Free Republicans Wolni Republikanie | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Paweł Kukiz[1] Marek Jakubiak[2] |
| Founded | 16 October 2024[3] |
| Preceded by | Kukiz'15[2] |
| Ideology | Conservatism[4] Right-wing populism[5] Polish nationalism[6] Agrarianism[7] |
| Political position | Centre-right[8] toright-wing[9] |
| National affiliation | Freedom and Prosperity Federation for the Republic |
| Colors |
|
| Sejm | 4 / 460 |
| Senate | 0 / 100 |
| European Parliament | 0 / 53 |
| Regional assemblies | 0 / 552 |
| Website | |
| marekjakubiak2025.pl | |
Free Republicans (Polish:Wolni Republikanie;WR,Republikanie) is aright-wing political party[9] and aparliamentary group in theSejm of Poland, founded on 18 October 2024 byKukiz’15 members.
In theKukiz'15 circle, which became the Free Republicans, satKukiz'15 deputies:Paweł Kukiz (leader), and alsoMarek Jakubiak andJarosław Sachajko; since 24 July 2024Jan Krzysztof Ardanowski, who leftLaw and Justice to foundFreedom and Prosperity on 19 September 2024,[10] was also a party member. The party name alludes to theUnited StatesRepublican Party.[11]
On 25 September 2024, a press conference was held in the Sejm, where Witold Gadowski andWojciech Sumliński fromThere is One Poland,Marcin Dybowski [Wikidata] fromFreedom and Prosperity, and representatives fromRural Solidarity, "Samoobrona" agricultural trade union and the All-Polish Grassroots Farmers' Protest appeared alongside Kukiz'15 members.[12][13]
On 16 October 2024 theKukiz'15 circle transformed into the Free Republicans circle,[14] and its leader became Marek Jakubiak.[15] Twelve days later it announced it will contest the2025 Polish presidential election with Marek Jakubiak as its candidate.[16] In the election, Jakubiak sought to promote the party and appeal to conservative and Polish diaspora circles.[4] There were minor conflicts inside the party in the presidential campaign, as Jakubiak had a friendly attitude towards the main Polish right-wing partyLaw and Justice, while Kukiz, the co-leader of Free Republicans, distanced himself from both Law and Justice and Jakubiak's overtures to them.[17] In the first round, Jakubiak finished 10th, winning 0.77% of the popular vote.[18]
After the first round, all MPs of the party endorsedKarol Nawrocki, an independent candidate supported byLaw and Justice.[19] Kukiz said that supporting Nawrocki is necessary to prevent theTusk government from abusing the law to suppress its political opponents, and called on both right-wing and left-wing movements to support Nawrocki.[20] Similarly, Jakubiak argued that it is necessary to support Nawrocki to prevent Poland from becoming a "banana republic" of the European Union.[21]
Free Republicans are consideredright-of-centre,[8] right-wing,[9] and conservative.[4] Kukiz described Free Republicans as a party with a goal "to unite all those people who have a patriotic worldview and who either did not vote or, for various reasons, did not vote for PiS in the previous elections" and "to create a force that will remove cosmopolitans and bad people from power."[5] On behalf of the party, Sachajko stated that Free Republicans prioritize Polish families, support motherhood, and oppose immigration.[22] The party describes itself as conservative, patriotic, pro-independence, connected with the Christian tradition and concerned with Polish agriculture.[7]
According to Jakubiak, Free Republicans have the same proposals and program thatKukiz'15 had been pursuing before. The party's programmatic demands listed by Jakubiak include the establishment of an Institution of Judicial Justice, introduction of general election for Attorney General, and the establishment of a mechanism that will allow for a recall of the Polish president.[3] The party also wants to introduce direct-vote referendums and to change the electoral law of Poland.[23] Kukiz spoke of the ideologically diverse character of the party, as each of its MP has "a different approach to politics and different goals in the Sejm". Jakubiak represents the interests of the Polish diaspora and right-wing circles, while Jan Ardanowski represents those who "voted for the right wing but did not vote in these elections because they were disappointed with the agricultural policy pursued by PiS."[23]
For the 2025 Polish presidential election, the party presented a program based on simplifying the tax system and cutting financial obligations on businesses, speeding up court proceedings and increasing the transparency of the courts, transferring more powers to local governments, trengthening the armed forces and modernising the Polish army, introducing tax breaks and subsidies for farmers, the creation of local cooperatives and economic initiatives in rural areas, as well as greater welfare support for families and pro-family policies that would increasenatural population growth.[6]
Free Republicans postulate a return to activeconscription that would also apply to women, with 3–6 months of military training. It also supports selectivenationalization of Polish industry,lump-sum tax on businesses and replacing thepersonal income tax withturnover tax. The party argues that a relationship between two people should have a utilitarian significance for the state, and thus supports marriage as a heterosexual family with children, and opposes civil partnerships. It is also in favor of a "bull tax" (Polish:bykowe), a tax on childless people.[24] The party also proposes an advanced agricultural program - it opposes theEU–Mercosur Association Agreement, calls for agriculturalprotectionism and subsidies, and proposes establishing a system through which state-owned companies would purchase and process Polish agricultural products in order to allow the state to control the prices. It argues that Poland should establishfood sovereignty instead of relying on food imports. The party criticizes the agricultural policy of Law and Justice for focusing on subsidies instead of state intervention.[7]
All deputies were elected from theLaw and Justice electoral lists.
| Election year | Candidate | 1st round | Candidate | 2nd round | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # of overall votes | % of overall vote | # of overall votes | % of overall vote | |||
| 2025 | Marek Jakubiak | 150,698 | 0.77 (#10) | SupportedKarol Nawrocki | 10,606,628 | 50.89 (#1) |
In 2024, the Kukiz'15 parliamentary club rebranded as Wolni Republikanie which currently consists of four Sejm members with various right-of-centre party affiliations.
Other candidates so far include the co-leader of the far-right Confederation (PfE/ESN), Sławomir Mentzen, and Marek Jakubiak of the small right-wing party, the Free Republicans.
Jeśli Karol Nawrocki wejdzie do drugiej tury albo jak to będzie Sławomir Mentzen, to go poprę, nie będę miał też problemu z Grzegorzem Braunem. Każdy prawicowy kandydat będzie lepszy niż Rafał Trzaskowski – wskazał Marek Jakubiak, poseł Wolnych Republikanów oraz kandydat na prezydenta RP w "Popołudniowym Gościu Radia ZET".[If Karol Nawrocki makes it to the second round, or if it's Sławomir Mentzen, I will support him, and I will have no problem with Grzegorz Braun either. Any right-wing candidate will be better than Rafał Trzaskowski, said Marek Jakubiak, MP for the Free Republicans and candidate for President of Poland, on Radio ZET's Popołudniowy Gość programme.]
Według badania late poll Marek Jakubiak zdobył 0,8 proc. głosów podczas I tury wyborów prezydenckich. Polityk zadeklarował, że poprze w II turze Karola Nawrockiego. Zaapelował także do pozostałych kandydatów prawicowych, aby postąpili tak samo.[According to a late poll, Marek Jakubiak won 0.8% of the vote in the first round of the presidential election. The politician declared that he would support Karol Nawrocki in the second round. He also appealed to other right-wing candidates to do the same.]
Kukiz przyznał że w pierwszej turze wyborów prezydenckich głosował na Sławomira Mentzena. – Ja będę próbował przekonać elektorat Konfederacji i Grzegorza Brauna do głosowania na Nawrockiego, jako zabezpieczenie przed jednowładztwem Tuska – mówił w rozmowie z dziennikarką wprost.pl.[Kukiz admitted that he voted for Sławomir Mentzen in the first round of the presidential election. ‘I will try to convince the Confederation and Grzegorz Braun's electorate to vote for Nawrocki as a safeguard against Tusk's autocracy,’ he said in an interview with a journalist from wprost.pl.]
