The president of the Council of Ministers, colloquially and commonly referred to as the prime minister, is the head of the cabinet and the head of government of Poland. The responsibilities and traditions of the office stem from the creation of the contemporary Polish state, and the office is defined in the Constitution of Poland. According to the Constitution, the president nominates and appoints the prime minister, who will then propose the composition of the Cabinet. Fourteen days following their appointment, the prime minister must submit a programme outlining the government's agenda to the Sejm, requiring a vote of confidence. Conflicts stemming from both interest and powers have arisen between the offices of President and Prime Minister in the past.
From 1989 through 1991, Poland engaged in a democratic transition which put an end to the Polish People's Republic and led to the foundation of a democratic government, known as the Third Polish Republic, following the First and Second Polish Republic. After ten years of democratic consolidation, Poland joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union on 1 May 2004.
Donald Franciszek Tusk is a Polish politician and historian who has served as the prime minister of Poland since 2023, previously holding the office from 2007 to 2014. From 2014 to 2019 Tusk was President of the European Council, and from 2019 to 2022 he was the president of the European People's Party (EPP). He co-founded the Civic Platform (PO) party in 2001 and has been its longtime leader, first from 2003 to 2014 and again since 2021.
Poland has a multi-party political system. On the national level, Poland elects the head of state – the president – and a legislature. There are also various local elections, referendums and elections to the European Parliament.
Małgorzata Maria Kidawa-Błońska, née Grabska is a Polish politician, film producer, and sociologist currently serving as Marshal of the Senate. She was Marshal of the Sejm from 25 June 2015 to 11 November 2015 at the end of the Seventh term's composition of the lower house, after which being voted a Deputy Marshal of the Eighth and Ninth term, each time nominated by the opposition party Civic Platform, under the marshalcy of Marek Kuchciński and Elżbieta Witek, respectively. She is first to serve as the chairperson of both houses of the Polish Parliament.
Marek Witold Suski is a Polish conservative politician of the Law and Justice party and theatrical technician. Member of the Sejm of the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th parliamentary terms, from 2017 to 2019 Head of the Political Cabinet of the Prime Minister of Poland.
Elżbieta Barbara Witek is a Polish conservative politician of the Law and Justice party. Historian, history teacher by profession. Marshal of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland for the 8th and 9th parliamentary terms from 2019 to 2023.
Kornel Andrzej Morawiecki was a Polish politician, the founder and leader of Fighting Solidarity, one of the splinters of the Solidarity movement in Poland during the 1980s. His academic background was that of a theoretical physicist. He was also a member of the 8th legislature of the Sejm, of which was also the Senior Marshal on 12 November 2015. His son Mateusz Morawiecki was the Prime Minister of Poland from 2017 to 2023, as well as a former chairman of Bank Zachodni WBK.
Michał Paweł Dworczyk is a Polish politician. Dworczyk worked as an adviser for Eastern European and Polonia affairs for Prime Ministers Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz and Jarosław Kaczyński between 2005 and 2007, and later served as an adviser to President Lech Kaczyński from 2009 to 2010. In the 2015 parliamentary election, Dworczyk was elected to the Sejm as a member of the Law and Justice party.
Mateusz Jakub Morawiecki is a Polish economist, historian and politician who served as the prime minister of Poland between 2017 and 2023. A member of the Law and Justice (PiS) party, he previously served in the cabinet of prime minister Beata Szydło as deputy prime minister from 2015 to 2017, Minister of Development from 2015 to 2018 and Minister of Finance from 2016 to 2018. Prior to his political appointment, Morawiecki had an extensive business career. He is considered to have been a de jure leader of Poland, with the de facto leader being Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of the party Morawiecki is a member of.
Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 13 October 2019. All 460 members of the Sejm and 100 senators of the Senate were elected. The ruling right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) won re-election to a second term retaining its majority in the Sejm. However, it lost its majority in the Senate to the opposition. With 43.6% of the popular vote, Law and Justice received the highest vote share by any party since Poland returned to democracy in 1989. The turnout was the highest for a parliamentary election since the first free elections after the fall of communism in 1989. For the first time after 1989, the ruling party controlled one house, while the opposition controlled the other.
Free and Solidary was a small political party in Poland. Founder Kornel Morawiecki, the Senior Marshal of the Sejm, led the party until his death in 2019. The party was plagued with poor electoral performances, lack of agreements with other parties, and later legal troubles which led to a court-appointed curator disbanding the party in 2020. The party has been reactivated in late 2021.
First Cabinet of Mateusz Morawiecki formed the previous government of Poland between 2017 and 2019, following Szydło's cabinet. Governing during the 8th legislature of the Sejm and the 9th legislature of the Senate, it was led by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
The United Right was a parliamentary group formed by Jarosław Gowin and Zbigniew Ziobro with their respective parties, Poland Together and United Poland. After their cooperation at 2015 Polish parliamentary election with the Law and Justice party, 'United Right' became a media label for the then-ruling right-wing political alliance of Law and Justice with its aforementioned partners in Poland.
The Second Cabinet of Mateusz Morawiecki was the government of Poland, headed by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, since being sworn in by President Andrzej Duda on 15 November 2019 until 27 November 2023. The Prime Minister delivered a statement to the Sejm on 19 November 2019 before obtaining a vote of confidence with 237 of the 460 MPs voting in the affirmative.
Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 15 October 2023 to elect members of the Sejm and Senate. A referendum containing four questions concerning economic and immigration policy of the government was held simultaneously.
The State Protection Service is a Polish uniformed service which provides VIP security for the Polish government. It was formed on 1 February 2018 as a successor to the Government Protection Bureau.
Piotr Józef Müller is a Polish politician and lawyer, Undersecretary of State (2018) and Secretary of State (2019) at the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, member of the Standing Committee of the Council of Ministers, Deputy to the 8th and 9th term Sejm, and from 2019, government spokesman and Secretary of State at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland.
The Third Cabinet of Donald Tusk is the coalition government of Poland headed by Donald Tusk who was officially nominated and confirmed as the Prime Minister of Poland on 11 December 2023 by the members of the Sejm following the failure of Mateusz Morawiecki's Third Cabinet to secure a vote of confidence. On 12 December, Tusk addressed the parliament and announced members of his cabinet, later that day Tusk's cabinet successfully obtained a vote of confidence with 248 of the 460 MPs voting in the affirmative. He and his cabinet were officially sworn in by president Andrzej Duda on 13 December 2023.
The third Cabinet of Mateusz Morawiecki was the caretaker government of Poland, headed by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, after his re-appointment by President Andrzej Duda on 27 November 2023. Two weeks later, on December 11, 2023, Morawiecki failed to receive a vote of confidence, with 266 of the 460 MPs voting against.
