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| {{Infobox officeholder | | {{Infobox geopolitical organization |
| |honorific-prefix = {{wp|His Excellency}} | | |name = |
| |name = Gerard Wojdyla | | {{collapsible list |
| |image = Kazimierz_Marcinkiewicz_(1118622297)_cropped.jpg | | |titlestyle = background:transparent; font-size:9pt; |
| |imagesize = 250px
| | |title = {{resize|11.5pt|Community of National Self-Determination}} |
| |caption = Gerard Wojdyla at a campaign event, 2016
| | |{{Infobox|subbox=yes|bodystyle= font-size:9pt; |
| |office = [[President of West Miersa|Acting President of West Miersa]] | | | rowclass1 = mergedrow| label1 = {{wp|English language|Estmerish}}: | data1 = Community of National Self-Determination |
| |term_start = 23 June, 2013 | | | rowclass3 = mergedrow| label2 = {{wp|French language|Gaullican}}: | data2 = Communauté d'autodétermination nationale |
| |term_end = 3 October, 2016 | | }} |
| |president = | | }} |
| |premier = [[Aleksandra Wojdyla]]
| | |linking_name = |
| |predecessor = [[Tomisław Sobolewski]]
| | |image_flag = |
| |successor = [[Sylwester Wrzesiński]]
| | |symbol_type = Emblem |
| |office2 = 21st [[Minister-President of West Miersa]]
| | |image_symbol = CNSD.png |
| |term_start2 = 3 October, 2011 | | |image_map = |
| |term_end2 = 3 October, 2016 | | |map_width = |
| |predecessor2 = [[Oskar Palubicki]] | | |map_caption = |
| |successor2 = Aleksandra Wojdyla | | |membership = |
| |office3 = Member for [[Centralny Żobrodź]] | | |admin_center_type = Headquarters |
| |term_start3 = 4 September, 1993 | | |admin_center = [[Kesselbourg|Kesselbourg City]] |
| |term_end3 = 23 June, 2013 | | |languages_type = Official language |
| |predecessor3 = [[Lubomił Iwanski]] | | |languages = {{wp|French language|Gaullican}} |
| |successor3 = [[Aleksandra Wojdyla]] | | |leader_title1 = Chairman |
| |birthname = Gerard Symplicjan Wojdyla | | |leader_name1 = TBD |
| |birth_date = {{birth date and age|1959|8|16|df=y}}
| | |leader_title2 = |
| |birth_place = [[West Żobrodź]], [[Żobrodź voivodeship|Żobrodź]], [[West Miersa]]
| | |leader_name2 = |
| |death_date = | | |leader_title3 = |
| |death_place = | | |leader_name3 = |
| |alma_mater = [[University of Krada]] | | |leader_title4 = |
| |nationality = [[West Miersa|West Miersan]] | | |leader_name4 = |
| |profession = {{wp|Lawyer}}, {{wp|politician}} | | |leader_title5 = |
| |party = [[Miersan National Party]] | | |leader_name5 = |
| |otherparty = | | |established_event1 = Established |
| |spouse = [[Lucyna Wojdyla]] | | |established_date1 = {{Start date and age|1994|01|01|df=yes|p=y}} |
| |children = 2 | | |established_event2 = |
| | relatives = ''See [[Wojdyla family]]'' | | |established_date2 = |
| | signature = | | |official_website = |
| <!--Military service-->
| |
| | nickname = | |
| | allegiance = {{flagicon|West Miersa}} [[Miersan National Armed Forces]]
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| | branch = | |
| | serviceyears = 1980-1982 | |
| | rank = | |
| | unit = | |
| | commands = | |
| | battles = | |
| | awards = | |
| | military_blank1 = | |
| | military_data1 = | |
| | military_blank2 = | |
| | military_data2 = | |
| | military_blank3 = | |
| | military_data3 = | |
| | military_blank4 = | |
| | military_data4 = | |
| | military_blank5 = | |
| | military_data5 = | |
| }} | | }} |
| '''Gerard Wojdyla''' is a former [[West Miersa|West Miersan]] politician, serving as the twenty-first [[Minister-President of West Miersa]] between 2011 and 2013, and as acting [[President of West Miersa]] from 2013 until 2016, when he was defeated by [[Sylwester Wrzesiński]]. He was the first Minister-President and President to have come from the [[Miersan National Party]] since the [[Elections in West Miersa#1986|1986 general elections]], and by extension, the first from the [[Wojdyla family]] since 1986.
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| Born in 1959 in [[West Żobrodź]] to [[Inocenty Wojdyla]] and [[Zuzanna Wojdyla]], he served as a {{wp|conscript}} during the [[Miersan War]]. After finishing his studies at the [[University of Krada]] in 1985, he became involved in politics, assisting his third cousin once removed, [[Zdzisław Wojdyla]], in obtaining a seat in the [[National Assembly (West Miersa)|National Assembly]]. Despite Zdzisław's loss to his [[Naprzód]] challenger, [[Lubomił Iwanski]], his experience helped Gerard Wojdyla rise through the ranks of the Miersan National Party. After Zdzisław's loss in 1991, Gerard Wojyla became the presumptive nominee, and in 1993, Wojdyla won in a {{wp|by-election}} against [[Ryszard Bartkowicz]], following the death of Iwanski. This victory allowed Wojdyla to enter the National Assembly, where he would remain until 2013.
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| In 2011, Gerard Wojdyla unexpectedly led the Miersan National Party to take control of the National Assembly for the first time since 1986, leading to {{wp|cohabitation}}, as he became Minister-President. However, from the start, Naprzód refused to cooperate with the Miersan National Party, with the then-President [[Tomisław Sobolewski]] taking back the powers that were legally supposed to be under the Minister-President's jurisdiction, per the [[Constitution of West Miersa|West Miersan constitution]]. This eventually culminated in a {{wp|constitutional crisis}} in 2013 which saw [[Soravia]] back Gerard Wojdyla, and thus led to Sobolewski's ouster.
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| ==Early life==
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| Gerard Wojdyla was born on 16 August, 1959 in [[West Żobrodź]], to future [[Minister-President of West Miersa|Minister-President]] [[Inocenty Wojdyla]], and his wife, [[Zuzanna Wojdyla]], as the younger brother to [[Andrzej Wojdyla]]. As a child, Gerard Wojdyla was expected to become involved in [[West Miersa#Politics|West Miersan politics]], due to his father's and late grandfather's involvement in West Miersan politics.
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| In 1965, he began attending a prestigious school in West Żobrodź, where he was described as being a mediocre student, albeit one interested in politics. Thus, by 1969, he achieved high enough marks to go to a prestigious high school, continuing his studies until 1975. Although he was a mediocre student, he did excel in history classes, which allowed Wojdyla to attend {{wp|Lycée|college}} in 1975. In 1977, he graduated, and began his studies at the [[University of Krada]].
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| However, with the outbreak of the [[Miersan War]] in 1979, as soon as Gerard Wojdyla turned 21, he was conscripted to the [[Miersan National Armed Forces]], participating at the [[Battle of Krada (1980)|Battle of Krada]] which ended in an unexpected West Miersan victory. After the war ended in 1982, he returned to the University of Krada, graduating in 1985 with a specialist degree in political science.
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| ==Political career==
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| ===Entry into politics===
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| Under pressure from his grandfather, [[Iwon Wojdyla]], and his great-uncle, [[Romuald Wojdyla]], Gerard Wojdyla joined the [[Miersan National Party]] in 1985. Although he was not nominated for a seat, due to his age and inexperience, Gerard Wojdyla was tasked with assisting [[Zdzisław Wojdyla]] secure the seat of [[Centralny Żobrodź]] in the middle of [[West Żobrodź]], which since 1941, had always had a member of the [[Wojdyla family]] sitting there.
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| Although he was a low-ranking member of the local association, his connections (on account of Gerard being third cousins once removed with Zdzisław) helped allow Gerard to garner experience. During the [[Elections in West Miersa#1986|1986 general election]], Gerard Wojdyla assisted Zdzisław's campaign in any way that he could, even though from the start, it was likely that [[Naprzód]] candidate [[Lubomił Iwanski]] would win the seat, due to the Miersan National Party's unpopularity.
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| When the results arrived, Zdzisław lost his seat to Iwanski with 42% to Iwanski's 55% of the vote, ending the MNP's hold on the seat since independence. Despite this loss, Gerard Wojdyla had garnered experience within the party, and was seen as being a future candidate for the party.
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| Thus, in the late 1980s, Gerard Wojdyla effectively led the party organization alongside Zdzisław Wojdyla. In the [[Elections of West Miersa#1991|1991 general elections]], Zdzisław Wojdyla ran against Lubomił Iwanski, and while Zdzisław improved from 1986, garnering 46.8% to Iwanski's 51.9%, he was unable to unseat him. After this second loss, Zdzisław Wojdyla abandoned his efforts to run for a seat in the National Assembly, leading to Gerard Wojdyla becoming the presumptive nominee for the Miersan National Party.
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| An opportunity came earlier than expected, when in May 1993, Lubomił Iwanski died from a stroke. In the 1993 by-election, he ran against Naprzód candidate [[Ryszard Bartkowicz]], winning with 52.4% of the vote to Bartkowicz's 45.8% of the vote, as he campaigned on name recognition and on vowing to "improve the city to be the new [[Krada]]" of West Miersa.
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| ===Member of the National Assembly===
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| [[File:Wojdyla96.jpg|250px|thumb|left|Official portrait of Gerard Wojdyla, 1996]]
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| Thus, on 4 September, 1993, Gerard Wojdyla entered the [[National Assembly (West Miersa)|National Assembly]], being the first newly-elected member from the [[Miersan National Party]] to gain a seat since the [[Elections in West Miersa#1986|1986 general elections]].
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| From the start, Gerard Wojdyla was a marginal figure in the National Assembly, both because of his membership in the opposition Miersan National Party (as opposed to the governing [[Naprzód]]), but also due to the presence of more senior members of the [[Wojdyla family]] in the National Assembly. However, due to his experience campaigning under two-time nominee for the [[Minister-President of West Miersa|Minister-Presidency]], [[Zdzisław Wojdyla]], Gerard Wojdyla was seen as a potential future cabinet minister.
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| In the [[Elections in West Miersa#1996|1996 general elections]], Wojdyla defended his seat from Naprzód challenger [[Czesław Wierzbicki]]. Despite Wierzbicki's popularity, Gerard Wojdyla was able to defend his seat, winning with 50.8% of the vote to Wierzbicki's 48.1% of the vote, allowing him to serve a full term.
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| During his first full term, Gerard Wojdyla became more assertive within the party, advocating for a "modernization" of the party. Thus, when [[Eugeniusz Kozlowski]] and [[Waldemar Bartoszek]] became the leaders of the party, Wojdyla hoped that it would increase support for the party, as "people are more willing to support a meritocratic party rather than a family party." This placed Wojdyla in the moderate wing of the party, and in the [[Elections in West Miersa#2001|2001 general elections]], he was able to increase his share of the vote to 55.2% of the vote, against [[Wiktor Zelek]]'s 41.1% of the vote, allowing him to maintain his seat, despite the redistribution as a result of the 1997 census.
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| In his second full term, Gerard Wojdyla criticised {{wp|detente}} with [[East Miersa]], saying that "so long as they maintain their illegal occupation over [[Małomiersa]], we should not have anything to do with them." As well, Gerard Wojdyla advocated for closer ties with [[Samorspi]], proposing in 2002 "that West Miersa should participate in a future currency union [with other member states]."
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| ===Party leadership===
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| In 2003, Gerard Wojdyla became the {{wp|parliamentary leader}} of the [[Miersan National Party]] at the party convention, leading many political figures to assume that Wojdyla would, if the Miersan National Party got elected, become [[Minister-President of West Miersa|Minister-President]]. During this period, Wojdyla began crafting a platform that would "outflank [[Naprzód]]," by focusing on relatively more {{wp|social liberalism|socially liberal}} policies while simultaneously vowing to create a "true democracy in the [[West Miersa|Miersan Federation]]."
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| Thus, when the [[Elections in West Miersa#2006|2006 general elections]] were called, Wojdyla ran against both [[Antonin Ringwelski]] in his constituency of [[Centralny Żobrodź]], and [[Oskar Palubicki]] for the Minister-Presidency. During Wojdyla's campaign, he pledged to "end the privatisations, promote a just recovery, end detente, and develop a Miersan democracy." While at various points, Wojdyla was ahead of Palubicki, by the time the results were in, Naprzód maintained control of the [[National Assembly (West Miersa)|National Assembly]], albeit reduced by two seats, but he managed to get the Miersan National Party to increase its seat count by five. Wojdyla did hold on to his constituency, defeating Ringwelski with 57.2% of the vote to Ringwelski's 39.2% of the vote.
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| In the aftermath of the results, there was speculation over whether Wojdyla should continue as parliamentary leader of the Miersan National Party: at the 2007 convention, [[Waldemar Bartoszek]] was ousted from the leadership in favor of Gerard's third cousin, [[Więcesław Wojdyla]], but Gerard Wojdyla was allowed to continue as parliamentary leader of the Miersan National Party.
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| With this vote of confidence from within the party, Gerard Wojdyla began to strengthen his party's position. Knowing full well that the liberal approach had not "fared as well," he decided to focus on a "back-to-basics" approach. To this end, he emphasised the party's {{wp|social conservatism|social conservative}} roots, and its support of [[Miersa|Miersan nationalism]]. As well, he encouraged "prominent locals" to join the party, hoping that their presence would increase support for the Miersan National Party.
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| By the time of the [[Elections in West Miersa#2011|2011 general election]], Gerard Wojdyla ran against Palubicki once again for the Minister-Presidency, while also running against [[Benedykt Jedynak]] in his constituency. During his campaign, Wojdyla emphasised the party's platform, and vowed that a Miersan National government would "continue the reforms set out by [[Tomisław Sobolewski|Sobolewski]]."
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| When the results came in, although the Miersan National Party lost the popular vote, which allowed Sobolewski to remain [[President of West Miersa|President]], it gained thirty-seven seats, allowing it to take control of the National Assembly, and thus making Gerard Wojdyla Minister-President, marking the first occasion in which the president and Minister-President came from opposing parties.
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| ===Minister-Presidency===
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| On 3 October, 2011, Gerard Wojdyla was sworn in as the twenty-first [[Minister-President of West Miersa|Minister-President]], succeeding [[Oskar Palubicki]]. That day, he unveiled his cabinet, comprising of [[Miersan National Party]] members.
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| From the start, his relationship with [[President of West Miersa|President]] [[Tomisław Sobolewski]] was strained, as although Sobolewski allowed Palubicki to exercise the powers assigned to the Minister-Presidency under the [[Constitution of West Miersa|constitution]], he refused to allow Wojdyla to exercise the powers, arguing that as Sobolewski had more support among voters, he should be allowed to "exercise the powers of the [[West Miersa|Miersan nation]]."
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| This led to controversy, with Gerard Wojdyla critcising the President in 2012, saying that "Sobolewski has revealed his true authoritarian nature," and that "we cannot nor should we cooperate with tyrants." This led to deadlock in the [[National Assembly (West Miersa)|National Assembly]], exacerbated by the Miersan National Party being at parity (as one of the Miersan National legislators became the speaker). As paralysis continued to damage the government, a "feud" developed between Wojdyla and Sobolewski, over powers and who should govern the country. As neither the Miersan National Party nor [[Naprzód]] were willing to concede, tensions continued to grow.
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| By May 2013, Gerard Wojdyla was ordered to resign his position in favour of a Naprzód politician. Wojdyla refused, and instead launched an {{wp|impeachment}} of the President. As neither side were willing to yield to the other, a {{wp|constitutional crisis}} developed, lasting until late June when [[Soravia]] officially backed Wojdyla. This forced Sobolewski to resign from the presidency, and automatically led to Gerard Wojdyla becoming Acting President.
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| ===Acting President===
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| ==Personal life==
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| ===Family===
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| Gerard Wojdyla first met [[Lucyna Wojdyla|Lucyna Taran]] in 1983 following the end of the [[Miersan War]] at the [[University of Krada]], and after "having clicked," they married in 1983. They have a son, [[Józef Wojdyla]] (born in 1986), and a daughter, Renata Kobylanska (born in 1988), as well as four grandchildren, of which three are from Józef, and one from Renata.
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| ===Political views===
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| Economically, Gerard Wojdyla supports increased economic regulation to "help ensure that the Miersans can live a better life, and a decent life." During his tenure, he sought to protect the nationalized companies, saying that "privatization will only harm the Miersan people."
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| In terms of domestic policy, Gerard Wojdyla supported the continued democratization of the [[West Miersa|Miersan Federation]], with Wojdyla saying in 2014 that "we want to continue [[Tomisław Sobolewski|Sobolewski]]'s efforts at democratisation." However, he opposes {{wp|same-sex marriage}} and expanding the legality of {{wp|abortion}}, saying that "we have the duty to protect the sanctity of the institution of marriage, and the sanctity of life" in 2011.
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