1991 Polish parliamentary election

Last updated

1991 Polish parliamentary election
Flag of Poland.svg
  1989 27 October 1991 (1991-10-27) 1993  

All 460 seats in the Sejm
231 seats were needed for a majority in the Sejm
All 100 seats in the Senate
Turnout43.2%
 First partySecond partyThird party
  (Tadeusz Mazowiecki) Rueda de prensa de Felipe Gonzalez con el primer ministro de Polonia. Pool Moncloa. 26 de septiembre de 1990 (cropped).jpeg Aleksander Kwasniewski (cropped).jpg Wieslaw Chrzanowski.jpg
Leader Tadeusz Mazowiecki Aleksander Kwaśniewski Wiesław Chrzanowski
Party UD SLD WAK
Leader sinceMay 199130 January 199028 October 1989
Leader's seat Poznań Warsaw Lublin
Last electionDid not exist173 seats, 37.6%Did not exist
Seats before49 [1] 102 [1]
Seats won626049
Seat changeIncrease2.svg 13Decrease2.svg 42New
Popular vote1,382,0511,344,820980,304
Percentage12.3%12.0%8.7%
SwingNewDecrease2.svg 25.6%New

 Fourth partyFifth partySixth party
  Aleksander Kwasniewski i Jaroslaw Kaczynski (cropped).jpeg Waldemar Pawlak candidate 2010 D crop.jpg Leszek Moczulski.JPG
Leader Jarosław Kaczyński Waldemar Pawlak Leszek Moczulski
Party POC PSL KPN
Leader since12 May 199029 June 19911 September 1979
Leader's seat Warsaw Płock Kraków
Last electionDid not exist76 seats, 16.5%none
Seats won444846
Seat changeNewDecrease2.svg 28Increase2.svg 46
Popular vote977,344972,952841,738
Percentage8.7%8.7%7.5%
SwingNewIncrease2.svg 7.8%Increase2.svg 7.5%

 Seventh partyEighth partyNinth party
  Donald Tusk Senate.jpg KrzaklewskiWojcik (cropped).jpg
Leader Donald Tusk Józef Ślisz Marian Krzaklewski
Party KLD PSL-PL NSZZ „S”
Leader since19 May 1991199123 February 1991
Leader's seat Gdańsk Did not standDid not stand
Last electionnonenonenone
Seats won372828
Seat changeNewNewNew
Popular vote839,978613,626566,553
Percentage7.5%5.5%5.1%
SwingIncrease2.svgNewIncrease2.svgNewIncrease2.svgNew

1991 Polish parliamentary election.svg
Seats won by electoral district

Government before election

Bielecki cabinet  [ pl ]
KLDUDPCZChNSD

Government after election

Olszewski cabinet
PCZChNPSL-PLSLCh

Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 27 October 1991 to elect deputies to both houses of the National Assembly. [2] The 1991 election was notable on several counts. It was the first parliamentary election to be held since the formation of the Third Republic, the first entirely free and competitive legislative election since the fall of communism, the first completely free legislative election of any sort since 1928. Due to the collapse of the Solidarity political wing, the Solidarity Citizens' Committee, the 1991 election saw deep political fragmentation, with a multitude of new parties and alliances emerging in its wake. [3] Low voting thresholds within individual constituencies, along with a five percent national threshold allocated to a small portion of the Sejm, additionally contributed to party fragmentation. [4] As a result, 29 political parties gained entry into the Sejm and 22 in the Senate, with no party holding a decisive majority. Two months of intense coalition negotiations followed, with Jan Olszewski of the Centre Agreement forming a minority government along with the Christian National Union, remnants of the broader Centre Civic Alliance, and the Peasants' Agreement, with conditional support from Polish People's Party, Solidarity list and other minor parties. [5]

Contents

460 members of parliament (poseł) were elected; 391 from 6980 candidates from 37 regional lists of candidates and 69 from country-wide lists of candidates. In the Sejm elections, 27,517,280 citizens were eligible to vote, 11,887,949 (43.2%) of them cast their votes and 11,218,602 (94.4%) of the votes were counted as valid. In the Senate elections, 43.2% of citizens cast their votes, 96.5% were valid.

Elections were supervised by the National Electoral Commission (Państwowa Komisja Wyborcza). 37 regional (okręgowe) commissions were formed, and 22,341 district (obwodowe), staffed by 197,389 citizens.

A total of 111 parties contested the elections, of which 29 won parliamentary seats. The success of the satirical Polish Beer-Lovers' Party with 16 seats gained news coverage worldwide.

Results

Sejm

PartyVotes%Seats
Democratic Union 1,382,05112.3262
Democratic Left Alliance 1,344,82011.9960
Catholic Electoral Action 980,3048.7449
Centre Civic Alliance 977,3448.7144
Polish People's Party 972,9528.6748
Confederation of Independent Poland 841,7387.5046
Liberal Democratic Congress 839,9787.4937
Peasants' Agreement 613,6265.4728
Solidarity 566,5535.0527
Polish Beer-Lovers' Party 367,1063.2716
Christian Democracy 265,1792.365
Real Politics Union 253,0242.263
Labour Solidarity 230,9752.064
Democratic Party 159,0171.421
German Minority Electoral Committee 132,0591.187
Party of Christian Democrats 125,3141.124
Party X 52,7350.473
Democratic-Social Movement 51,6560.461
Ludowe Porozumienie Wyborcze "Piast" [lower-alpha 1] 42,0310.371
Silesian Autonomy Movement 40,0610.362
Solidarni z Prezydentem [lower-alpha 2] 27,5860.251
Związek Podhalan  [ pl ]26,7440.241
Polski Związek Zachodni [lower-alpha 3] 26,0530.234
Wielkopolsce i Polsce  [ pl ]23,1880.211
Jedności Ludowej [lower-alpha 4] 18,9020.171
Orthodox Electoral Committee 13,7880.121
Solidarność 80 12,7690.111
Unia Wielkopolan  [ pl ]9,0190.081
Alliance of Women Against the Hardships of Life [lower-alpha 5] 1,9220.021
Local lists and independents820,1087.310
Total11,218,602100.00460
Valid votes11,218,60294.37
Invalid/blank votes669,3475.63
Total votes11,887,949100.00
Registered voters/turnout27,517,28043.20
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

By constituency

No.ConstituencyTotal
seats
Seats won
UD SLD WAK PSL KPN POC KLD PL KO "S" PPPP KWMN Others
1Warsaw I1732113313
2Warsaw II81111121
3Płock10111211111
4Łódź12222111111
5Piotrków Trybunalski71111111
6Konin911121111
7Radom81121111
8Kielce11121211111
9Częstochowa811111111
10Opole1011111113
11Wroclaw12321111111
12Wałbrzych811111111
13Jelenia Góra11221111111
14Zielona Góra11121211111
15Kalisz71111111
16Toruń11121111112
17Bydgoszcz11121111112
18Poznań142211111113
19Gorzów Wielkopolski10121111111
20Szczecin10211111111
21Koszalin91111113
22Gdańsk152121113121
23Olsztyn132212111111
24Ostrołęka1211321121
25Białystok12122111112
26Siedlce101112113
27Zamość71111111
28Lublin10111121111
29Rzeszów13112211212
30Przemyśl911121111
31Tarnów7111112
32Nowy Sącz71111111
33Kraków1331112113
34Bielsko-Biała9111111111
35Sosnowiec1012121111
36Katowice172211122114
37Gliwice132111111113
National list691110778765431
Total46062604948464437282716736
Source: National Electoral Commission

Senate

PartyVotes%Seats
Democratic Union 3,764,15616.4221
Democratic Left Alliance 2,431,17810.614
Solidarity 2,219,1609.6811
Centre Civic Alliance 2,071,0459.049
Catholic Electoral Action 1,995,8668.719
Polish People's Party 1,691,5667.387
Liberal Democratic Congress 1,497,7186.536
Confederation of Independent Poland 1,071,3644.674
Peasants' Agreement 719,7783.145
Party of Christian Democrats 507,7222.223
Democratic Party 453,7211.980
Party X 417,8571.820
Real Politics Union 371,8911.620
Local lists and independents3,708,34416.1821
Total22,921,366100.00100
Valid votes11,474,84696.53
Invalid/blank votes413,0193.47
Total votes11,887,865100.00
Registered voters/turnout27,517,28043.20
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

By voivodeship

VoivodeshipTotal seatsSeats won
UD KO "S" POC WAK PSL KLD PL SLD KPN PChD Others
Biała Podlaska 211
Białystok 211
Bielsko 211
Bydgoszcz 211
Chełm 211
Ciechanów 211
Częstochowa 211
Elbląg 211
Gdańsk 211
Gorzów 211
Jelenia Góra 211
Kalisz 22
Katowice 3111
Kielce 211
Konin 211
Koszalin 211
Kraków 211
Krosno 211
Legnica 211
Leszno 211
Lublin 211
Łomża 22
Łódź 211
Nowy Sącz 211
Olsztyn 211
Opole 211
Ostrołęka 211
Piła 22
Piotrków 211
Płock 211
Poznań 211
Przemyśl 211
Radom 211
Rzeszów 211
Siedlce 22
Sieradz 211
Skierniewice 211
Słupsk 211
Suwałki 211
Szczecin 211
Tarnobrzeg 211
Tarnów 211
Toruń 211
Wałbrzych 22
Warsaw 321
Włocławek 22
Wrocław 211
Zamość 211
Zielona Góra 211
Total10021119986744318
Source: National Electoral Commission

Notes

  1. Regional electoral list of the Polish People's Party in Tarnów Voivodeship. [6]
  2. Regional electoral list of the Catholic Electoral Action in Kraków Voivodeship. [6]
  3. Regional electoral list of the Confederation of Independent Poland in Kraków Voivodeship. [6]
  4. Regional electoral list of the Polish People's Party in Bydgoszcz Voivodeship. [6]
  5. Regional electoral list of the Confederation of Independent Poland in Kraków Voivodeship. [6]

      Related Research Articles

      <span class="mw-page-title-main">Jan Rokita</span> Polish politician

      Jan Władysław Rokita is a Polish liberal politician, a member of the Sejm, the lower chamber of the Polish parliament. He was chairman of the parliamentary club of the Civic Platform party from 2003 to 2005.

      <span class="mw-page-title-main">Jerzy Szmajdziński</span> Polish politician (1952–2010)

      Jerzy Andrzej Szmajdziński was a Polish politician who was a Deputy Marshal of Polish Sejm and previously served as Minister of Defence. He was a candidate for President of Poland in the 2010 election.

      <span class="mw-page-title-main">The Greens (Poland)</span> Polish political party

      The Greens is a political party in Poland.

      <span class="mw-page-title-main">1990 Polish presidential election</span>

      Presidential elections were held in Poland on 25 November 1990, with a second round on 9 December. They were the first direct presidential elections in the history of Poland, and the first free presidential elections since the May Coup of 1926. Before World War II, presidents were elected by the Sejm. From 1952 to 1989—the bulk of the Communist era—the presidency did not exist as a separate institution, and most of its functions were fulfilled by the State Council of Poland, whose chairman was considered the equivalent of a president.

      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.

      <span class="mw-page-title-main">1995 Polish presidential election</span>

      Presidential elections were held in Poland on 5 November 1995, with a second round on 19 November. The leader of Social Democracy, Aleksander Kwaśniewski, and incumbent President Lech Wałęsa advanced to the second round. Kwaśniewski won the election with 52% of the vote in the run-off against 48% for Wałęsa.

      <span class="mw-page-title-main">2001 Polish parliamentary election</span>

      Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 23 September 2001. All 460 members of the Sejm and 100 senators of the Senate were elected. The election concluded with an overwhelming victory for the centre-left Democratic Left Alliance – Labor Union, the electoral coalition between the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) and the Labour Union (UP), which captured 41% of the vote in the crucial lower house Sejm. The 2001 election is recognized as marking the emergence of both Civic Platform (PO) and Law and Justice (PiS) as players in Polish politics, while also witnessing the outright collapse of the Solidarity Electoral Action (AWS) and its former coalition partner, the Freedom Union (UW).

      <span class="mw-page-title-main">1997 Polish parliamentary election</span>

      Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 21 September 1997. All 460 members of the Sejm and 100 senators of the Senate were elected. The liberal conservative party Solidarity Electoral Action won the most seats in both chambers of parliament and formed a coalition government with the Freedom Union, another liberal party. The elections were a major setback for the Democratic Left Alliance and the Polish People's Party, which were forced out of government.

      <span class="mw-page-title-main">1993 Polish parliamentary election</span>

      Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 19 September 1993. All 460 members of the Sejm and 100 senators of the Senate were elected. The elections were won by the left-wing parties of the Democratic Left Alliance and the Polish People's Party, who formed a coalition government. The coalition was just four seats short of a supermajority.

      <span class="mw-page-title-main">1989 Polish parliamentary election</span>

      Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 4 June 1989 to elect members of the Sejm and the recreated Senate, with a second round on 18 June. They were the first elections in the country since the communist government abandoned its monopoly of power in April 1989 and the first elections in the Eastern Bloc that resulted in the communist government losing power.

      <span class="mw-page-title-main">1947 Polish parliamentary election</span>

      Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 19 January 1947, the first since World War II. According to the official results, the Democratic Bloc, dominated by the communist Polish Workers Party (PPR) and also including the Polish Socialist Party (PPS), People's Party (SL), Democratic Party (SD) and non-partisan candidates officially received 80% of the vote and 394 of the 444 seats in the Legislative Sejm. The largest opposition party, the Polish People's Party, was officially credited with 28 seats. However, the elections were characterized by violence; anti-communist opposition candidates and activists were persecuted by the Volunteer Reserve Militia (ORMO). The elections were heavily manipulated, and the opposition claimed that it would have won in a landslide had the election been conducted in a fair manner.

      The Christian National Union was a Christian-democratic and nationalist political party in Poland. Established on 15 September 1989, the party traced its tradition to the Solidarity movement, as well as pre-World War II National Democracy and Polish Christian Democratic Party. The party adhered to the Christian right, advocating social conservatism. From its foundation until 1994, the party was led by Wiesław Chrzanowski, who was Marshal of the Sejm in 1991–1993.

      <span class="mw-page-title-main">Sejm Constituency no. 19</span> Polish parliamentary constituency

      Warsaw I, officially known as Constituency no. 19, is one of the 41 constituencies of the Sejm, the lower house of the Parliament of Poland, the national legislature of Poland. The constituency was established as Constituency no. 1 in 1991 following the re-organisation of constituencies across Poland. It was renamed Sejm Constituency no. 19 in 2001 following another nationwide re-organisation of constituencies. It is conterminous with the city of Warsaw. Electors living abroad or working aboard ships and oil rigs are included in this constituency. The constituency currently elects 20 of the 460 members of the Sejm using the open party-list proportional representation electoral system. At the 2023 parliamentary election it had 1,993,723 registered electors.

      <span class="mw-page-title-main">Catholic Electoral Action</span> Political party in Poland

      Catholic Electoral Action, abbreviated as WAK, was a right-wing electoral committee that participated in the 1991 Polish parliamentary election. The committee was formed in October 1990 and consisted of 20 various groupings that split from Solidarity. The committee's members belonged to the National-Catholic and national conservative Christian National Union. Led by Wiesław Chrzanowski, Catholic Electoral Action won 49 seats in the Sejm and 9 seats in Senat during the 1991 poll. The committee claimed support from the Roman Catholic Church and received relatively strong support in rural areas. Following the election's conclusion, the Christian National Union disbanded its nom de guerre Catholic Electoral Action, sitting in parliament under the party's actual name.

      <span class="mw-page-title-main">German Minority Electoral Committee</span> Minority committee in Poland

      The German Minority Electoral Committee is an electoral committee in Poland which represents the German minority. Since 2008, its representative has been Ryszard Galla. In the 2023 Polish parliamentary election, Galla lost his seat in the Sejm, leaving the party with no national representation.

      <span class="mw-page-title-main">Labour Party (Poland)</span> Political party in Poland

      The Labour Party is a minor political party in Poland. It was formally called the Christian-Democratic Labour Party(Polish: Chrześcijańsko-Demokratyczne Stronnictwo Pracy, ChDSP) between 1989 and 2000.

      Kukiz'15 is a right-wing populist political party in Poland led by Paweł Kukiz.

      <span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 Polish parliamentary election</span>

      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.

      <span class="mw-page-title-main">Włodzimierz Czarzasty</span> Polish politician

      Włodzimierz Czarzasty is a Polish politician who serves as the co-chairperson of the New Left party. He has been serving as a Deputy Marshal of the Sejm since 12 November 2019.

      References

      1. 1 2 "Posłowie X kadencji (Members of the X Sejm)". Sejm.gov.pl. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
      2. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1491 ISBN   978-3-8329-5609-7
      3. Millard, Francis (September 1994). "The Shaping of the Polish Party System, 1989-93". East European Politics & Societies. 8 (3): 467–494. doi:10.1177/0888325494008003005.
      4. Lundberg, Thomas. "Political Transition in Hungary and Poland". Voting and Democracy Report: 1995. Center for Voting and Democracy. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
      5. Jasiewicz, Krzysztof (1 January 1992). "From Solidarity to Fragmentation" (PDF). Journal of Democracy. 3 (2): 55–69. doi:10.1353/jod.1992.0024. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 August 2010. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
      6. 1 2 3 4 5 Jaworski, Stefan J.; Czaplicki, Kazimierz W. (2011). Księga pamiątkowa z okazji obchodów 20-lecia demokratycznych wyborów w Polsce (in Polish). Warsaw: Zespół Prawny i Organizacji Wyborów Krajowego Biura Wyborczego. p. 76. ISBN   978-83-926304-4-9.