Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania (Polish: Akcja Wyborcza Polaków na Litwie, AWPL; Lithuanian: Lietuvos lenkų rinkimų akcija, LLRA) is a political party in Lithuania. It represents the Polish minority and positions itself as Christian democratic. It has 8 seats in the Seimas, 1 seat in the European Parliament, and 11 seats in coalition with the Russian Alliance in the Vilnius City Municipality.
Formed in 1994 from the political wing of the Association of Poles in Lithuania, AWPL experienced a surge in support in the 2000s, under the leadership of Waldemar Tomaszewski. It increased its representation from under 2% in 2000, leading to the party being invited to join the governing coalition: an invite they rejected. They increased their vote again to 3.8% in 2004 and 4.8% in the most recent election, in 2008: just short of the 5% election threshold for any of the Seimas's 70 proportional representation seats. In the 2009 European election, they won 8.2% and one seat. The party's vote is concentrated in the south-east of the country, around the capital, where the Polish minority is located. At the 2012 election, AWPL broke through 5% in a parliamentary election for the first time: qualifying for proportional representation seats.
In the Seimas, the party sits with fellow centre-right party Order and Justice. AWPL's MEP, leader Waldemar Tomaszewski, sits with the European Conservatives and Reformists, which includes the Polish Law and Justice and Poland Comes First, and the party is a member of the AECR.
Read more about Electoral Action Of Poles In Lithuania: History, Ideology, External Relations, Election Results, Leaders
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“Power is action; the electoral principle is discussion. No political action is possible when discussion is permanently established.”
—Honoré De Balzac (1799–1850)
“Power is action; the electoral principle is discussion. No political action is possible when discussion is permanently established.”
—Honoré De Balzac (1799–1850)
“I see you boys of summer in your ruin.
Man in his maggot’s barren.
And boys are full and foreign in the pouch.
I am the man your father was.
We are the sons of flint and pitch.
O see the poles are kissing as they cross.”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)