Jarosław Kaczyński

Jarosław Aleksander Kaczyński (Polish: [jaˈrɔswaf kaˈt͡ʂɨj̃skʲi] ^ⓘ; born 18 June 1949) is a Polish politician. He co-founded the Law and Justice (PiS) party in 2001 with his twin brother and has served as its long-time leader since 2003. He served as Prime Minister of Poland from 2006 to 2007, and has twice held the post of Deputy Prime Minister of Poland, first from 2020 to 2022, and a second time from June to November 2023. He is considered to have been the de facto leader of Poland,^[1] when PiS formed the government in 2005–2007 and again in 2015–2023, with direct political influence over the prime ministers Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, Beata Szydło and Mateusz Morawiecki.

Quick Facts Deputy Prime Minister of Poland, Prime Minister ...

Jarosław Kaczyński
Kaczyński in 2022
Deputy Prime Minister of Poland
In office 21 June 2023 – 27 November 2023
Prime Minister	Mateusz Morawiecki
Preceded by	See list Mariusz Błaszczak Piotr Gliński Henryk Kowalczyk Jacek Sasin
Succeeded by	See list Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz Krzysztof Gawkowski
In office 6 October 2020 – 21 June 2022
Prime Minister	Mateusz Morawiecki
Preceded by	Jadwiga Emilewicz
Succeeded by	Mariusz Błaszczak
Prime Minister of Poland
In office 14 July 2006 – 16 November 2007
President	Lech Kaczyński
Deputy	See list Ludwik Dorn Zyta Gilowska Przemysław Gosiewski Andrzej Lepper Roman Giertych
Preceded by	Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz
Succeeded by	Donald Tusk
Leader of Law and Justice
Incumbent
Assumed office 18 January 2003
General Secretary	See list Joachim Brudziński Jarosław Zieliński
Parliamentary Leader	See list Ludwik Dorn Przemysław Gosiewski Marek Kuchciński Przemysław Gosiewski Grażyna Gęsicka Marek Kuchciński Mariusz Błaszczak Ryszard Terlecki
Preceded by	Lech Kaczyński
Chief of the Presidential Chancellery
In office 22 December 1990 – 31 October 1991
President	Lech Wałęsa
Preceded by	Michał Janiszewski
Succeeded by	Janusz Ziółkowski
Member of the Sejm
Incumbent
Assumed office 31 October 1997
Constituency	33 – Kielce (2023–present) 19 – Warsaw I (1997–2023)
In office 6 December 1991 – 26 October 1993
Constituency	Warsaw I
Personal details
Born	Jarosław Aleksander Kaczyński (1949-06-18) 18 June 1949 (age 74) Warsaw, Poland
Political party	Law and Justice (2001–present)
Other political affiliations	Solidarity (before 1991) Centre Agreement (1991–1997) Solidarity Electoral Action (1997–2001)
Alma mater	University of Warsaw (LL.D.)
Profession	Lawyer
Awards
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Jaroslaw Kaczyński as a student took part in protest during the March 1968 political crisis. Subsequently, he became involved in the anti-communist opposition as a collaborator of KOR and KSS KOR. He took part in the protests in August 1980 when he was arrested, then joined the Solidarity movement. In 1982 he became a member of the Polish Helsinki Committee. He took part in the 1988 strikes.

In 1989, Kaczyński took part in the Round Table talks. In 1989–1991, he served as a senator. In 1990, he founded the Centre Agreement party, of which he served as leader until 1998. In 1990–91 he was head of the chancellery of President Lech Wałęsa. He served as a Member of Parliament from 1991 to 1993 and continuously since 1997.

In 2001 he co-founded the PiS party with his twin brother, Lech Kaczyński, of which he became leader in 2003. Running for PiS, he served as the prime minister of Poland from July 2006 to November 2007, while his brother was the president of Poland. After PiS's electoral defeat in 2007, Kaczyński was the main leader of the opposition during Civic Platform's governments. Following the death of his brother in a plane crash, Jarosław Kaczyński ran in the 2010 Polish presidential election losing to Bronisław Komorowski.

Since the 2015 victories of PiS, both in the presidential and parliamentary election, Kaczyński was considered to be the most powerful politician in Poland and one of the most influential European leaders.^[2] In 2020, he was designated as the Deputy Prime Minister of Poland with oversight over the defense, justice and interior ministries.