15 October Coalition
The 15 October Coalition has been the ruling government of Poland since 13 December 2023. It is a big tent coalition that includes various political parties. The coalition was formed after the parliamentary election held on 15 October.
The prime minister–designate Donald Tusk coined the term in his speech to the Sejm, announcing the new government's plans after a vote of no confidence for Mateusz Morawiecki.
Prior to assuming power, the parties opposing the ruling Law and Justice-led United Right were referred to as the Democratic Opposition in the lead up to the 2023 elections.
The firmly left wing Left Together party originally planned to enter the coalition, together with the New Left party as part of The Left coalition. However, due to a number of key issues being left out of the coalition agreement, the party has opted to stay out of government but has also voted to support Tusk's government in votes of confidence. Razem would later leave The Left and move into the opposition.
Law and Justice politicians and some right-wing media referred to the coalition as the 13 December Coalition. The name referred to the date of the establishment of the government by President Andrzej Duda on 13 December 2023 and was an allusion to the 42nd anniversary of the introduction of martial law in Poland on 13 December 1981 by General Wojciech Jaruzelski.
Ideology
The coalition has been described as liberal-conservative. Political scientists Krzysztof Jasiewicz and Agnieszka Jasiewicz-Betkiewicz described the coalition as "a truly rainbow coalition, ranging in cultural matters from radical left to moderate conservatives and in socio-economic policies from welfarestate socialists to pro-market neo-liberals". The main parts of the coalition - Civic Coalition, Third Way, and The Left are considered liberal, conservative, and progressive, respectively. The coalition is considered to have pursued a largely conservative agenda. Dan Davison described it as a "a government dominated by the neoliberal center-right", with "a marginal, nominally left-wing voice" represented by the New Left. Writing on the coalition's ideological focus, Verfassungsblog wrote:Political scientist Gavin Rae assessed the coalition as such: