Local power not for the political parties? The case of Paweł Adamowicz in the 2018 local competition

Abstract

The subject of the research undertaken in the article is the competition for local authority in Gdańsk in 2018. In the previous elections (the years: 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014) the presidency of the city were permanently won by Paweł Adamowicz. He always officially represented the very popular political party in Gdańsk – Platforma Obywatelska (PO). In 2018, however, Adamowicz started from his own committee (KWW Paweł Adamowicz Wszystko dla Gdańska – Everything for Gdańsk). In that year he competed for the chair of the city president with both the candidate of the PO (Jarosław Wałęsa) and the Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (PiS) candidate (Kacper Płażyński). The 2018 elections in Gdańsk were therefore an interesting casus: “the same” Paweł Adamowicz joined the fight, but already as a representative of his own nonpartisan committee. Moreover, he stood against the party he had earlier always represented. So it was an interesting case to seek the answer to the question – what will become the prevailing element in this competition: its partisan affiliation or personalization? Secondly, it was fascinating to check whether the transfer of the dominant nationwide division (the former “my–oni” division, and in the 2018 version: antyPiS vs. PiS) brings political parties effectiveness in the competition for local power? The following assumptions were made: a. The personal option is more important in competing for local authority than party sympathies; b. the new version of the division “my–oni” (PiS–antyPiS) does not bring effectiveness in the struggle for power on Gdańsk political scene. The value of the research is to use not only published sources but also unpublished qualitative research – anonymous interviews with local politicians.