LiD disintegrates

The Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) party suffered a tough political blow when eight members of an allied party broke ranks and formed their own parliamentary group, SDPL Open Left.

The Social Democracy of Poland (SDPL) politicians had been part of the Left and Democrats (LiD) coalition along with SLD and some other smaller leftist parties.

On April 23, the Speaker of the Sejm, Bronisław Komorowski, officially acknowledged the foundation of SDPL Open Left along with another new parliamentary club, "the Left," which comprises deputies from the SLD and Labor Union (UP) parties, as well as the two SDPL members who decided not to break with SLD.

All this comes just a few weeks after the Democratic Party (PD) was ejected from the LiD coalition. But while most saw that breakup as a result of widely differing policy stances, SDPL was viewed as a natural ideological partner for SLD and a guarantor of relative unity on the left side of the political scene.

"We were the initiators of LiD and that is why we put away our political banner. But when SLD smashed [the coalition] in one fell swoop, it showed that we are not treated as a partner. SLD said that we do not count," SDPL leader Marek Borowski told the Rzeczpospolita daily, referring to the ejection of PD.

The SLD-SDPL split will likely not have any serious repercussions for the two parties in the short-term. However, the breakup means that there is no longer a unified voice coming from the left, and each of the groupings will have to work harder to get their messages across to the electorate.

"Now the whole responsibility for the organizational unity of the left lies with SLD. We call on all people of the left to join in the building the left block," said SLD's spokesperson, Tomasz Kalita.

SLD now faces even more challenges amid a rivalry over the party's leadership.