Spring (political party)
Spring Wiosna | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Robert Biedroń |
| General Secretary | Krzysztof Gawkowski |
| Founder | Robert Biedroń |
| Founded | 3 February 2019 |
| Dissolved | 11 June 2021 |
| Split from | Your Movement Democratic Left Alliance (minor) |
| Merged into | New Left |
| Headquarters | Warsaw |
| Youth wing | Młoda Lewica (Young Left) |
| LGBT wing | Tęczowa Wiosna (Rainbow Spring) |
| Women's wing | Wiosna Kobiet (Women's Spring) |
| Ideology | Social liberalism[3] Libertarianism[4] Green politics Progressivism Pro-Europeanism Anti-clericalism[5] |
| Political position | Centre[6] to centre-left[7] |
| National affiliation | The Left |
| European Parliament group | Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats |
| Colors | Purple Orange |
| Slogan | We are the Spring! |
| Anthem | Piosenka Wiosny (Song of Spring)[8] |
| Website | |
| wiosnabiedronia | |
Spring (Polish: Wiosna) was a social liberal and pro-European political party in Poland led by a former mayor of Słupsk, Robert Biedroń. It merged with Democratic Left Alliance and created New Left.
History
[edit]The party was founded on 3 February 2019 in Hala Torwar and ran in the 2019 European elections,[9] winning three seats.[10]
For the 2019 parliamentary election, the party formed a coalition with the Democratic Left Alliance and Razem, known as The Left, winning 19 seats in the Sejm.
The party was set to merge with the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) into a unitary party called the New Left in 2021. On 11 June 2021, the party's general assembly voted in favour of dissolving the party in order to merge with the SLD.[11] The merger was finished on 9 October 2021 via a unification congress.[12]
Ideology
[edit]Platform
[edit]The core ideology of the party revolved around issues such as women’s rights, equality, creating a better community, bringing the European Union closer to the citizens, civic participation, increasing green politics and animal rights, rights of disabled people, innovative education, better public transport, better healthcare and establishment of the Justice and Reconciliation Commission.[13] It was described as a libertarian party, and postulated abolition of religious education, permissive aborton laws, and green energy policies.[4]
On world view issues, Spring took a liberal stance by proposing to introduce civil partnerships for opposite-sex and same-sex couples as well as the legalisation of same-sex marriage and abortion up to 12 weeks of pregnancy, along with state-funded IVF, total separation of church and state, and abolition of the so-called Church Fund.[14] In a TV interview for TVN24, Biedroń stated that the cost of his party's programme will be 35 billion PLN.[15]
On the environment, the party leader Biedroń proposed fighting smog by closing all mines by 2035, departing from coal and switching to renewable sources of energy. He also postulated protection of animal rights and called for the creation of an office of the Advocate of Natural Rights. The party proposed to introduce obligatory anti-violence education and sex education in all types of schools, as well as doubling the number of hours during which English is taught in schools. Furthermore, the party wanted to remove religious education classes from schools. Spring demanded the deglomeration of civil servant offices from Warsaw to other smaller cities.[15]
Election results
[edit]Presidential
[edit]| Election | Candidate | 1st round | 2nd round | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | ||
| 2020 | Robert Biedroń | 432,129 | 2.2 (#6) | ||
Sejm
[edit]| Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 2,319,946 | 12.6 (#3) | 15 / 460
|
New | Opposition |
| As part of Democratic Left Alliance, which won 49 seats in total. | |||||
European Parliament
[edit]| Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | EP Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 826,975 | 6.1 (#3) | 3 / 52
|
New | S&D |
References
[edit]- ^ Krzyżaniak, Aleksandra (2021). "Dialectic of Fear: Centre-Liberal Media Discourse on Gender, LGBTQIA+ and Abortion in Contemporary Poland". Literatura Ludowa. 66 (4). The Central and Eastern European Online Library: 80.
The SLD, for example, changed its profile around the 2015 elections and became more social democratic than before, forming a coalition with the social democratic party United (Pl. Razem) and the social liberal Robert Biedroń's Spring (Pl. Wiosna Roberta Biedronia).
- ^ Żakowski, Jacek. "Neoliberal 10 percent coalition".
- ^ [1][2]
- ^ a b Nakada-Amiya, Mizuho (2024). "Impact of the "Rule of Law" Issue on Party Politics in East Central Europe" (PDF). International & Regional Studies (64). Meiji Gakuin University: 10.
"Spring" is a libertarian party founded by Robert Biedron in February 2019 that advocates for the abolition of religious education in public education, easing abortion laws, and green energy.
- ^ Klauziński, Sebastian (11 February 2019). "Kaczyński about Robert Biedroń Spring:"Furious anti-clericalism. It hurts here."". OKO.press. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
- ^ Gaweda, Barbara (2023). "The Least That Could Have Been Done? The Ambiguous Effects of Gender Quotas in Polish Parliamentary Elections". In Sabine Lang; Petra Meier; Birgit Sauer (eds.). Party Politics and the Implementation of Gender Quotas: Resisting Institutions. Gender and Politics. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 273. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-08931-2. ISBN 978-3-031-08931-2. ISSN 2662-5822.
The third minor Left coalition member—the centrist Spring party (Wiosna)—had 50% of their lists headed by women.
- ^ Chapman, Annabelle (27 February 2019). "How the Spring party is reviving the Polish left". New Statesman. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
- ^ "Piosenka Wiosny". wiosnabiedronia.pl. 3 September 2021.
- ^ "Wiosna - partia Roberta Biedronia. 'Czas na nowy rozdział - wspólnie zmienimy Polskę!'". Wyborcza.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 3 February 2019.
- ^ "Eurowybory 2019: Kto dostał się do Parlamentu Europejskiego?". www.gazetaprawna.pl (in Polish). 27 May 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
In English: "Eurovillage 2019: Who got into the European Parliament?"
- ^ @KGawkowski (11 June 2021). "Coś się kończy, coś zaczyna!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ ""Łączy nas Polska". Kongres zjednoczeniowy Nowej Lewicy". Nowa Lewica (in Polish). 9 October 2021. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
- ^ "Wiosna".
- ^ "Plan partii Biedronia w punktach".
- ^ a b "Biedroń już wie: "35 mld zł będą kosztowały wszystkie przedstawione przeze mnie propozycje". A podliczył już te w Słupsku?".
External links
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