Robert Raczyński

Robert Raczyński
Raczyński in 2024
Mayor of Lubin
Incumbent
Assumed office
2002
Preceded byRoman Sadowski
Mayor of Lubin
In office
1990–1994
Preceded byRyszard Maraszek
Succeeded byTadeusz Maćkała
Chair of Bezpartyjni Samorządowcy
In office
December 2020 – 25 October 2024
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byMarek Woch
Personal details
Born (1962-04-03) 3 April 1962
Lubin, Poland
Alma materUniversity of Wrocław

Robert Raczyński (Polish: [ˈrɔbɛrt-raˈt͡szɨɲski]; born 3 April 1962) is a Polish politician and local government official who served as mayor of Lubin from 1990 to 1994 and has held the office again since 2002. He was a founder and leader of the regional political movement Bezpartyjni Samorządowcy and chaired its nationwide federation from 2020 to 2024.[1][2]

Early life and opposition activity

Raczyński was born in Lubin and graduated in history from the University of Wrocław.[1] From 1982 to 1987, he was active in the underground structures of the Independent Students' Association at the university and distributed underground publications. Between 1987 and 1989, he contributed to the underground newspaper Gazeta Lubińska and participated in initiatives organised by the Labour Ministry at the parish of Saint Maximilian Kolbe in Lubin. From April to June 1989, he was a member of the local Solidarity Citizens' Committee.[3]

Political career

Mayor of Lubin

In 1990, at the age of 28, Raczyński was elected the first non-communist mayor of Lubin. He held the office until 1994 and did not seek another term in that year's local elections.[1][4]

Raczyński returned to the office after winning the second round of the first direct mayoral election in 2002. He subsequently stood through local electoral committees bearing his name and was re-elected in the first round in 2006 with 65.46 per cent of the vote and in 2010 with 72.40 per cent.[1][5][6]

He won further first-round re-elections in 2014 with 70.76 per cent and in 2018 with 58.61 per cent.[1][7] In the 2024 Polish local elections, he was elected for another term in the first round, receiving 15,304 votes, or 60.96 per cent.[8]

Regional and national politics

During the 1990s, Raczyński was active in the Party of Christian Democrats and later in Solidarity Electoral Action. He unsuccessfully contested the 1991 Polish parliamentary election on the Party of Christian Democrats list and the 1993 Polish parliamentary election for the Catholic Electoral Committee "Fatherland".[9][10]

From 1998 to 2002, he represented Solidarity Electoral Action in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship Sejmik. He was elected to the assembly again in 2010 from a committee led by Rafał Dutkiewicz, but relinquished the mandate after being re-elected mayor.[1]

In 2008, Raczyński was one of the founders of the Lower Silesia XXI association, which initially formed part of the nationwide Poland XXI movement. The association was renamed Citizens of Lower Silesia in 2011. Following a division within the organisation over cooperation with Civic Platform, Raczyński became one of the leaders of the newly established Bezpartyjni Samorządowcy movement in 2014.[1][11]

The movement won four seats in the Lower Silesian assembly in the 2014 local elections. In 2015, its activists participated in the establishment of JOW Bezpartyjni, an electoral committee advocating the introduction of single-member districts. Bezpartyjni Samorządowcy subsequently developed into a nationwide movement, winning 15 regional assembly seats in five voivodeships in the 2018 Polish local elections.[1]

In December 2020, Raczyński became the first chair of the Nationwide Federation "Bezpartyjni i Samorządowcy".[2] He was registered as the lead candidate on the federation's Legnica constituency list for the 2023 Polish parliamentary election, but submitted his withdrawal shortly before polling day and was removed from the list.[12]

On 25 October 2024, Marek Woch replaced Raczyński as chair of the nationwide federation.[13] In April 2025, the Lower Silesian organisation associated with Raczyński stated that Woch was not its candidate in the 2025 Polish presidential election and did not represent its political position. The national federation subsequently removed the Lower Silesian organisation from its structures.[14][15]

On 2 March 2026, Raczyński was appointed to the Local Government Council attached to the President of Poland.[16]

Surveillance investigation

In early 2024, purported transcripts presented as records of communications involving Raczyński and another local government official became the subject of a criminal investigation.[17] In February 2026, prosecutors determined that the approximately 1,000 pages of purported transcripts had been fabricated.[18]

In May 2026, five people, including a former officer of the Internal Security Agency and a serving police officer, were charged in an ongoing investigation concerning illegal surveillance, the creation of false evidence, abuse of public authority and the disclosure of protected information.[19]

Honours

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Robert Raczyński – polityk, historyk, samorządowiec, prezydent Lubina" [Robert Raczyński – politician, historian, local government official and mayor of Lubin]. Onet (in Polish). 30 September 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2026.
  2. 1 2 "Powstała Ogólnopolska Federacja Bezpartyjni i Samorządowcy" [Nationwide Federation of Nonpartisan and Local Government Activists established]. PortalSamorzadowy.pl (in Polish). 7 December 2020. Retrieved 15 July 2026.
  3. ↑ "Robert Raczyński". Recipients of the Cross of Freedom and Solidarity (in Polish). Institute of National Remembrance. Retrieved 15 July 2026.
  4. ↑ "35 lat temu i dziś. Ważna rocznica dla Lubina" [Thirty-five years ago and today: an important anniversary for Lubin]. Lubin.pl (in Polish). 27 May 2025. Retrieved 15 July 2026.
  5. ↑ "Wybory Prezydenta Miasta – Lubin" [Election of the mayor of Lubin] (in Polish). National Electoral Commission. Retrieved 15 July 2026.
  6. ↑ "Wyniki głosowania i wyborów Prezydenta – Lubin" [Voting and election results for the mayor of Lubin] (in Polish). National Electoral Commission. Retrieved 15 July 2026.
  7. ↑ "Wyniki głosowania i wyborów Prezydenta Miasta Lubina" [Voting and election results for the mayor of Lubin] (in Polish). National Electoral Commission. Retrieved 15 July 2026.
  8. ↑ "Raczyński Robert – elections for Mayor of Lubin". National Electoral Commission. Retrieved 15 July 2026.
  9. ↑ "Wybory do Sejmu w 1991 r." [1991 Sejm election] (in Polish). National Electoral Office. Retrieved 15 July 2026.
  10. ↑ "Wybory do Sejmu w 1993 r." [1993 Sejm election] (in Polish). National Electoral Office. Retrieved 15 July 2026.
  11. ↑ "Nie chcą partii. Obywatelski Dolny Śląsk za własną listą wyborczą" [They do not want a party: Citizens of Lower Silesia to field its own electoral list] (in Polish). Polish Press Agency. 12 August 2014. Retrieved 15 July 2026.
  12. ↑ "Robert Raczyński zrezygnował z kandydowania" [Robert Raczyński withdrew his candidacy]. Radio Plus Legnica (in Polish). 16 October 2023. Retrieved 15 July 2026.
  13. ↑ "Marek Woch zastępuje Prezydenta Lubina Roberta Raczyńskiego w kierowaniu Ogólnopolską Federacją „Bezpartyjni i Samorządowcy"" [Marek Woch replaces Lubin mayor Robert Raczyński as head of the Nationwide Federation "Nonpartisan and Local Government Activists"]. Wokół Zamościa (in Polish). 6 November 2024. Retrieved 15 July 2026.
  14. ↑ Czurczak, Aleksandra (18 April 2025). "Marek Woch odpowiada lokalnemu ruchowi. Opublikował wpis" [Marek Woch responds to the regional movement]. Interia (in Polish). Retrieved 15 July 2026.
  15. ↑ "Dolnośląscy Bezpartyjni wyrzuceni z ruchu Bezpartyjnych Samorządowców" [Lower Silesian Nonpartisans expelled from the Nonpartisan Local Government Activists movement]. Gazeta Wyborcza (in Polish). 2 May 2025. Retrieved 15 July 2026.
  16. ↑ "Powołanie Rady Samorządu Terytorialnego przy Prezydencie RP" [Appointment of the Local Government Council attached to the President of Poland]. President of the Republic of Poland (in Polish). 2 March 2026. Retrieved 15 July 2026.
  17. ↑ "Kto inwigilował prezydenta Lubina Roberta Raczyńskiego? Drugie dno brudnej gry" [Who surveilled Lubin mayor Robert Raczyński? The background to a dirty game]. Rzeczpospolita (in Polish). 22 August 2024. Retrieved 15 July 2026.
  18. ↑ Kacprzak, Izabela (2 March 2026). "Tysiąc stron fałszywek na prezydenta Lubina. Prokuratura na tropie autorów „operacji Lizbona"" [One thousand pages of fabricated material concerning the mayor of Lubin; prosecutors pursue the authors of "Operation Lisbon"]. Rzeczpospolita (in Polish). Retrieved 15 July 2026.
  19. ↑ Czurczak, Aleksandra (15 May 2026). "Nielegalna inwigilacja prezydenta Lubina. Prokuratura stawia zarzuty" [Illegal surveillance of the mayor of Lubin: prosecutors bring charges]. Interia (in Polish). Retrieved 15 July 2026.
  20. ↑ "Postanowienie Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej z dnia 9 marca 1994 r. o nadaniu odznaczeń" [Decision of the President of Poland of 9 March 1994 on the award of decorations]. European Legislation Identifier (in Polish). Chancellery of the Sejm. 9 March 1994. Retrieved 15 July 2026.
  21. ↑ "Monitor Polski 2005, no. 79, item 1115" (PDF). Internetowy System Aktów Prawnych (in Polish). Chancellery of the Sejm. Retrieved 15 July 2026.
  22. ↑ "Postanowienie Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej z dnia 19 maja 2015 r. o nadaniu orderów i odznaczenia" [Decision of the President of Poland of 19 May 2015 on the award of orders and a decoration]. European Legislation Identifier (in Polish). Chancellery of the Sejm. 19 May 2015. Retrieved 15 July 2026.
  23. ↑ "Postanowienie Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej z dnia 2 sierpnia 2017 r. o nadaniu odznaczeń" [Decision of the President of Poland of 2 August 2017 on the award of decorations]. European Legislation Identifier (in Polish). Chancellery of the Sejm. 2 August 2017. Retrieved 15 July 2026.
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