Front of National Unity

File:Afisz FJN.JPG

FNU election poster from mid 1970s.

Front of National Unity or National Unity Front (Template:Langx, FJN) was a popular front supervising elections in the Polish People's Republic which also acted as a coalition for the dominant communist Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) and its allies. It was founded in 1952 as National Front (Front Narodowy) and renamed to Front of National Unity in 1956. It was the heir of the Democratic Bloc (Blok Demokratyczny) which ran in the elections of 1947 before the merger between communists and socialists.

The Front was created by and was subordinate to the PZPR. Its membership included all three legal Polish political parties (the PZPR, Democratic Party, and United People's Party) and many organizations (such as trade unions). During elections it had a near monopoly (varied depending on particular time) on registering candidates who had the right to participate in the elections. As was the case with other popular fronts in the Soviet bloc, the member parties of the Front were largely subservient to the PZPR; they had to accept the PZPR's "leading role" as a condition of their existence.

On 16 July 1983 at a meeting in Warsaw of the presidium of the National Committee of the Front of National Unity, the dissolution of that organization was announced and an appeal was made for FJN members to join Patriotic Movement for National Rebirth (Patriotyczny Ruch Odrodzenia Narodowego, PRON).

Leaders

• Bolesław Bierut (1947–1956)
• Aleksander Zawadzki (1956–1964)
• Edward Ochab (1965–1968)
• Janusz Groszkowski (1971–1976)
• Henryk Jabłoński (1976–1983)

Electoral history

Sejm elections

Election	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Position	Government
1947	9,003,682	80.1%	Template:Composition bar	Increase 394	Increase 1st	Super-majority
1952	15,459,849	99.8%	Template:Composition bar	Increase 31	Steady 1st	Sole legal coalition
1957	16,563,314	98.4%	Template:Composition bar	Increase 34	Steady 1st	Sole legal coalition
1961	17,342,570	98.3%	Template:Composition bar	Increase 1	Steady 1st	Sole legal coalition
1965	18,742,152	98.8%	Template:Composition bar	Steady	Steady 1st	Sole legal coalition
1969	20,473,114	99.2%	Template:Composition bar	Steady	Steady 1st	Sole legal coalition
1972	21,746,242	99.5%	Template:Composition bar	Steady	Steady 1st	Sole legal coalition
1976	23,502,983	99.4%	Template:Composition bar	Steady	Steady 1st	Sole legal coalition
1980	24,683,056	99.5%	Template:Composition bar	Steady	Steady 1st	Sole legal coalition