbigniew Kaniewski, Åódź

Marian Kawa, Krosno

Bożena Kizińska, Kielce

Jan Klimek, Katowice

Jan Knapik, Nowy SÄ…cz

Jan Kochanowski, Gorzów Wielkopolski - Zielona Góra

Stanisław Kopeć, Szczecin

Jacek Kowalik, Gdynia

Bronisława Kowalska, Legnica

Janusz Krasoń, Wrocław

Zbigniew Krutczenko, Siedlce

Grzegorz Kurczuk, Lublin

Stanisław Kurpiewski, Siedlce

Krystian Åuczak, ToruÅ„

Aleksandra ÅuszczyÅ„ska, PÅ‚ock

Krystyna Åybacka, PoznaÅ„

Ryszard Maraszek, Legnica

Adam Markiewicz, Wałbrzych

Wacław Martyniuk, Gliwice

Czesław Marzec, Szczecin

Aldona Michalak, Płock

Jerzy Michalski, Chełm

Leszek Miller, Åódź

Tadeusz Motowidło, Rybnik

Alicja Murynowicz, Åódź

Tadeusz Myler, Kalisz

Andrzej Namysło, Opole

Grzegorz Napieralski, Szczecin

Lech Nikolski, Chełm

Irena Nowacka, Sieradz

Joanna Nowiak, Poznań

Józef Nowicki, Konin

Wiesław Okoński, Gliwice

Wojciech Olejniczak, Sieradz

Józef Oleksy, Siedlce

Wiktor Osik, Lublin

Małgorzata Ostrowska, Gdańsk

Andrzej Otręba, Wrocław

Andrzej Pęczak, Sieradz

Jacek Piechota, Szczecin

Katarzyna Piekarska, Warszawa

Elżbieta Piela-Mielczarek, Szczecin

Kazimierz Pietrzyk, Opole

Grażyna Pijanowska, Piła

Józef Pilarczyk, Opole

Andrzej Piłat, Płock

Stanisław Piosik, Piła

Zbigniew Podraza, Sosnowiec

Olgierd Poniźnik, Legnica

Franciszek Potulski, Gdańsk

Stanisława Prządka, Siedlce

Władysław Rak, Legnica

Zygmunt Ratman, Częstochowa

Andrzej Różański, Gdynia

Stanisław Rydzoń, Chrzanów

Kazimierz Sas, Nowy SÄ…cz

Joanna Senyszyn, Gdynia

Zbigniew Siemiątkowski, Płock

Jan Sieńko, Gdynia

Szczepan Skomra, Chełm

Andrzej Skrzyński, Tarnów

Robert Smoleń, Gorzów Wielkopolski - Zielona Góra

Zbigniew Sobotka, Piotrków Trybunalski

Adam Sosnowski, Kielce

Edmund Stachowicz, Gdańsk

Stanisław Stec, Piła

Marian Stępień, Katowice

Władysław Stępień, Rzeszów

Benedykt Suchecki, Płock

Andrzej Szarawarski, Sosnowiec

Jerzy Szmajdziński, Legnica

Elżbieta Szparaga, Toruń

Jerzy Szteliga, Opole

Jan Szwarc, Bielsko-Biała

Jan Szymański, Wrocław

Zygmunt Jerzy Szymański, Lublin

Renata Szynalska, Kalisz

Czesław Śleziak, Katowice

Halina Talaga, Chrzanów

Michał Tober, Warszawa

Tadeusz Tomaszewski, Konin

Ryszard Tomczyk, Koszalin

Bogusława Towalewska, Koszalin

Grzegorz Tuderek, Rzeszów

Michał Turkiewicz, Legnica

Andrzej Umiński, Elbląg

Marek Wagner, Kalisz

Jerzy Wenderlich, Toruń

Marek Widuch, Gliwice

Marek Wikiński, Radom

Marcin Wnuk, Bydgoszcz

Franciszek Wołowicz, Gorzów Wielkopolski - Zielona Góra

Bogusław Wontor, Gorzów Wielkopolski - Zielona Góra

Grzegorz Woźny, Kalisz

Zbyszek Zaborowski, Rybnik

Andrzej ZajÄ…c, Rybnik

Kazimierz Zarzycki, Bielsko-Biała

Jan Zaworski, Białystok

Ryszard Zbrzyzny, Legnica

Jacek Zdrojewski, Warszawa

Janusz Zemke, Bydgoszcz

Former SLD MPs



Ryszard Chodynicki, Toruń, now FKP

Roman Jagieliński, Piotrków Trybunalski, now FKP

Andrzej Jagiełło, Kielce, now FKP

Zbigniew Musiał, Piotrków Trybunalski, now FKP

Edward Brzostowski, Rzeszów: 2001-2002

Tadeusz Ferenc, Rzeszów: 2001-2002

Ryszard Ulicki, Koszalin - do 2003, elected to KRRiT

External links



Official site

"By invitation" - article about freedom of press in Poland and changing the name of PZPR to SLD - as a way of escape from danger of delegalization of a regime party. 5 April 1998.

The Warsaw Voice Article. 24 November 2004.

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