Christian National Union Zjednoczenie Chrześcijańsko-Narodowe | |
|---|---|
| Founder | Wiesław Chrzanowski |
| Founded | 15 September 1989 (1989-09-15) |
| Dissolved | 27 January 2010 (2010-01-27) |
| Headquarters | Warsaw |
| Ideology | Christian democracy Nationalism |
| Political position | Right-wing |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
| Colours | Blue |
TheChristian National Union (Polish:Zjednoczenie Chrześcijańsko-Narodowe,ZChN)[1] was aChristian-democratic[2] andnationalist[3]political party in Poland. Established on 15 September 1989, the party traced its tradition to theSolidarity movement (both the trade union and theSolidarity Citizens' Committee), as well as pre-World War IINational Democracy andPolish Christian Democratic Party. The party adhered to theChristian right, advocatingsocial conservatism. From its foundation until 1994, the party was led byWiesław Chrzanowski, who wasMarshal of the Sejm in 1991–1993.
The ZChN was part of the Alliance for Poland, along with theCentre Agreement, and participated in all the governments from 1989 to 1993. In the1991 parliamentary election the party obtained 8.7% of the votes. In the subsequent1993 parliamentary election the ZChN, running under formed abroader electoral list and won 6.4% of the votes, falling short of the 8% electoral threshold for coalitions.
In 1996, the party was a founding member of the centre-rightSolidarity Electoral Action. The coalition won the1997 parliamentary election with 33.8% of the vote. ZChN was thus returned to theSejm and took part to thegovernment led byJerzy Buzek from 1997 to 2001. In January 2001, when the Solidarity Electoral Action was transformed into a federation, the ZChN was one of its four member parties, along with theSocial Movement, thePolish Christian Democratic Agreement and theConservative People's Party.[4] However, the coalition failed to win any seats in the2001 parliamentary election, when it was reduced to 5.6% of the vote, due to several splits and the emergence of rival parties in the Solidarity tradition, namely theCivic Platform and theLaw and Justice.
The ZChN continued as a mass membership organisation for a while, with 10,000 members in 2004.[1] In 2007, most ZChN politicians joinedLeague of Polish Families, but several of its members had already joined Law and Justice, a Christian-conservative party formed in 2001 byJarosław Kaczyński andLech Kaczyński from the ashes of theCentre Agreement (that was later part of the Polish Christian Democratic Agreement). The ZChN was finally dissolved in 2010. Today both Law and Justice and theNational Movement claim to be successors of the ZChN. The former has most of the support of ZChN's previous members, however the latter has adopted most of its policies and declares itself the modern day version of National Democracy.
| Election year | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 980,304 | 8.74 (#3) | 49 / 460 | – | PC–ZChN–PSL-PL–SLCh(1991–1992) |
| UD–ZChN–PChD–KLD–PSL-PL–SLCh–PPPP(1992–1993) | |||||
| 1993 | 878,445 | 6.37 (#5) | 0 / 460 |  49 | Extra-parliamentary |
| As part of theCatholic Electoral Committee "Fatherland" coalition, which did not win any seats. | |||||
| 1997 | 4,427,373 | 33.83 (#1) | 25 / 460 |  25 | AWS-UW(1997–2000) |
| AWS minority(2000–2001) | |||||
| As part of theSolidarity Electoral Action coalition, which won 201 seats in total. | |||||
| 2001 | 729,207 | 5.60 (#7) | 0 / 460 | 25 | Extra-parliamentary |
| As part of theSolidarity Electoral Action coalition, which did not win any seats. | |||||
| Election year | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 1,995,866 | 8.71 (#5) | 9 / 100 | – | PC–ZChN–PSL-PL–SLCh(1991–1992) |
| UD–ZChN–PChD–KLD–PSL-PL–SLCh–PPPP(1992–1993) | |||||
| 1993 | 486,387 | 1.78 (#11) | 0 / 100 | 9 | Extra-parliamentary |
| 1997 | 6,550,176 | 25.25 (#1) | 3 / 100 | 3 | AWS-UW(1997–2000) |
| AWS minority(2000–2001) | |||||
| As part of theSolidarity Electoral Action coalition, which won 201 seats in total. | |||||
| 2001 | 6,582,224 | 24.34 (#2) | 0 / 100 | 3 | Extra-parliamentary |
| As part of theSenate 2001 coalition, which won 15 seats in total. | |||||
