As Lewica is formed as a unification of the Polish left, it has attempted to diversify its platform and appeal to a broader range of voters, rather than relying mostly on the votes of former officials and civil servants during the PPR period, which had been and continues to be one of the Democratic Left Alliance's largest voting blocs. This attempt, however, was met with somewhat limited success by the fact that the coalition's pro-LGBT rights platform failed to appeal to working class and economically left-leaning Poles, which tend to favour a more socially conservative policy (especially as both economically interventionist and social conservative positions were already being provided by the right-wingPiS party). At the same time, the more liberally-oriented city-dwelling population, which could favour the party's proposed socially progressive policies, found little appeal in the party's platform of economic interventionism.[9][19][20]
Despite this, some sociologists theorized that the unification of the parties could lead to an overall mobilization of leftist voters,[21] which could now feel that their vote for the coalition wouldn't be wasted.[9] This was confirmed to be the case when Lewica succeeded in electing 49 members to the Sejm and 2 members to the Senate of Poland in the 2019 Polish parliamentary election, thus making the coalition Poland's third largest political force and overturning a four-year absence of left-wing representatives in Poland's parliament.[22][23]
In addition, the party's platform, which differs greatly from the platforms of the other major Polish political parties, has managed to find some support among disillusioned younger and secular voters, which don't identify with any political force or even with the left, but instead desire "something new".[20][24]
At the same time, the party also received a considerable boost in support among older voters after the ruling PiS party passed a "degradation law", which cut retirement pensions and disability benefits for thousands of former bureaucrats during the PPR period, whose main income was now directly threatened by the new government policy. This led to an expansion and consolidation of the otherwise shrinking of the Democratic Left Alliance's previously described voting bloc.[24]
Ideology
The 2019 electoral program of the Left included:[25][26]
Parliamentary group under the name Coalition Parliamentary Club of the Left (Polish: Koalicyjny Klub Parlamentarny Lewicy) is chaired by Anna Maria Żukowska.[27] It currently has 21 members in the Sejm,[27] and 8 senators.[28]
^ abcKonstanty Adam Wojtaszczyk; Tadeusz Wallas; Paweł Stawarz (2023). The Future of the European Union. Logos Verlag Berlin. p. 88. ISBN9783832557188. The left wing split is split in Poland in 2023 and includes: the New Left, the Left, Together and the Polish Socialist Party. [...] The Left is social-democratic, social-liberal, anti-clerical and pro-environmental party.
^Konstanty Adam Wojtaszczyk; Tadeusz Wallas; Paweł Stawarz (2023). The Future of the European Union. Logos Verlag Berlin. p. 88. ISBN9783832557188. The Left advocates deeper European integration and Poland's participation in the construction of a new, strong, smart, and healthy Europe. The party reminds us that it was the left that brought Poland into the European Union and that it also faces the task of pulling Poland from the margins of EU politics to its centre.
^Konstanty Adam Wojtaszczyk; Tadeusz Wallas; Paweł Stawarz (2023). The Future of the European Union. Logos Verlag Berlin. p. 88. ISBN9783832557188. The Left is a centre-left party.
^Rogojsz, Łukasz (23 April 2004). "Lewica broni się w miastach i liczy, że odroczy aneksję przez Tuska i KO". Interia Wydarzenia. Retrieved 23 June 2024. Częstochowa, Włocławek, Ostrów Wielkopolski, Świdnica, Będzin - to lista miast prezydenckich, w których kandydaci i kandydatki Lewicy wygrali w drugiej turze wyborów samorządowych. Sukcesy odnieśli też politycy wspierani przez Lewicę - wygrali w Krakowie (Aleksander Miszalski), Wrocławiu (Jacek Sutryk) i Rzeszowie (Konrad Fijołek).
