Congress of the New Right

The Congress of the New Right (Polish: Kongres Nowej Prawicy, Nowa Prawica or just KNP) is an economically libertarian, socially conservative and Eurosceptic political party in Poland.[4] The party was founded on 25 March 2011 by Janusz Korwin-Mikke, from the merger of the Liberty and Lawfulness (WiP) with several members of the Real Politics Union (UPR). The former leader Korwin-Mikke was ousted from the party in 2015.[5] The party assumed the official name Congress of the New Right on 12 May 2011.

Congress of the New Right

Kongres Nowej Prawicy
LeaderStanisław Żółtek
Founded25 March 2011
Merger ofLiberty and Lawfulness
splittings from Real Politics Union
Headquartersul. Szklanych Domów 3/U1,
04-346 Warszawa
IdeologyRight-libertarianism
Monarchism
Economic liberalism
Right-wing populism
Traditionalism
Reactionary
Regionalism
Hard Euroscepticism[1][2]
Political positionRight-wing[3]
National affiliationKukiz'15 (2015)
PolEXIT-Coalition (2019)
European affiliationIdentity and Democracy Party
European Parliament groupNone
Sejm
0 / 460
Senate
0 / 100
European Parliament
0 / 51
Regional assemblies
0 / 555
Party flag
Website
http://knp.org.pl/

History

The political organisation KNP was founded by supporters of Liberty and Lawfulness leader, Janusz Korwin-Mikke, who finished fourth in the 2010 Polish presidential election,[6] receiving 2.5% votes (over 400,000). Taking advantage of his rising popularity, a group of political activists derived from both the former party of Janusz Korwin-Mikke, the Real Politics Union, and the Liberty and Lawfulness (dissolved three days earlier), came together on 9 October 2010 to form a new party: the "Real Politics Union – Liberty and Lawfulness". The new party took part in the 2010 local Polish elections, represented by commissioner Tomasz Sommer . The committee put forward candidates in thirteen voivodeships. The "Congress of the New Right" equaled the results of its leader in two voivodeships, małopolskie (2.69%) and mazowieckie (2.32%). In terms of overall country-wide votes, the party concluded the election at seventh place.[7] The committee had candidates for the position of mayor in some main cities in Poland in the same 2010 elections. Janusz Korwin-Mikke ended fourth in the mayoral election in Warsaw, gaining 3.90% of the eligible votes. Afterwards, the new party, the Congress of the New Right was founded on 25 March 2011, a day after the "Real Politics Union – Liberty and Lawfulness" had ceased to exist.

Activity

The first meeting of the new party was held on 16 April 2011 in the Palace of Culture and Science. Over 2,000 sympathizers attended the meeting, including notable people like Krzysztof Rybiński, Andrzej Sośnierz, Krzysztof Bosak, Romuald Szeremietiew, Stanisław Michalkiewicz or Tomasz Sommer. One month later, "Congress of the New Right" was formally acknowledged on 12 April 2011 as a new name of the party.

The Congress registered an electoral committee under the name "Nowa Prawica - Janusz Korwin Mikke" for the upcoming 2011 parliamentary elections. The National Election Committee ("Państwowa Komisja Wyborcza", PKW) accepted the party in 21 of 41 electoral districts, refusing the Congress to enlist for the rest on the grounds of not delivering a 'list of supporters' on time. The decision was generally received as controversial. The PKW rejected to submit motives of the refusal despite being constitutionally obliged to do so. This move effectively denied the Congress of the New Right access to the Polish Parliament as it effectively had to receive twice the votes of the constitutional threshold of five percent in order to be elected to the Polish Parliament. The party could not put forward candidates in most of the largest cities in Poland, including Warsaw, where Janusz Korwin-Mikke was denied enlistment. Representatives of other parties (UPR, LPR and others) were put on the lists of the Congress of the New Right. In the elections to the Polish Senate the party was allowed to put forward candidates on 10 out of 100 electoral districts (the number of electoral districts differ for the Polish Parliament and the Polish Senate). The elections were disastrous for the party as it received merely 1.06% votes (151 837), a result that placed it at seventh place. Therefore, none of the party's candidates were voted into the Senate.

On 9 January 2013 The KNP Youth Section was officially founded. Access is granted to both young adults as well as those who have not reached the age of majority (18).

In the 2015 party's leader Janusz Korwin-Mikke, along with party's MP Przemysław Wipler and MEP Robert Iwaszkiewicz split into Liberty, whose leader became Janusz Korwin-Mikke.

In the parliamentary election in 2015 KNP stood for the Sejm from the lists of Kukiz'15, gaining 1 MP.

Aims

KNP is against interfering with the current election system. It calls for enacting a new libertarian-minded constitution, reduction of the size of the Polish Parliament and forming a State Council, which would replace the Parliament as the legislative branch. KNP is also in favor of more regional autonomy.[8]

The party's main priorities are lowering taxes (including the abolition of income tax) and reducing the national debt, by cutting down social programs and allowing the economy to flourish.[9]

KNP is in favor of decriminalisation, of using and producing all drugs.[10]

KNP is in favor of establishing a presidential system instead of the current parliamentary one.

KNP opposes same-sex marriage.[10]

The party also advocates restoration of capital punishment.

The party advocates for Polish withdrawal from the European Union.

Election results

Sejm
Election year # of
votes		 % of
vote		 # of
overall seats won		 +/–
2011 151,837 1.1
0 / 460
2015 4,852 0.03
1 / 460
[11]

Senate
Election year # of
overall seats won		 +/–
2011
0 / 100
2015
0 / 100

Presidential
Election year Candidate 1st round 2nd round
# of overall votes % of overall vote # of overall votes % of overall vote
2015 Jacek Wilk 68,186 0.5 (#10)
2020 Stanisław Żółtek 45,419 0.23 (#7)

Regional assemblies
Election year % of
vote		 # of
overall seats won		 +/–
2014 3.89
0 / 555

European Parliament
Election year # of
votes		 % of
vote		 # of
overall seats won		 +/–
2014 505,586 7.15
4 / 51
2019 7,900 0,06
0 / 51
 4

Footnotes
  1. Factions: Monarquism "Leader of Poland's Euro-sceptic party believes: "Women should not have right to vote."" Check |url= value (help). 7 April 2014. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
  2. Stefanel, Adriana (2016). Political Communication and European Parliamentary Elections in Times of Crisis. Springer. p. 21.
  3. "EU Elections: Meet the New Right-Wing Powers in Brussels".
  4. Aleks Szczerbiak (23 May 2014). "EU election: Polish campaign dominated by Ukraine crisis". Retrieved 27 May 2014.
  5. "Korwin-Mikke ousted as leader of New Right".
  6. "Wybory 2010". prezydent2010.pkw.gov.pl. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  7. http://wybory2010.pkw.gov.pl/templates/kbw/doc/kom-sejmik.xls
  8. "Kongres Nowej Prawicy". Portal Wyborczy w Polsce. 2011. Archived from the original on 8 July 2012.
  9. "Program partii Korwin-Mikkego: niższe podatki i legalna marihuana - Polska - Newsweek.pl". web.archive.org. 9 November 2017. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  10. "Program Wyborczy KNP". On its own website. 2011-07-08. Archived from the original on 2014-05-30.
  11. From the Kukiz'15 list.

Further reading
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