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Kukiz'15 | |
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.svg) | |
| Abbreviation | K'15 |
| Leader | Paweł Kukiz |
| Founded | May 2015 |
| Headquarters | ul. Słowackiego 17 49-330Łosiów |
| Youth wing | Kukiz'15 Youth Club |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Right-wing |
| National affiliation | Free Republicans (since 2024) United Right (2021–2023) Polish Coalition (2019–2020) |
| European affiliation | EAFD (2020–2023) 5SDD (2019) |
| Colours | Black |
| Sejm | 3 / 460 |
| Senate | 0 / 100 |
| European Parliament | 0 / 53 |
| Regional assemblies | 0 / 552 |
| Website | |
| ruchkukiza.pl | |
Kukiz'15 is aright-wing populistpolitical party inPoland led byPaweł Kukiz.
It was formed in 2015 as a loose movement that registered itself as an association in 2016 and later as a political party in 2020. Initially, it was connected withfar-right parties such as theNational Movement, although it has moderated its political outlook since 2016. During the2018 local elections, it coordinated with thesocially conservativeRight Wing of the Republic; in 2019, it joined thePolish Coalition. Due to itseurosceptic stances, its membership was terminated from the coalition. In May 2021 it announced its support for the rulingUnited Right coalition.
Kukiz'15 was initially connected with theNational Movement party,[1][2] although Kukiz'15 itself was not characterized as far right but rathernational-conservative,[3]conservative-liberal,[4] andanti-establishment.[5][3] After 2016, they ceased operations with far-right organizations and politicians.[6][7][8] Since its inception, it has lacked programmatic coherence and thus has been described as abig tent party.[9][10][11] In its program, they have expressed support fordirect democracy.[12][13] Its leader and the party has expressedeurosceptic stances,[14] and has been described as aright-wing populist,[15][16][17] andconservative party,[18] that sits on thecentre-right[1][2] andright wing on the political spectrum.[19]
The key postulates upon foundation of the party were:
The movement was founded after Kukiz stood in the2015 presidential election, winning 21% of the vote and coming in third during the election's first round. Kukiz's primary issue during the election was the replacement of Poland'sproportional representation electoral system withsingle member constituencies,[24][25] which was the subject ofa referendum in September 2015.
The movement was particularly popular among young people: Kukiz won 42% among voters aged 18 to 29 in the 2015 presidential election.[26]
In the2015 parliamentary election, Kukiz'15 cooperated with the far-rightNational Movement, which gained 5 of Kukiz' 42 parliamentary seats.[1][27]
In April 2016, the National Movement leadership decided to end its collaboration with Kukiz'15 and instructed its MPs to leave the Kukiz'15 parliamentary club, but only one MP followed party instructions.[28] These ones, who stayed in Kukiz'15, together with a few other Kukiz' MPs, formed National Democracy (Endecja).[29]
There was a Sejm scandal in April 2016.Kornel Morawiecki of Kukiz'15 left his Sejm member card in the voting device when he felt sick and went out from the debating hall and then Małgorzata Zwiercan voted for him. After this he left Kukiz'15 and launched a new partyFree and Solidary (Wolni i Solidarni) along with two other Kukiz'15 MPs.
In February 2017, three Kukiz'15 MPs left the group and became a parliamentary representation of the association"Republicans" (Republikanie).
In February 2018, Paweł Kukiz apologised for having introduced the nationalists into the Sejm.[8]
In May 2018, Kukiz'15 has coordinated with thesocial conservativeRight Wing of the Republic inlocal elections.[30]
In August 2019, Kukiz'15 joined thePolish People's Party (PSL) to set up a joint list for the2019 parliamentary election namedPolish Coalition. This alliance helped both parties overcome the 5%-threshold and Kukiz kept 6 MPs in the Sejm. Because of that alliance, theReal Politics Union ended cooperation with Kukiz'15.
However, the ideological differences between the Pro-European PSL and the Eurosceptic Kukiz MPs led to a quick fallout. In November 2020, aPiS motion was put to a vote on the support for the Polish government in the EU budget negotiations (in which Poland and Hungaryused their veto). 5 of the 6 Kukiz MPs voted in support. This led the PSL and Kukiz'15 to part ways.[31]
On 20 June 2021, the reactivation of thecongress of the Republicans, which were instrumental in the creation of Kukiz'15 in 2015, took place.Karol Rabenda announced that some Agreement members will join the Republican association and restructure it into a party, and that the newly formed party will subsequently join thegoverning coalition as a full member. In response, theLaw and Justice chairmanJarosław Kaczyński made a speech praising the new reformed party.[32]
AfterJarosław Gowin's scepticism with the "Polish Deal" proposal (an economic recovery plan for countering theCOVID-19 recession in Poland) and media law changes that would inevitably force the American companyDiscovery, Inc. to sell itsTVN Group, Gowin was publicly removed from his position as deputy prime minister, resulting in realignment of the composition of the coalition.[33] As result,Adam Bielan's"Agreement rebels" new party joined the coalition as replacements, and the remaining Kukiz '15 MP's led by Paweł Kukizdeclared their support for the coalition, exceptStanisław Tyszka.[34]
All deputies were elected onUnited Right list
| Election | Candidate | 1st round | 2nd round | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # of overall votes | % of overall vote | # of overall votes | % of overall vote | ||
| 2020 | SupportedWładysław Kosiniak-Kamysz | 459,365 | 2.36 (#5) | ||
| 2025 | SupportedMarek Jakubiak | 150,698 | 0.77 (#10) | ||
| Election | Leader | # of vote | % of vote | Seats | +/– | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Paweł Kukiz | 1,339,094 | 8.81 (#3) | 42 / 460 | New | Opposition |
| 2019 | 1,578,523 | 8.55 (#4) | 6 / 460 |  36 | Opposition(2019–2021) | |
| Support(2021–2022) | ||||||
| Opposition(2022–2023) | ||||||
| As part ofPolish Coalition, which won 30 seats in total. | ||||||
| 2023 | 7,640,854 | 35.39(#1) | 3 / 460 | 3 | Opposition | |
| As part of theUnited Right coalition, which won 194 seats in total. | ||||||
| Election | # of vote | % of vote | Seats | +/– | EP Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 503,564 | 3.69 (#5) | 0 / 52 | New | - |
| Election | # of vote | % of vote | Seats | +/– |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 868,332 | 5.63 (#5) | 0 / 552 | New |
| International | |
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| National | |
