Włodzimierz Czarzasty

Włodzimierz Czarzasty (born 3 May 1960^[1][2]) is a Polish politician who serves as the co-chairperson of the New Left party (Nowa Lewica).^[3] He has been serving as a Deputy Marshal of the Sejm since 12 November 2019.

Włodzimierz Czarzasty
Czarzasty in 2024
Deputy Marshal of the Sejm
Incumbent
Assumed office 12 November 2019
Marshal	Elżbieta Witek Szymon Hołownia
Member of the Sejm
Incumbent
Assumed office 12 November 2019
Constituency	32-Sosnowiec
Co-leader of New Left
Incumbent
Assumed office 9 October 2021 Serving with Robert Biedroń
Preceded by	office established
Leader of Democratic Left Alliance
In office 23 January 2016 – 9 October 2021
Preceded by	Leszek Miller
Succeeded by	party dissolved
Personal details
Born	(1960-05-03) 3 May 1960 (age 65) Warsaw, Poland
Citizenship	Polish
Political party	Polish United Workers' Party (1983–1990) Democratic Left Alliance (1990–2021) New Left (since 2021)
Other political affiliations	United Left (2015–2016) The Left (since 2019)
Alma mater	University of Warsaw
Occupation	Politician

Biography

Born in Warsaw, Poland, Czarzasty graduated with degrees in journalism and political science from the University of Warsaw in the 1980s. Simultaneously, he was a member of Polish Students' Association (ZSP), leader of association "Ordynacka", and a member of Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) from 1983 to 1990.^[4]

Following the fall of Communism, Czarzasty became a member of SLD, the successor of PZPR. In the 1997 general election, he ran for the SLD but lost.^[5] In May 1999, he was appointed to the National Council of Radio Broadcasting and Television by the President Aleksander Kwasniewski. He became a point of controversy during the Rywin corruption scandal, but he was not formally charged with any crime.^[6]

After a long extra-parliamentary career, Czarzasty ran as part of United Left (ZL) party in the 2015 election. Since ZL has not passed the 8% threshold required to hold seats in the Sejm, none of the candidates, including Czarzasty, won.^[7]

During the party leadership election in January 2016, Czarzasty defeated former MP Jerzy Wenderlich and was elected as the new president of Democratic Left Alliance,^[8] replacing the incumbent leader and former Prime Minister Leszek Miller. He was a candidate for the Masovian Regional Assembly during the local elections in 2018, but lost.^[9]

Sejm

Włodzimierz Czarzasty and Grzegorz Schetyna at the European Coalition rally

In the 2019 parliamentary election, Czarzasty co-led the Lewica coalition, together with Adrian Zandberg and Robert Biedroń, and was elected to the Sejm. He was a candidate from Sosnowiec constituency. On 12 November 2019, Czarzasty was elected Deputy Marshal of the Sejm in representation of Lewica.

In July 2021, Czarzasty suspended the party member rights of Karolina Pawliczak and five other New Left MPs after they disagreed with him and made their disagreement public.^[10] The suspended politicians sent a letter to Czarzasty in which they questioned the fact that certain political commitments were made on behalf of the party, and allowed their letter to be public.^[10] Czarzasty accused them of an action grossly violating the obligation to care for the good name of the party.^[10] Pawliczak said: "Democracy, not bullying; talking, not suspending and expelling from the party ... I want to continue building such a democratic party with my friends."^[10]

In the 2023 elections, he successfully ran for parliamentary re-election, winning 22,332 votes.^[11] On November 13 of that year, he was elected Deputy Marshal of the Sejm under Szymon Hołownia.^[12]

Electoral history

Sejm

Year	Electoral list		Constituency	Votes received			Result	Ref
				Total	%	+/−
1997		Democratic Left Alliance	No. 51 (Zamość)	4,890	3.05	—	Not elected	[13]
2015		United Left	No. 16 (Płock)	13,156	4.38	+1.33	Not elected	[14]
2019		The Left[a]	No. 32 (Katowice III)	31,244	9.31	+4.93	Elected	[15]
2023		The Left[b]		22,332	5.91	−3.40	Elected	[16]

Masovian Voivodeship Sejmik

Year	Electoral list		Constituency	Votes received			Result	Ref
				Total	%	+/−
2018		SLD Left Together	No. 4	11,792	3.22	—	Not elected	[17]

Notes

1. Officially registered as Democratic Left Alliance party list, which also included candidates from other The Left coalition parties.
2. Officially registered as New Left party list, which also included candidates from other The Left coalition parties.