Catholic Electoral Committee "Fatherland"
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Catholic Electoral Committee "Fatherland" | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Founded | 13 July 1993 |
| Dissolved | 1995 |
| Ideology | Christian democracy Conservatism Anti-communism Agrarianism Factions: Political Catholicism Economic nationalism[1] |
| Political position | Centre-right[2][3] |
| Members | |
| Colors | |
The Catholic Electoral Committee "Fatherland" (Polish: Katolicki Komitet Wyborczy "Ojczyzna", KKW or Ojczyzna) was a conservative and Christian democratic electoral alliance in Poland. It consisted of five parties - the Christian National Union (ZChN), Conservative Party (PK), Christian-Peasant Party (SLCh), Party of Christian Democrats (PChD) and the Federation of Polish Entrepreneurship (FPP).[4]
The coalition was based on the Catholic Electoral Action that participated in the 1991 Polish parliamentary election. In contrast to the 1991 coalition, the Catholic Electoral Committee "Fatherland" downplayed national-Catholicism in favor of more moderate image, and tried to attract centre-right voters. It failed to gain support of the Catholic clergy and tried to develop support bases in parish councils instead.[4] It ultimately failed to cross the 8% electoral threshold for coalitions and gained no seats. It greatly contributed to the fragmentation of centre-right parties in the 1993 election.[5]
Catholic Electoral Committee "Fatherland" was founded on the 13th of July 1993 in Gdańsk, brokered by the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Gdańsk,[6] Tadeusz Gocłowski, with the intentions of garnering the votes of the Roman Catholic faithful. The electoral coalition initially sought to expand by the Polish People's Party – Peasants' Agreement (PSL-PL), however, the Peasant's Agreement rejected joining the coalition due to their resentment of PK leader Aleksander Hall and SLCh leader Artur Balazs. The possibility of the Centre Agreement and Movement for the Republic joining the coalition were also proposed, but quickly dismissed.
The politicians of "Ojczyzna", including the SLCh, counted on the discreet support of the Catholic Church during the election campaign. However, contrary to Ojczyzna's expectations, the Roman Catholic clergy largely refused to endorse any political party in 1993 (though some explicitly condemned the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) - a notably anticlerical party), largely to the coalition's disadvantage, since, during the campaign, they were hoping to present themselves as defenders of the Catholic Church and protectors of the interests of Catholics.[4]
The Catholic Church had no intention of getting involved in the election campaign. The Polish bishops drafted a pastoral letter that encouraged participation in the elections and stated in it that "bishops and priests do not engage in public party-political discussions, do not stand for parliament and do not participate in the election campaign, but they point out the moral principles and criteria that, in accordance with the teachings of the Church, Catholics should follow when choosing their representatives."[4]
In view of this, the coalition tried to attract Catholic voters without the overt support of the Church by defending the presence of religion in schools, the Concordat with the Holy See adopted at the end of July, and acting in the constitutional debate to guarantee mutual independence. Krzysztof Oksiuta, the head of the electoral staff of "Ojczyzna" and at the same time a politician of the SLCh, also claimed that the coalition received offers of cooperation from lay Catholics during the election campaign: "Parish councils and other Church-related circles themselves are trying to reach us. They are looking for contacts, they come for leaflets. Priests ask us to come to a meeting, and in such cases candidates cooperate with priests".[4]
In the 1993 Polish parliamentary election, the only election the coalition contested, they secured 6.37% of all valid votes. Unlike many other contemporary and future coalitions seeking to bypass the electoral threshold by registering as a party (and thus only needing to acquire 5% of the vote to enter the Sejm), KKW registered as a coalition, and thereby failed to pass the 8% electoral threshold for electoral coalitions, gaining no seats. Their failure to pass the threshold contributed to the SLD's landslide victory in the election.
The coalition received abysmal support in urban areas, and had some support in the countryside instead. It contributed to the fragmentation of the centre-right in the 1993 election and was found to have cost fellow centre-right parties support and seats, which led to accusations of the Catholic Electoral Committee "Fatherland" being a spoiler party.[5]
The coalition survived until the 1994 Polish local elections, where the member parties run again under a joint electoral list named "Fatherland". They received 3% of all contested seats.[7]
