Koalicja wyborcza jako platforma gwarantująca sukcesy wyborcze (na przykładzie wyborów parlamentarnych w Polsce w latach 1991–2011)

Coalitions became the main element of democratic political mechanisms in Central and Eastern Europe after 1989. As a result of fragmentation of opposition parties and evolution of organization and platforms of parties from the former regime, the political scene saw the rise of many new parties, which were forced to create alliances. The political transformation of 1989 definitively changed the style of politics. There rose a new political class, and the system of representative democracy, based on the rules of law and separation of powers, has been consolidated. Party coalitions are a dominant model of political alliances in Poland. Party configurations are chosen so that a coalition ensures the execution of goals in an optimal manner. Their goal is to create the strongest political group possible in order to gain or hold power. The article is an insightful analysis of electoral coalition functioning process in Poland between 1991 and 2011. Its goal was to characterize election platforms of electoral coalitions, as well as the political rivalry model, which determined the electoral behavior of the citizens. The work is an attempt to answer a research question: What influenced successes and failures of political parties during parliamentary elections