Democratic Left Association

The Democratic Left Association (Polish: Stowarzyszenie Lewicy Demokratycznej, SLD) is a Polish political association created by the former New Left members who left the coalition and parliamentary group of The Left after a conflict with the coalition's leadership. The association was formed with the intention to continue the legacy of the Democratic Left Alliance, while maintaining close ties with New Left's ideological rivals — the Labour Union. Jerzy Teichert, a former local activist and a former member of SLD was selected as the president of the association, while Robert Kwiatkowski, an MP elected on the list of The Left, became the vice-president. The party seeks to represent an alternative to "the western left" and the "rainbow flag", and dismisses other left-wing parties for committing to social progressivism on issues like LGBT and abortion, as well as immigration.

The party first started as a parliamentary group, the Parliamentary Group of the Democratic Left (Polish: Koło Parlamentarne Lewicy Demokratycznej) that was formed by Robert Kwiatkowski, Andrzej Rozenek, its chairwoman Joanna Senyszyn, and the deputy speaker of the Senate Gabriela Morawska-Stanecka, who, after leaving New Left, formed the Polish Socialist Party (PPS) parliamentary group from 14 December 2021 to 6 February 2023 (together with the party's chairman, senator Wojciech Konieczny), and in 2022 they established the Democratic Left Association, following in the tradition of the Democratic Left Alliance (which ceased to exist as a party in 2021, merging with Wiosna to form Nowa Lewica). When the Polish Socialist Party chapter was founded in 2021, Andrzej Rozenek and Joanna Senyszyn became members of the party. They left PPS in August 2023.