1930 Polish parliamentary election

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1930 Polish parliamentary election
Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg
  1928 23 November 1930 (1930-11-23) (Sejm and Senate) 1935  

All 444 seats to the Sejm
Turnout74.8% [1]
 Majority partyMinority partyThird party
 
Slawek i Daszynski.png
Joachim Bartoszewicz, senator, ze zbiorow NAC.jpg
Mieczyslaw Niedzialkowski (posel).jpg
Leader Walery Sławek Joachim Bartoszewicz Mieczysław Niedziałkowski
Party BBWR National Party PPS
Leader sinceNovember 1927October 19281930
(as chairman of PPS caucus)
Leader's seat1 – Warsaw Senate - Kielce Area9 - Płock
Last election125Did not exist
(28 as ZLN)
64
Seats won2496323
(79 as Centrolew)
Seat changeIncrease2.svg 124Increase2.svg 25Decrease2.svg 41
Popular vote5,292,7251,443,165590,820
Percentage46.7%12.7%5.1%
(17.3% as Centrolew)

 Fourth partyFifth partySixth party
 
Jan Dabski.PNG
Dymitr Lewicki.png
AGAD AGAD Witos Wincenty list gonczy zdjecie.png
Leader Jan Dąbski Dmytro Levytsky Wincenty Witos
Party SCh UNDO PSL "Piast"
Leader since19291925December 1, 1918
Leader's seatState list - no. 751 - Lwów 84 - Tarnów
Last election262617
(28 as Catholic Bloc)
Seats won18
(79 as Centrolew)
17
(21 as BUB)
15
(79 as Centrolew)
Seat changeDecrease2.svg 8Decrease2.svg 9Decrease2.svg 2
Popular vote472,656449,033401,758
Percentage4.0%
(17.3% as Centrolew)
3.8%3.4%
(17.3% as Centrolew)

 Seventh partyEighth partyNinth party
 
Malinowski Maksymilian.jpg
Ponikowski.png
Karol Popiel.png
Leader Maksymilian Malinowski Antoni Ponikowski Karol Popiel
Party PSL "Wyzwolenie" PSChD NPR
Leader since192519251929
Leader's seat27 - Zamość State list - no. 19none
Last election4016
(28 as Catholic Bloc)
14
Seats won15
(79 as Centrolew)
148
(79 as Centrolew)
Seat changeDecrease2.svg 25Decrease2.svg 2Decrease2.svg 6
Popular voteca. 400,000430,074165,429
Percentage3.4%
(17.3% as Centrolew)
3.8%1.4%
(17.3% as Centrolew)

1930 Polish parliamentary election by constituency.svg
Results by constituency

Prime Minister before election

Kazimierz Bartel
BBWR

Elected Prime Minister

Walery Sławek
BBWR

Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 16 November 1930, with Senate elections held a week later on 23 November. [2] In what became known as the Brest elections (Polish : Wybory brzeskie), the pro-Sanation Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government took 47% of the vote and 249 of the 444 seats in Sejm and 77 of the 111 seats in the Senate. The elections are known as the least free elections in the Second Polish Republic due to the Brest trial controversy.

Contents

Controversy

The elections were rigged by the pro-Sanacja elements in the Polish government [3] [4] under the control of Józef Piłsudski (although Piłsudski left most of the details of the internal politics to others). [5] After the BBWR came up well short of a majority in the 1928 elections, Sanacja and Piłsudski left nothing to chance.[ citation needed ]

Satirical drawing from Haslo Lodzkie newspaper, 5 October 1930. The text: "From the series: 'Most popular Polish spa towns' - Brest-on-the-Bug." The picture is a reference to the Brest trial and the "Brest elections", when many Polish politicians of the Centrolew party were imprisoned in the Brest Fortress (pictured). Twierdza brzeska - satyra.jpg
Satirical drawing from Hasło Łódzkie newspaper, 5 October 1930. The text: "From the series: 'Most popular Polish spa towns' - Brest-on-the-Bug." The picture is a reference to the Brest trial and the "Brest elections", when many Polish politicians of the Centrolew party were imprisoned in the Brest Fortress (pictured).

The elections were supposed to take place in May, but the government invalidated the May results by disbanding the parliament in August [4] and with increasing pressure on the opposition started a new campaign, the new elections being scheduled to November. [6] Using the anti-government demonstrations as a pretext, 20 [4] members of the oppositions, including most of the leaders of Centrolew alliance (from the Polish Socialist Party, Polish People's Party "Piast" and Polish People's Party "Wyzwolenie") were arrested [5] in September without a warrant, only on the order of the minister of internal security, Felicjan Sławoj Składkowski accusing them of plotting an anti-government coup. [7] The opposition members (who included the former prime minister Wincenty Witos, and the Silesian national hero, Wojciech Korfanty) were imprisoned in the Brest Fortress, where their trial took place (thus the popular name for the election: the 'Brest election'). A number of less known activists were arrested throughout the country. They were released after the end of the election in the same month. The Brest trial ended in January 1932, with 10 accused receiving sentences up to three years of imprisonment. Some of them decided to emigrate instead. [5]

In addition, the minorities were also discriminated against; [8] the government crackdown on opposition was especially hard in the eastern provinces, [4] [9] affecting the Blok Ukraińsko-Białoruski (Ukrainian-Belarusian Bloc) party.

On 24 November 1930, Time , in its coverage of the elections, wrote:

During the campaign which ended in Poland's general election last week, opposition papers were so mercilessly censored that some were reduced to printing pictures of Friederich Nietzsche (1844–1900) with the caption: He Died Crazy. Because Dictator Jozef Pilsudski has publicly made such statements as that "Parliament is a prostitute!" (Time, July 9, 1928) and because he somewhat resembles Philosopher Nietzsche in face and whiskers, his government promptly confiscated all Nietzschean campaign pictures, all papers in which they appeared. [10]

Nonetheless despite the governments pressure, the opposition members (from Centrolew and endecja ) still sat in the parliament, [11] soon in the new parliament they tried to pass the motion of no confidence to the new government. The imprisonment and trial of political opponents was a setback for Polish democracy, but no genuinely open trials of political opponents such as the one in Poland took place elsewhere in contemporary Central Europe [7] The exception was the 1933 Berlin trial of the Bulgarian communist Georgy M. Dimitrov. The success of BBWR, while certainly enhanced by the government crackdown on opposition, also stemmed from the fact that Sanacja and Piłsudski's held considerable support, and the Centrolew politicians were viewed as incapable in preventing the economic crisis (Great Depression). [12] The Centrolew coalition fell apart in 1931 due to internal conflicts.[ citation needed ]

Results

Sejm

Party or allianceVotes%Seats+/–
Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government 5,292,72546.70249+124
Centrolew Polish Socialist Party 1,965,86417.3523–42
Peasant Party 18–8
Polish People's Party "Piast" 15–2
Polish People's Party "Wyzwolenie" 15–25
National Workers' Party 8–6
Total79–89
National List 1,443,16512.7363+25
Ukrainian-Belarusian Electoral Bloc 725,9846.4121+4
People's Catholic Bloc 430,0743.7914–20
German Electoral Bloc 309,7132.735
Unity of Workers and Peasants 232,3142.0540
Bloc of the Defence of the Rights of the Jewish Nation 246,8402.182
Jewish National Bloc 184,9681.634
All-Jewish National Economic Bloc 150,1461.321
Socialists' Bloc 52,4330.461
ZLCh Samopomoc  [ pl ]22,9190.201
Polish Socialist Party – former Revolutionary Faction  [ pl ]74,0960.650
Bloc of the Socialist Left General Jewish Labour Bund in Poland 71,1230.630
Independent Socialist Labour Party
Sel-Rob "Jedność"  [ pl ]23,7220.210
Poale Zion 19,2060.170
Central Union of Cultural and Economic Organizations 12,3590.110
Ruska Selańska Organizacja 11,4650.100–1
Ukrainian Labour Party  [ pl ]10,7440.0900
Polish Socialist Party – Left  [ pl ]7,9580.070
Monarchists1,8160.0200
Others44,1610.390
Total11,333,795100.004440
Valid votes11,333,79595.92
Invalid/blank votes482,6184.08
Total votes11,816,413100.00
Registered voters/turnout15,791,27874.83
Source: Statystyka Wyborów do Sejmu i Senatu z dnia 16 i 23 Listopada 1930 roku (PDF). Warsaw. 1935. p. XXX.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

Senate

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government 3,715,27354.6677+29
Centrolew 882,63612.9913
National List 882,21512.9812+3
Ukrainian–Belarusian Electoral Bloc 434,0426.394+2
German Electoral Bloc 236,4713.483–18
People's Catholic Bloc 160,4442.362–4
All-Jewish National Economic Bloc 148,5222.190
Bloc of the Defence of the Rights of the Jewish Nation 146,7262.160
Jewish National Bloc 79,3581.170
Unity of Workers and Peasants 60,4450.890
Socialists' Bloc 15,7130.230
Polish Socialist Party – former Revolutionary Faction  [ pl ]10,5100.150
Sel-Rob "Jedność"  [ pl ]8,7630.130
Ruska Sielańska Organizacja 7,5940.110
Central Union of Cultural and Economic Organizations 1,7440.030
Polish Socialist Party – Left  [ pl ]1430.000
Others6,5890.100
Total6,797,188100.001110
Valid votes6,797,18898.36
Invalid/blank votes113,4031.64
Total votes6,910,591100.00
Registered voters/turnout10,894,32563.43
Source: Statystyka Wyborów do Sejmu i Senatu z dnia 16 i 23 Listopada 1930 roku (PDF). Warsaw. 1935. p. XXX.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

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