Polish Initiative

Not to be confused with Initiative RP or Initiative for Poland.
Polish Initiative
Inicjatywa Polska
AbbreviationiPL
LeaderBarbara Nowacka
Founded20 February 2016
Registered2019
Dissolved15 November 2025[1]
Split from
Merged intoCivic Coalition
HeadquartersWarsaw
Membership (2025)~100[2]
Ideology
Political positionCentre to centre-left[A]
National affiliationCivic Coalition
Senate Pact 2023 (for 2023 Senate election)
European Parliament groupEuropean People's Party Group
Colours
  •   Red
  •   White
Website
ipl.org.pl
^ A: It was variously described as right-wing, centre-right, centrist, centre-left, or left-wing.

The Polish Initiative (Polish: Inicjatywa Polska [i.ɲi.t͡sjaˈtɘ.va ˈpɔl.ska], iPL) was a progressive political party in Poland. It was formed as an association in 2016, and was registered as a political party in 2019. Its leader was Barbara Nowacka, and it was part of the Civic Coalition. It supported principles of social liberalism, social democracy and secularism. It was described as right-wing,[3] centre-right,[4] centrist,[5] centre-left[6] or left-wing.[7]

In October 2025 the party merged into the Civic Coalition.[8] It formally dissolved itself on 15 November 2025.[1]

History

The association Polish Initiative was created on February 20, 2016,[9] by Barbara Nowacka, a former member of the Your Movement and the United Left electoral alliance for the 2015 parliamentary election.[10] It was registered as a political party in 2019.[11]

In 2018, the Initiative joined the Civic Coalition for the local elections. Two of its candidates were elected to the Voivodeship sejmiks.

The association joined the European Coalition for the 2019 European Parliament election.[12] However, because of being in the process of the registration as a political party, its members did not compete in the election.[13]

The party joined the Civic Coalition for the 2019 parliamentary election. Two of the party candidates, including its leader Barbara Nowacka and two candidates recommended by the party, were elected to the Sejm. The Coalition won 134 in total, losing to the ruling party Law and Justice.[14]

The Polish Initiative supported the Civic Coalition's candidate Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska in the 2020 presidential election. Later, the Polish Initiative announced that it would as a party not take part in the election on 10 May, due to change of electoral rules because of the COVID-19 pandemic.[15] However, after the election was moved it supported Rafał Trzaskowski, who became the Civic Coalition's candidate after the resignation of Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska. Trzaskowski later lost in the second round to the incumbent Andrzej Duda.[16]

On 15 November 2025, the party's congress voted to dissolve the party, with 91 members voting for and 4 abstaining. It also decided to donate party's assets to a pro-abortion organization Federa. The dissolution of the party was done to fulfill its integration into the Civic Coalition, a merger of Civic Platform, Modern and Polish Initiative which held its unification congress on 24 October. All three parties were members of the alliance of the same name founded for the 2019 election. The fourth member of the alliance, the Greens, opted to remain a separate party. The majority of iPL members declared that they would now join the newly-founded Civic Coalition.[1]

Ideology

The Polish Initiative was a progressive,[17] socially liberal,[18] anti-clerical,[19] pro-European,[19] and social-democratic party.[20] It was variously described as located on the right,[3] centre-right,[4] centrist,[5] centre-left[6] or left-wing of the political spectrum.[7]

The party supported the decentralisation of power and increasing the power of local governments. It also supported European integration. On social issues, it was against any forms of discrimination, with an emphasis on gender discrimination. The party also advocated for the separation of church and state.[21] The party also supported increasing the funding of the Polish healthcare system.[10]

Election results

Presidential

Election year Candidate 1st round 2nd round
# of overall votes % of overall vote # of overall votes % of overall vote
2020 supported Rafał Trzaskowski 5,917,340 30.5 (#2) 10,018,263 48.9 (#2)

Sejm

Election year Leader Votes % Seats +/– Government
2019 Barbara Nowacka 113,278 0.6
6 / 460
 New PiS
As part of Civic Coalition, which won 134 seats in total.
2023 Barbara Nowacka 252,021 1.2
4 / 460
 2
PiS Minority (2023)
KO–PL2050–PSL–NL (2023-present)
As part of Civic Coalition, which won 157 seats in total.

European Parliament

Election Leader Votes % Seats +/– EP Group
2024 Barbara Nowacka 4,359,443 37.06 (#1)
1 / 53
 New EPP
As part of Civic Coalition, which won 21 seats in total.

Regional Assemblies

Election year Percentage of
vote 		Number of
overall seats won 		+/–
2018 27.0 (#2)
2 / 552
As part of Civic Coalition, which won 194 seats in total.

Board

Source:[22]

Leader

Secretary

  • Tomasz Sybilski

Treasurer

  • Katarzyna Osowiecka

Other members

  • Anna Uzdowska-Gacek
  • Barbara Starska
  • Dariusz Joński
  • Szymon Wiłnicki
  • Adam Ostaszewski
  • Mateusz Rambacher
  • Arkadiusz Dzierżyński

References

  1. ^ a b c "Samorozwiązanie Inicjatywy Polskiej. Wiadomo, co z majątkiem". Polskie Radio (in Polish). 15 November 2025.
  2. ^ Ciuksza, Kacper (20 October 2025). "Powstanie nowa partia Tuska. "PO" zniknie po 25 latach?". Lublin24 (in Polish).
  3. ^ a b Damião, Íris; Franco, João; Silva, Mariana; Almeida, Paulo; Magalhães, Pedro C.; Gonçalves-Sá, Joana (2026). "Cross-National Evidence of Disproportionate Media Visibility for the Radical Right in the 2024 European Elections". p. 29. arXiv:2601.05826 [cs.CY]. See infographic: A.3 National Parties and respective classification.
  4. ^ a b
    • Thevenin, Elodie (2025). "From Division towards Convergence? Comparing Crises Discourses on Migration in the Polish Parliament". In Jozef Bátora; John Erik Fossum (eds.). Differentiation and Dominance in Europe’s Poly-Crises. New York: Routledge. p. 261. doi:10.4324/9781003291190. ISBN 978-1-003-29119-0. This is the case of the Civic Coalition, which has members in both the centre-right family (PO, Nowoczesna, and iPL) and in the left (PZ).
    • Lang, Sabine; Meier, Petra; Sauer, Birgit (2022-12-01). Party Politics and the Implementation of Gender Quotas: Resisting Institutions. Springer Nature. p. 281. ISBN 978-3-031-08931-2. The Civic Coalition list included the Civic Platform party (Platforma Obywatelska, PO), Modern party (Nowoczesna), the Greens (Zieloni), and the Polish Initiative Party (Inicjatywa Polska, IPL)—all center-right conservative or centrist-liberal in their leanings.
    • Bátora, Jozef; Fossum, John Erik (2024-05-15). Differentiation and Dominance in Europe's Poly-Crises. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-003-86036-5.
  5. ^ a b
  6. ^ a b
  7. ^ a b
  8. ^ Gądek, Piotr (25 October 2025). "Tusk ogłasza zjednoczenie. Nowa partia i nowe logo". Rmf24.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. ^ "Polish Initiative - new left-wing association | Polska Agencja Prasowa SA". www.pap.pl.
  10. ^ a b Naklicka, Tatiana (2018-10-12). "Inicjatywa Polska". wiadomosci.wp.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2021-12-28.
  11. ^ ""Inicjatywa Polska" - Pozycja 38713 - Numer 143/2019 (5782) z 25 lipca 2019 r. - Internetowy Monitor Sądowy i Gospodarczy". www.imsig.pl. Retrieved 2021-12-28.
  12. ^ "Koalicja Europejska rozszerza się o nowe ugrupowania, m.in. UED, IP i KOD". May 14, 2019.
  13. ^ "Nowackiej zabrakło wśród liderów opozycji. Dlaczego?". fakty.interia.pl.
  14. ^ "Wybory do Sejmu i Senatu Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej 2019 r." sejmsenat2019.pkw.gov.pl.
  15. ^ wybory.gov.pl/prezydent20200628/
  16. ^ "Wybory Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej w 2020 r." wybory.gov.pl.
  17. ^ "Four questions on the Polish parliamentary elections". Centre for European Reform. Retrieved 2021-12-28.
  18. ^ "Die polnische Opposition vor den Parlamentswahlen 2023: Liegt ein Machtwechsel in der Luft?". Konrad Adenauer Foundation (in German). 1 February 2023. Retrieved 2023-03-24.
  19. ^ a b Abela, A., Dudova, R., Gábos, A., Hašková, H., Heggem Kojan, B., Kotzeva, T., Putnina, A., Šadić, S., Sesar, K., Tereškinas, A., Thiene, A., & Tzivian, L (8 October 2021). Child and family support policies across Europe: National reports from 27 countries (PDF). EurofamNet. p. 663. ISBN 978-84-09-37182-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  20. ^ "Invitation: Poland has voted – Europe after the elections". Wielkopolska.eu (in Polish). Retrieved 2021-12-28.
  21. ^ "O nas – Inicjatywa Polska".
  22. ^ "Zarząd partii – Inicjatywa Polska".
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