Kukiz'15

Kukiz'15 is a political movement in Poland led by punk rock musician turned politician Paweł Kukiz. It is an association, which is not registered as a political party, and has coordinated with far-right groups, such as the National Movement party,[13][14] in the past, though is not far-right itself.[15][16][17] It has been described as "anti-establishment",[18] as a "broad coalition [lacking] programmatic coherence",[19][20][21] as centre-right,[13][14] and formerly as right-wing.[10][11][12] After elections in 2015, K'15 has greatly moderated its political outlook, ceasing its associations with far-right organisations and politicians[15][16][17] and abandoning its former Eurosceptic and social conservative positions.[22]

Kukiz'15
LeaderPaweł Kukiz
FoundedMay 2015
Headquartersul. Nowy Świat 39
00-029 Warsaw
Youth wingKukiz'15 Youth Clubs
IdeologyCurrent:
Populism[1]
Conservative liberalism[2]
Christian democracy[3]
Direct democracy[4]
Pro-single-member districts
Pro-Europeanism[5]
Historical:
Anti-establishment
Polish nationalism
National conservatism[6]
Right-wing populism[4]
Euroscepticism
Political positionCurrent:
Centre-right[7][8][9]
Historical:
Right-wing[10][11][12]
National affiliationPolish Coalition
European affiliationnone
Sejm
6 / 460
Senate
0 / 100
European Parliament
0 / 51
Regional assemblies
0 / 552
Website
http://kukiz15.org/

Political positions

The key postulates are:

  • Eliminating the monopoly of political parties in parliament ("destroying particracy")[13][23]
  • Electoral reform, eliminating proportional representation in favour of first past the post[24]
  • Separation of government, courts and parliament[25]
  • Protection of civic liberties
  • Introduction of obligatory referendums

History

The movement was founded after Kukiz stood in the 2015 presidential election, winning 21% of the vote and coming in third during the election's first round. Kukiz's primary issue during the election was the replacement of Poland's proportional representation electoral system with single member constituencies,[26][27] which was the subject of a referendum in September 2015.

The movement is particularly popular among young people: Kukiz won 42% among voters aged 18 to 29 in the 2015 presidential election.[28]

In the 2015 parliamentary election, Kukiz'15 cooperated with the far-right National Movement, which gained 5 of Kukiz' 42 parliamentary seats.[13][29]

In April 2016, the National Movement leadership decided to end its collaboration with Kukiz'15 and instructed its MPs to leave the Kukiz'15 parliamentary club, but only one MP followed party instructions.[30] These ones, who stayed in Kukiz'15, together with a few other Kukiz' MPs, formed National Democracy (Endecja).[31]

There was a Sejm scandal in April 2016. Kornel Morawiecki of Kukiz'15 left his Sejm member card in the voting device when he felt sick and went out from the debating hall and then Małgorzata Zwiercan voted for him. After this he left Kukiz'15 and launched a new party Free and Solidary (Wolni i Solidarni) along with two other Kukiz'15 MPs.

In February 2017, three Kukiz'15 MPs left the group and became a parliamentary representation of the association "Republicans" (Republikanie).

In February 2018, Paweł Kukiz apologised for having introduced the nationalists into the Sejm.[17]

In May 2018, Kukiz'15 has coordinated with the social conservative Right Wing of the Republic in local elections.[32]

In August 2019 Kukiz'15 joined Polish Coalition. In the same month Real Politics Union ended cooperation with Kukiz'15.

Election results

Sejm
Election year Number of
votes		 Percentage of
vote		 Number of
overall seats won		 +/– Government
2015 1,339,094 8.81 (#3)
42 / 460
 New Opposition
2019 1,578,523 8.6 (#4)
6 / 460
 36 Opposition
As part of Polish Coalition, which won 30 seats in total.

Regional assemblies
Election year % of
vote		 # of
overall seats won		 +/–
2018 5.7 (#5)
0 / 552

Footnotes
  1. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/9773/a443e50a9b32c03364f36ed20572f0d58f1e.pdf
  2. https://www.polityka.pl/tygodnikpolityka/kraj/1639115,1,ludzie-od-kukiza-w-sejmie-kim-sa-czego-chca-kto-moze-ich-przejac.read?page=2&moduleId=4677
  3. https://www.wnp.pl/parlamentarny/wydarzenia/pawel-kukiz-kultura-chrzescijanska-jest-nasza-droga,39236.html
  4. Nordsieck, Wolfram (2019). "Poland". Parties and Elections in Europe. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
  5. https://www.wnp.pl/parlamentarny/spoleczenstwo/pawel-kukiz-polexit-oznacza-wejscie-pod-but-moskwy,39425.html
  6. Sawicka, Joanna; Skibicki, Juliusz; Szacki, Wojciech. "Kto jest kim u Kukiza". polityka.pl. Polityka. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  7. https://www.newsweek.pl/polska/pawel-kukiz-lider-kukiz15-o-nienawisci-do-narodowcow/h82p26s
  8. https://telewizjarepublika.pl/kukiz-mocno-o-narodowcach-quotszczerze-przepraszam-za-wprowadzenie-narodowcow-do-sejmuquot,60255.html
  9. https://www.tvn24.pl/wiadomosci-z-kraju,3/wybory-parlamentarne-2019-wspolny-start-psl-i-kukiz-15,959543.html
  10. Paul Kubicek (2017). European Politics. Taylor & Francis. p. 179. ISBN 978-1-317-20638-5.
  11. Michael Minkenberg (2017). The Radical Right in Eastern Europe: Democracy under Siege?. Palgrave Macmillan US. p. 74. ISBN 978-1-137-56332-3.
  12. Enes Bayraklı; Farid Hafez, eds. (2016). European Islamophobia Report 2015. SETA. p. 430. ISBN 978-605-4023-68-4.
  13. Tom Lansford, ed. (2017). Political Handbook of the World 2016-2017. SAGE Publications. p. 1219. ISBN 978-1-5063-2715-0.
  14. Leruth, Benjamin; Startin, Nicholas; Usherwood, Simon (2017). The Routledge Handbook of Euroscepticism. Routledge. ISBN 9781315463995.
  15. "Ruch Narodowy kończy współpracę z Kukiz'15".
  16. "Kornel Morawiecki odchodzi z Kukiz'15".
  17. "Wyborcza.pl". wyborcza.pl.
  18. Nardelli, Alberto (22 October 2015). "Polish elections 2015: a guide to the parties, polls and electoral system". The Guardian.
  19. Napieralski, Bartosz (2017). Political Catholicism and Euroscepticism: The Deviant Case of Poland in Comparative Perspective. Routledge. p. 115. ISBN 9781315281674.
  20. "The Cult of Kukiz | The Krakow Post". The Krakow Post. 7 September 2015.
  21. "Poland's rock star-politician: What happened to Paweł Kukiz?".
  22. "Kukiz na lewackim kursie".
  23. "Kukiz: narodził się ruch, który przywróci państwo obywatelom". pikio.pl (in Polish). 2015-10-25. Retrieved 2015-10-31.
  24. "official site". Archived from the original on 2016-07-12. Retrieved 2016-07-01.
  25. "winnicki o zmianie konstytucji powrot do klasycznego trojpodzialu wladzy".
  26. Aleks, Szczerbiak (15 May 2015). "What does Paweł Kukiz's election success mean for Polish politics?". London School of Economics. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  27. Wąsik, Zosia (6 May 2015). "Ex-rock star is third most popular candidate for Polish presidency". Financial Times. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  28. Moskwa, Wojciech (16 July 2015). "Rock Star's Campaign Burns Out in Boost to Polish Opposition". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  29. Radikale Nationalisten im polnischen Parlament Der Standard, October 27, 2015 (in German)
  30. "Narodowcy opuszczają klub Kukiza, ale czterech zostaje. "Jedność Ruchu Narodowego jest fikcją"".
  31. "Powstaje Stowarzyszenie "Endecja"".
  32. "Onet.pl". onet.pl.
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