Left and Democrats - Polish Parliamentary Elections, 2007

Polish Parliamentary Elections, 2007

Although the coalition was initially conceived as a temporary electoral alliance for the 2006 local elections, cooperation between the parties continued, and on January 18, 2007, a Political Negotiating Committee headed by former Polish President Aleksander Kwaśniewski was created, for the purpose of clarifying a common centre-left political program.

The members of the Political Negotiating Committee were:

• Aleksander Kwaśniewski, former President of Poland (non-party)
• Wojciech Olejniczak, Chairman of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD)
• Jerzy Szmajdziński, Chairman of SLD Parliamentary Caucus (SLD)
• Marek Borowski, Chairman of Social Democracy (SDPL)
• Waldemar Witkowski, Chairman of the Labour Union (UP)
• Janusz Onyszkiewicz, Chairman of the Democratic Party (PD)

LiD contested their first national elections in October, 2007. Aleksander Kwaśniewski led the campaign, as the nominal head of the coalition, and its candidate for Prime Minister. LiD managed to take 13.2% of the national vote, and 53 seats, therefore achieving third place after the Civic Platform & Law and Justice parties, respectively. Of the 53 seats gained, the SLD took 37 seats, SDPL took 10, PD took 1, whilst non-party candidates took 5 seats (3 candidates were affiliated with the SLD and 2 affiliated with PD). The 4th coalition partner, the UP, did not win any seats. LiD did not manage to elect any of its members to the upper house Senate. Following the elections, LiD was not invited to participate in the coalition of the victorious Civic Platform with the agrarian Polish People's Party (PSL). Nevertheless, LiD held some leverage in the new Sejm, as the government on occasion needed its votes to overturn presidential vetos on government legislation. Kwaśniewski announced his resignation from the leadership of LiD, following the outcome of the election.