Self-Defense of the Polish Republic (Polish: Samoobrona Rzeczypospolitiej Polskiej, SRP) is a political party and trade union in Poland.

The party is led by Andrzej Lepper. After the 2001 elections, it has 53 out of 460 members of the Polish Sejm, and 2 members of the 100 in the Polish Senate; on a 10.2% share of the vote.

Samoobrona came in fourth in the 2004 European Parliament election, having received 10% of the votes; this gave it 6 of the 54 seats reserved for Poland in the European Parliament.

Political program

The party's views are nationalist, populist and isolationist. The party wants state-funded agriculture, an increase in government social programs, an end to repayments of the foreign debt and the use of financial reserves to obtain funding. The party is hostile towards foreign investments.

Poland's June 2003 referendum on membership of the European Union was an uncomfortable experience for Samoobrona. On the one hand, the party's traditional isolationism and euroscepticism led it to call officially for a "no" vote. On the other hand, most political observers believed (correctly) that the Polish people would vote in favour of membership, and as a populist party Samoobrona was unhappy about the likelihood of being on the losing side. In the end, the party fought a rather ambiguous campaign, with its posters carrying the slogan "the decision belongs to you".

History

The party first started in parliamentary elections in 1993, gaining 2.78% votes and failing to enter the Sejm. In 1995 Andrzej Lepper ran for president and gained 1.32% of the votes; in parliamentary elections in 1997, the party took 0.08%. In the year 2000 Samoobrona organized a campaign of blocking major roads in order to get media attention. Lepper gained 3.05% votes in the presidential elections.

The parliamentary elections in 2001 gave the party 53 chairs in the Sejm, with 10.5% support making it the third largest political force. Although officially a member of the opposition, Samoobrona backed the ruling post-communist Alliance of Democratic Left (Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej) in a number of key votes, giving them the majority needed to stay in power. The party has also marked its presence in the Sejm by unconventional disruptive behavior. Among their numerous exploits there are such diverse incidents as using their own loudspeakers or claiming the largest opposition party Citizens' Platform met with members of the Taliban in Klewki (a small village near Olsztyn) to sell them anthrax.

Several Samoobrona members of parliament are subject to criminal investigations on charges ranging from forgery to banditism.

Leaders

• Andrzej Lepper party chairman

Members of Polish Parliament (Sejm)

MP, constituency

• Mieczysław Aszkiełowicz , Olsztyn
• Renata Beger , Piła
• Waldemar Borczyk , Sieradz
• Alfred Budner , Konin
• Józef Cepil , Kielce
• Marian Curyło , Tarnów
• Włodzimierz Czechowski , Katowice
• Zbigniew Dziewulski , Siedlce
• Krzysztof Filipek , Siedlce
• Andrzej Grzesik , Częstochowa
• Danuta Hojarska , Gdańsk
• Piotr Kozłowski , Wrocław
• Lech Kuropatwiński , Toruń
• Marian Kwiatkowski , Chełm
• Andrzej Lepper, Koszalin
• Alicja Lis , Krosno
• Jan Łączny , Koszalin
• Wanda Łyżwińska , Radom
• Stanisław Łyżwiński , Piotrków Trybunalski
• Adam Ołdakowski , Elbląg
• Henryk Ostrowski , Zielona Góra
• Renata Rochnowska , Sieradz
• Leszek Sułek , Toruń
• Tadeusz Szukała , Nowy Sącz
• Tadeusz Urban , Rzeszów
• Marian Widz , Lublin
• Maria Wiśniowiecka , Rybnik
• Genowefa Wiśniowska , Białystok
• Tadeusz Wojtkowiak , Kalisz
• Kazimierz Wójcik , Kraków
• Maria Zbyrowska , Rzeszów

Former Samoobrona MPs

• Józef Stasiewski , Rybnik - died 2 August 2003
• Józef Żywiec , Lublin - died 19 July 2003
• Michał Figlus , Sosnowiec, now FKP
• Franciszek Franczak , Wałbrzych, now FKP
• Stanisław Głębocki , Lublin, now FKP
• Józef Głowa , Krosno, now FKP
• Jerzy Pękała , Płock, now FKP
• Krzysztof Rutkowski , Łódź, now FKP
• Józef Skutecki , Kalisz, now FKP
• Zbigniew Witaszek , Warszawa, now FKP
• Lech Zielonka , Gdynia, now FKP
• Wacław Klukowski , Szczecin, now PBL
• Wojciech Mojzesowicz , Bydgoszcz, now PBL
• Piotr Smolana , Bielsko-Biała, now PBL

Members of Polish Senate

• Henryk Dzido
• Sławomir Izdebski

Members of European Parliament

• Marek Czarnecki , lawyer, journalist and politician
• Ryszard Czarnecki , historian, journalist and politician
• Bogdan Golik, animal doctor and business advisor
• Wiesław Kuc, economist and agriculture expert
• Jan Masiel , psychiatrist and business advisor
• Leopold Rutowicz , economist and businessman

See also:

• Politics of Poland,
• List of political parties in Poland