Editing Law and Justice

{{Construction}}{{Evil Organization|name=Law and Justice|Image=Logo of the Law and Justice.svg|type of villain=Corrupt Political Party|fullname=Prawo i Sprawiedliwość|alias=PiS|origin=Warsaw, Poland|foundation=13 June 2001|commanders={{w|Lech Kaczyński}} (2001-2003)<br/>[[Jarosław Kaczyński]] (2003-present)|goals=Keep control of Poland (ongoing)<br/>Stop migrants from entering the country (partially succeeded, but ongoing)<br/>Turn Poland into an illiberal democracy (succeeded)<br/>Strip LGBTQ+ people of their rights (partly succeeded, but ongoing)<br/>Silent anyone who opposes the party (failling, but ongoing)|crimes=[[Authoritarianism]]<br/>[[Xenophobia]]<br/>[[Propaganda]]<br/>[[Islamophobia]]<br/>[[Racism]]<br/>Corruption<br/>Election Fraud (alleged)<br/>Hatemongering<br/>[[Homophobia]]<br/>[[Transphobia]]<br/>[[Misogyny]]<br/>[[Anti-German sentiment|Germanophobia]] (implied)<br/>[[Anti-Ukrainian sentiment|Ukrainophobia]] (ironically)<br/>[[Russophobia]]<br/>[[Censorship]]<br/>Destruction of Democracy|agents=[[Andrzej Duda]]<br/>Beata Szydło<br/>Mateusz Morawiecki<br/>Ryszard Terlecki<br/>[[Mariusz Błaszczak]]<br/>[[Zbigniew Ziobro]]<br/>[[Antoni Macierewicz]]<br/>[[Przemysław Czarnek]]<br/>[[Jacek Kurski]]<br/>[[Krystyna Pawłowicz]]<br/>}}

'''Law and Justice''' (Polish: ''Prawo i Sprawiedliwość,'' '''PiS''') is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Poland. Its chairman is [[Jarosław Kaczyński]].

It was founded in 2001 by Jarosław and Lech Kaczyński as a direct successor of the Centre Agreement after it split from the Solidarity Electoral Action (AWS). It managed to win the 2005 parliamentary and presidential elections, after which Lech became the president of Poland. It headed a parliamentary coalition with the League of Polish Families and Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland between 2005 and the 2007 election. It placed second and they remained in the parliamentary opposition until 2015. It regained the presidency in the 2015 election, and later won a majority of seats in the parliamentary election. They retained the positions following the 2019 and 2020 election.

During its foundation, it sought to position itself as a centrist Christian democratic party, although shortly after, it adopted more culturally and socially conservative views and began their shift to the right. Under Kaczyński's national-conservative and law and order agenda, PiS embraced the principles of economic interventionism. It has also pursued close relations with the Catholic Church, although in 2011, the Catholic-nationalist faction split off to form [[United Poland]]. During the 2010s, it also adopted right-wing populist positions. After regaining power, PiS gained popularity with transfer payments to families with children, but attracted international criticism and domestic protest movements by dismantling liberal-democratic checks and balances. Political scientists have characterized the party's governance as illiberal or authoritarian.

It is a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists, and on national-level, it heads the [[United Right]] coalition. It currently holds 198 seats in the Sejm and 44 in the Senate.

==Background==

=== Formation ===
The party was created on a wave of popularity gained by Lech Kaczyński while heading the Polish Ministry of Justice (June 2000 to July 2001) in the AWS-led government, although local committees began appearing from 22 March 2001. The AWS itself was created from a diverse array of many small political parties. In the 2001 general election, PiS gained 44 (of 460) seats in the lower chamber of the Polish Parliament (Sejm) with 9.5% of votes. In 2002, Lech Kaczyński was elected mayor of Warsaw. He handed the party leadership to his twin brother in 2003.

=== In coalition government: 2005–2007 ===
In the 2005 general election, PiS took first place with 27.0% of votes, which gave it 155 out of 460 seats in the Sejm and 49 out of 100 seats in the Senate. It was almost universally expected that the two largest parties, PiS and Civic Platform (PO), would form a coalition government. The putative coalition parties had a falling out, however, related to a fierce contest for the Polish presidency. In the end, Lech Kaczyński won the second round of the presidential election on 23 October 2005 with 54.0% of the vote, ahead of Donald Tusk, the PO candidate.

After the 2005 elections, Jarosław should have become Prime Minister. However, in order to improve his brother's chances of winning the presidential election (the first round of which was scheduled two weeks after the parliamentary election), PiS formed a minority government headed by Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz as prime minister, an arrangement that eventually turned out to be unworkable. In July 2006, PiS formed a right-wing coalition government with the agrarian populist Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland and the nationalist League of Polish Families, headed by Jarosław Kaczyński. Association with these parties, on the margins of Polish politics, severely affected the reputation of PiS. When accusations of corruption and sexual harassment against Andrzej Lepper, the leader of Self-Defence, surfaced, PiS chose to end the coalition and called for new elections.

=== In opposition: 2007–2015 ===
In the 2007 general election, PiS managed to secure 32.1% of votes. Although an improvement over its showing from 2005, the results were nevertheless a defeat for the party, as Civic Platform (PO) gathered 41.5%. The party won 166 out of 460 seats in the Sejm and 39 seats in Poland's Senate.

On 10 April 2010, its former leader Lech Kaczyński died in the 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash. Jarosław Kaczyński becomes the sole leader of the party. He was the presidential candidate in the 2010 elections.

=== In majority government: 2015–present ===
The party won the 2015 parliamentary election, this time with an outright majority—something no Polish party had done since the fall of communism. In the normal course of events, this should have made Jarosław Kaczyński prime minister for a second time. However, Beata Szydło, perceived as being somewhat more moderate than Kaczyński, had been tapped as PiS's candidate for prime minister.

The party opposes liberal democracy seeing itself as inspired by Jozef Pilsudski's authoritarian Sanacja government. It supported controversial reforms carried out by the Hungarian Fidesz party, with Jarosław Kaczyński declaring in 2011 that "a day will come when we have a Budapest in Warsaw". PiS's 2015 victory prompted creation of a cross-party opposition movement, the Committee for the Defence of Democracy (KOD). Law and Justice has Proposed 2017 judicial reforms, which according to the party were meant to improve efficiency of the justice system, sparked protest as they were seen as undermining judicial independence. While these reforms were initially unexpectedly vetoed by President Duda, he later signed them into law. European Council president Donald Tusk warned that the bill might push Poland out of the EU. In 2017, the European Union began an Article 7 infringement procedure against Poland due to a "clear risk of a serious breach" in the rule of law and fundamental values of the European Union.

The party has caused what constitutional law scholar Wojciech Sadurski termed a "constitutional breakdown" by packing the Constitutional Court with its supporters, undermining parliamentary procedure, and reducing the president's and prime minister's offices in favour of power being wielded extra-constitutionally by party leader Jarosław Kaczyński. After eliminating constitutional checks, the government then moved to curtail the activities of NGOs and independent media, restrict freedom of speech and assembly, and reduce the qualifications required for civil service jobs in order to fill these positions with party loyalists. The media law was changed to give the governing party control of the state media, which was turned into a partisan outlet, with dissenting journalists fired from their jobs. Due to these political changes, Poland has been termed an "illiberal democracy", "plebiscitarian authoritarianism", or "velvet dictatorship with a façade of democracy".

The party won reelection in the 2019 parliamentary election. With 44% of the popular vote, Law and Justice received the highest vote share by any party since Poland returned to democracy in 1989, but lost its majority in the Senate.

=== Breakaways ===
In January 2010, a breakaway faction led by Jerzy Polaczek split from the party to form Poland Plus. Its seven members of the Sejm came from the centrist, economically liberal wing of the party. On 24 September 2010, the group was disbanded, with most of its Sejm members, including Polaczek, returning to Law and Justice.

On 16 November 2010, MPs Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska, Elżbieta Jakubiak and Paweł Poncyljusz, and MEPs Adam Bielan and Michał Kamiński formed a new political group, Poland Comes First (''Polska jest Najważniejsza''). Kamiński said that the Law and Justice party had been taken over by far-right extremists. The breakaway party formed following dissatisfaction with the direction and leadership of Kaczyński.

On 4 November 2011, MEPs [[Zbigniew Ziobro]], [[Jacek Kurski]], and Tadeusz Cymański were ejected from the party, after Ziobro urged the party to split further into two separate parties – centrist and nationalist – with the three representing the nationalist faction. Ziobro's supporters, most of whom on the right-wing of the party, formed a new group in Parliament called [[United Poland|Solidary Poland]], leading to their expulsion, too. United Poland was formed as a formally separate party in March 2012, but has not threatened Law and Justice in opinion polls.

==Villainy==
(Under progress)

==Trivia==
(Under progress)
[[Category:European Villains]]
[[Category:Modern Villains]]
[[Category:Poland]]
[[Category:Political Parties]]
[[Category:Xenophobes]]
[[Category:Islamophobes]]
[[Category:Corrupting Influence]]
[[Category:Internet Memes]]
[[Category:Successful]]
[[Category:Anti-LGBT]]
[[Category:Grey Zone]]
[[Category:Organizations]]