Civic Platform in the context of "2015 Polish presidential election"

Law and Justice (Polish: Prawo i Sprawiedliwość [ˈpravɔ i ˌspravjɛˈdlivɔɕt͡ɕ] , PiS) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Poland. The party is a member of European Conservatives and Reformists Group. Its chairman has been Jarosław Kaczyński since 18 January 2003.

It was founded in 2001 by Jarosław and Lech Kaczyński as a direct successor of the Centre Agreement after it split from the Solidarity Electoral Action (AWS). Despite a poor showing in the 2001 parliamentary election, where it came 4th, it would later win the 2005 presidential and parliamentary elections. Following this victory, PiS formed the Marcinkiewicz and Kaczyński governments. For a brief period, the governments included coalition ministers from the League of Polish Families and Self-Defence before collapsing in 2007. In the 2007 snap election, the rival Civic Platform (PO) emerged victorious and formed a coalition with the Polish People's Party. The coalition served two terms, retaining a majority in the 2011 parliamentary election. Law and Justice also lost the presidency following the death of president Lech Kaczński and many government officials in the Smolensk air disaster — acting president Bronisław Komorowski of PO would be officially elected to the presidency in 2010, winning against Jarosław Kaczyński in the second round. Law and Justice concluded its period in the opposition in 2015, where it won an upset victory in the 2015 presidential election and an outright majority of seats in the 2015 parliamentary election, retaining its majority in 2019 and the presidency in 2020. It governed the country for 8 years, forming the Szydło and Morawiecki cabinets, until losing its parliamentary majority in 2023 and returning to an opposition despite winning the largest amount of seats. The party's candidate, Karol Nawrocki, scored another upset victory in the 2025 presidential election.

The prime minister of Poland (Polish: premier [ˈprɛmjɛr] ), officially the president of the Council of Ministers (Polish: Prezes Rady Ministrów [ˈprɛzɛs ˈradɨ miˈɲistruf]), is the head of the cabinet and the head of government of Poland. The responsibilities and traditions of the office stem from the creation of the contemporary Polish state, and the office is defined in the Constitution of Poland. According to the Constitution, the president nominates and appoints the prime minister, who will then propose the composition of the Cabinet. Fourteen days following their appointment, the prime minister must submit a programme outlining the government's agenda to the Sejm, requiring a vote of confidence. Conflicts stemming from both interest and powers have arisen between the offices of President and Prime Minister in the past.

The incumbent and eighteenth prime minister is Donald Tusk of the Civic Platform party who replaced Mateusz Morawiecki following the 2023 Polish parliamentary election, after Morawiecki's third government failed to receive a vote of confidence on 11 December 2023, which Tusk's third government subsequently received on the same day and was sworn in two days later. Tusk was also the fourteenth prime minister, between 2007 and 2014.

Ewa Bożena Kopacz (IPA: [ˈɛva ˈkɔpat͡ʂ] ; née Lis; born 3 December 1956) is a Polish politician who has served as a Vice-President of the European Parliament since 2019. She previously was Marshal of the Sejm from 2011 to 2014, the first woman to hold the office, as well as Prime Minister of Poland from 2014 to 2015. In addition, Kopacz was Minister of Health from 2007 until 2011. Since 2001, she has been a member of Civic Platform, which she chaired from 2014 to 2016. Kopacz succeeded Donald Tusk as prime minister, becoming the second woman to hold the office after Hanna Suchocka (1992–1993). Her term as prime minister ended on 16 November 2015, when she was succeeded by Beata Szydło.

Prior to entering politics, Kopacz was a pediatrician and general practitioner. She was described as one of the leaders of the European Union during her tenure as prime minister. She was ranked as the world's 40th most powerful woman by Forbes magazine in 2015, placing her ahead of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and American television personality Ellen DeGeneres.

Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 25 October 2015. All 460 members of the Sejm and 100 senators of the Senate were elected. The election was won by the largest opposition party, the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS), with 38% of the vote against the governing Civic Platform (PO), which achieved 24%. Official results, announced on 27 October, gave Law and Justice 235 of the 460 seats, a majority of four. PiS vice chairwoman Beata Szydło succeeded PO leader Ewa Kopacz as Prime Minister of Poland, heading a one-party cabinet.

It was the first election for a national parliament in Europe since the 1993 Norwegian elections in which the two largest parties were led by a female candidate, and the second election in history (also since the 1993 Norwegian election) where more than three parties fielded female leadership candidates. It was also the first election in Poland since the restoration of full democracy that a party won an absolute majority in the Sejm.

The Alliance of Democrats (Polish: Stronnictwo Demokratyczne, SD), also known as the Democratic Party, is a Polish centre-left party. Initially formed in 1937, the party underwent a revival in 2009, when it was joined by liberal politician Paweł Piskorski, formerly a member of the Civic Platform.

Małgorzata Maria Kidawa-Błońska (née Grabska; Polish: [mawɡɔˈʐata kiˈdava ˈbwɔɲska]; born 5 May 1957) is a Polish politician, film producer, and sociologist currently serving as Marshal of the Senate. She was Marshal of the Sejm from 25 June 2015 to 11 November 2015 at the end of the Seventh term's composition of the lower house, after which being voted a Deputy Marshal of the Eighth and Ninth term, each time nominated by the opposition party Civic Platform, under the marshalcy of Marek Kuchciński and Elżbieta Witek, respectively. She is first to serve as the chairperson of both houses of the Polish Parliament.

Kidawa-Błońska served ministerial functions, such as Secretary of State in the Second Cabinet of Donald Tusk (2012–2014) and the Cabinet of Ewa Kopacz (2014–2015) and Press Spokeswoman for both cabinets in 2014 and 2015. She was the Civic Platform nominee for Prime Minister in the 2019 Polish parliamentary election, losing to Law and Justice incumbent Mateusz Morawiecki. In 2019, she was elected the Civic Platform's candidate for Presidency of Poland to stand in the 2020 Polish presidential election. Kidawa-Błońska resigned from her candidacy on 15 May 2020.

Bronisław Maria Komorowski (born 4 June 1952) is a Polish politician and historian who served as the 5th president of Poland from 2010 to 2015. Komorowski previously served as Marshal of the Sejm from 2007 to 2010 and in this position Komorowski exercised the powers and duties of acting president following the death of President Lech Kaczyński in a plane crash on 10 April 2010. Earlier, from 2000 to 2001, he served as Minister of National Defence.

Komorowski was then the governing Civic Platform party's candidate in the resulting presidential election, which he won in the second round of voting on 4 July 2010. He was sworn in as president on 6 August 2010. Komorowski thus became the second person to serve on two occasions as Polish head of state since 1918, after Maciej Rataj. On 24 May 2015, Komorowski was defeated in the second round by Andrzej Duda in the 2015 presidential election. As a result, Komorowski was succeeded by Duda on 6 August 2015.