Jan Maria Władysław Rokita (born June 18 1959 in Cracow) is a Polish conservative-liberal politician, a member of Sejm, the lower chamber of the Polish parliament, and chairman of the parliamentery caucus of Platforma Obywatelska (Citizens Platform).

Rokita graduated from the Uniwersytet Jagielloński in Cracow with a degree in law. He joined a dissident "Wolność i Pokój" (WiP, "Freedom and Peace ") organization. He also took part in the student NZS group and was active as a member of the academic branch of Solidarity. For his activity in the opposition he was banned from becoming an attorney apprentice, despite his outstanding record.

In 1989 he was elected an MP as a Solidarity candidate. He was appointed the president of a special parliamentary commission for investigation of the Communist Security Police (Służba Bezpieczeństwa). In 1991 he joined a Polish political party called Democratic Union (Unia Demokratyczna) (UD). He was a member of the party's right wing.

In Hanna Suchocka's government he was the chief of the Council of Ministers Office. In 1995 he was the co-founder of the "3/4 initiative" - a movement created in order to prevent Aleksander Kwaśniewski from winning the presidential elections, and refused to support his party's candidate the leftist Jacek Kuron.

In 1997 he left Freedom Union (Unia Wolności) (successor of the UD) and joined another political party — Conservative-People's Party (Stronnictwo Konserwatywno-Ludowe). He was elected to the Sejm for the fourth time from AWS coalition list, becoming chairman of the parliamentary Interior Affairs Committee. In 2000 he was elected the leader of SKL.

When the Citizens' Platform (Platforma Obywatelska) was formed in January 2000, Rokita was reluctant to ally SKL with it, but a steady trickle of members to the new center right party forced him to.

In 2001 Rokita was elected to the Sejm for the fifth time, as a PO candidate. In 2002 he ran for the office of the Mayor of Cracow, but without success.

In 2003 he was elected to Sejm's special inquiry committee for the Lew Rywin affair. His participation in the committee has given him a tough inquisitor image and made him very popular. PO's opinion polls rating skyrocketed.

When the negotiations for the future European constitution started in the end of 2003, he coined the slogan: "Niza o muerte - Nicea albo śmierć " ((Treaty of) Nice or death), which was more or less the official position of the Polish delegation. He is regarded as a possible prime minister, should Platforma win the next parliamentary elections.

He is married to his second wife Nelly Rokita-Arnold , an ethnic German from Kazakhstan. Nelly has a daughter from her first marriage.

External link

• Personal webpage http://www.janrokita.pl/