Party X
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Józef Kossecki (1995–1999)
00-029 Warszawa
Party X Partia X | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Stanisław Tymiński (1991–1995) Józef Kossecki (1995–1999) |
| Founded | 10 December 1990 |
| Dissolved | 15 February 1999 |
| Headquarters | ul. Nowy Świat 29 m. 35, 00-029 Warszawa |
| Membership (1991) | 8,000[1] |
| Ideology | Economic patriotism[2] Anti-neoliberalism[3] Protectionism[2] Polish nationalism[4] Populism[5] |
| Political position | Left-wing[6][7] |
| Colors | |
Party X (Polish: Partia X) was a political party in Poland. The party was founded shortly after the 1990 presidential elections by Stanisław Tymiński, a dark horse candidate who received the second highest number of votes in the first round, qualifying for the second round and challenging, albeit unsuccessfully, popular trade union activist Lech Wałęsa.[1] Party X was Tymiński's personal party and sought to emulate his populist rhetoric, presenting itself as an anti-establishment outsider party.[8] The party proposed a new economic system in Poland called 'labour capitalism' based on rejecting the influence and capital of both the United States and Russia in favour of reinforcing the 'economic sovereignty' of Poland and turning Poland into a 'utopia of smallholders' through a modernisation programme.[2] At the same time, it criticised neoliberalism and deregulation.[3]
Shortly after foundation, the party was accused of being staffed by former communist civil servants,[9] which was aggravated by Tymiński's remarks such as his support for the martial law in Poland from 1981 to 1983.[3] The party contested the 1991 parliamentary elections, but 90% of the party's electoral lists were rejected by the Electoral Commission due to procedural irregularities. The party received 0.5% of the popular vote and won three seats in the Sejm. One of the party's deputies left the party while in office.[9] The party then participated in the 1993 parliamentary elections and received 2.7% of the vote, but failed to win any seats due to the newly implemented 5% electoral threshold. After the election, the party declined and became marginalised. After failing to win enough seats to register his candidacy in the 1995 presidential elections, Tymiński stepped down as the party leader. The party was subsequently dissolved in 1999.[8] Tymiński left Poland after the dissolution of the party, but returned twice to unsuccessfully contest the 2005 presidential election and then the 2023 Senate election.[10]
After the Polish Round Table Agreement in 1989, the Polish-Canadian businessman Stanisław Tymiński moved to Poland and tried to enter Polish politics. He entered the 1990 presidential elections, managing to gather enough signatures to register his candidacy. An outsider without any political background, Tymiński won over a large part of the electorate with his effective criticism of the elite and vague promises. Television played the biggest role in gaining widespread popularity, with political scientist Marek Mazur writing "Tymiński, speaking in the convention of a television psychotherapist, probably on purpose, spread an aura of metaphysical mystery."[1]
Using television advertisement and populist rhetoric, Tymiński styled himself as a patriot and a 'billionaire who would sacrifice everything for the good of the Fatherland'. As a dark horse candidate and a Pole who 'made it' abroad, Tymiński appealed to non-voters, young people as well as students, small businessmen and the unemployed. Presenting himself as a 'candidate from nowhere', Tymiński became a protest vote in the election, and managed to qualify for the second round by finishing second in the first round, receiving 23% of the popular vote. However, in the second round, Tymiński lost to Lech Wałęsa in a landslide.[1]
Despite ultimately losing the election, the fact that he managed to reach the second round and emerge as the second strongest candidate in the election buoyed Tymiński's popularity. To bring together his supporters, Tymiński founded and registered Party X in December 1990.[11] Despite attracting significant publicity in its early days, the party's reputation was damaged by numerous splits and several party activists being revealed to be former Security Service agents.[11]
In May 1991, the party held a national convention, where Tymiński was elected as the party's inaugural president. Józef Ciuruś became vice-president, while Władysław Jarzębiowski became the party's spokesman. The party had a total of 8,000 members at the time, and started preparing for the 1991 elections. However, the National Electoral Commission declared 32 of the party's district lists invalid over procedural errors, which meant that the party was unable to contest the election in 90% of districts.[8]
The party was accused of being largely composed of former Polish People's Party communist activists as well as antisemites.[10] Polish magazine Wprost claimed that most members of the party were men aged 50–60 and one-in-three were former communist civil servants.[9] This accusation resurfaced after Tymiński made positive remarks about Polish hardline communist leader Wojciech Jaruzelski, which made his campaign appear influenced by communist rhetoric.[3]
In the 1991 parliamentary elections, the party received 0.5% of the vote, winning three seats in the Sejm. Although its vote share in the Senate election was much higher at 3.6%, it failed to win any seats in the upper house.[12] The three deputies of the party were Waldemar Jędryka, Kazimierz Chełstowski and Antoni Czajka. In 1992, Jędryka defected to the social-democratic Democratic Left Alliance. Chełstowski and Czajka became unaffiliated.[9]
Prior to the 1993 parliamentary elections, Party X presented its programme, the Plan X. In preparation for the election, Tymiński claimed that Party X could count on the support of 75% of voters.[9] Despite increasing its vote share in the 1993 Sejm election to 2.7%, it failed to win any seats, following the introduction of a 5% electoral threshold.
The party failed to collect enough signatures for Tymiński to run in the 1995 presidential elections. In 1995, the former deputy Józef Kossecki became head of Party X and Tymiński became honorary leader. At that time, a group of activists took the initiative to change the party's name to Party X of Polish Patriots (Polish: Partia X Patriotów Polskich), but Tymiński was against it.
Party X did not participate in the 1997 parliamentary elections or any of the subsequent election campaigns. In 1997, the party was struck off the party register because its statute did not meet the requirements of the new Political Parties Act. It did not take into account field branches and did not specify the size of the quorum necessary to pass resolutions at statutory bodies.
However, under the name Party X, the party was registered in the new register and deleted and put into liquidation on 15 February 1999. The Administrative Court upheld this decision on 17 June 1999.
Tymiński returned to Canada after the dissolution of the party. He then came back to Poland to contest the 2005 presidential elections, but received only 0.16% of the popular vote. In the 2023 parliamentary elections, Tymiński was a candidate for the Senate for a minor party, the Slavic Union.[10] He received 18,052 (12.71%) of the vote in his district, failing to win a seat.[13]
