Party X

Party X (Polish: Partia X) was a political party in Poland. The party was founded shortly after the 1990 presidential elections by Stanisław Tymiński, a dark horse candidate who received the second highest number of votes in the first round, qualifying for the second round and challenging, albeit unsuccessfully, popular trade union activist Lech Wałęsa. Party X was Tymiński's personal party and sought to emulate his populist rhetoric, presenting itself as an anti-establishment outsider party. The party proposed a new economic system in Poland called 'labour capitalism' based on rejecting the influence and capital of both the United States and Russia in favour of reinforcing the 'economic sovereignty' of Poland and turning Poland into a 'utopia of smallholders' through a modernisation programme. At the same time, it criticised neoliberalism and deregulation. The party membership mainly consisted of figures associated with the fallen Polish communist regime, and Tymiński made pro-communist remarks such as his support for the martial law in Poland from 1981 to 1983. The party contested the 1991 parliamentary elections, but 90% of the party's electoral lists were rejected by the Electoral Commission due to procedural irregularities. It received 0.5% of the popular vote and won three seats in the Sejm. One of the party's deputies left the party while in office. The party then participated in the 1993 parliamentary elections and received 2.7% of the vote, but failed to win any seats due to the newly implemented 5% electoral threshold. After the election, the party declined and became marginalised. After failing to win enough seats to register his candidacy in the 1995 presidential elections, Tymiński stepped down as the party leader. The party was subsequently dissolved in 1999. Tymiński left Poland after the party's dissolution, but returned twice to unsuccessfully contest the 2005 presidential election and then the...