1998 Polish local elections

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1998 Polish regional assembly election
Flag of Poland.svg
  1994 11 October 1998 2002  

855 seats to regional assemblies
Registered28,546,385
Turnout12,946,445 (45.35%)
Increase2.svg 11.57pp
 First partySecond partyThird party
 
Marian Krzaklewski 2007.jpg
Leszek Miller 2002 (cropped).jpg
Jaroslaw Kalinowski 2009.jpg
Marek Pol.jpg
Lepper 1999.png
Leader Marian Krzaklewski Leszek Miller
Party AWS SLD PS
Seats won34232989
Popular vote3,905,3833,731,3031,410,835
Percentage33.3%31.8%12.0%

 Fourth partyFifth partySixth party
 
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Norbert Rasch (r.) mit Henryk Kroll (cropped) 3.jpg
Adam Slomka Sejm 2016.jpg
Leader Leszek Balcerowicz Henryk Kroll Adam Słomka  [ pl ]
Party UW KWMN RP"O"
Seats won76132
Popular vote1,369,24167,921376,317
Percentage11.7%0.6%3.2%

1998 Polish voivodeship sejmik elections.svg
Largest party and the distribution of seats in each voivodeship sejmik constituency.
Coalition formed in each voivodeship sejmik. Wladze na szczeblu wojewodzkim (1998).svg
Coalition formed in each voivodeship sejmik.

The 1998 Polish local elections were held on October 11, 1998. [1] The number of valid votes cast was 11,721,825, with 12,945,043 casting ballots out of 28,544,777 eligible voters. The turnout in the elections to the provincial assemblies was 45.35%, and the proportion of invalid votes cast was 9.06%. [2]

Contents

History

The introduction of two new levels of local government (powiats and voivodeships) gave the 1998 local government elections a different character from those held four years earlier. A consequence of the changes was also the adoption of a new electoral law on 16 July 1998. [3]

The parties and political associations belonging to the social-democratic Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) signed the "Local Government '98" (Polish : Samorządy’98) agreement on 16 June 1998, pledging to field joint candidates for municipal, district and provincial councils. The SLD's main election slogan was ‘Wise, Healthy, Safe’ (Polish : Mądrze, Zdrowo, Bezpiecznie). [3]

However, the progressive Labour Union and the agrarian Polish People's Party resigned from taking part in the elections themselves - on 27 June, these two parties, together with the National Party of Retirees and Pensioners and far-left populist Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland formed a coalition under the name Social Alliance (PS). The party leaders believed that the formation of the coalition was necessary because the electoral law that was being prepared clearly favoured the large groupings (i.e. SLD and AWS), and one of the PS's main goals was to oppose the division of the political scene into post-communist and post-Solidarity groupings, and to establish a left-wing alternative for those who did not want to cast their votes for either the AWS or SLD. The agreement only concerned elections at the provincial level, but the local branches of the respective parties were advised to form similar alliances at the county and municipal levels. The Alliance ran in the elections under the slogan ‘Together we can do it’. [3]

The vote, held on 11 October 1998, was more popular than four years earlier - 45.45 per cent of eligible voters took part in the municipal council elections, 47.76 per cent in the county council elections and 45.35 per cent in the provincial assembly elections. In presenting the political aspect of the election result, it is worth noting the polarisation on the political scene and the progressive partisanship of local authorities with the next level. In the elections to the regional assemblies, SLD won in nine voivodeships, AWS won in five and there was a tie in one (Silesian Voivodeship). However, it was the Solidarity Electoral Action that won more seats at this level (40 per cent), against 38.5 per cent won by the Alliance. The third force was the Social Alliance, which won 10.4 per cent of seats in the assemblies. [3]

At the county and municipal level, local committees emerged to a much greater extent than at the provincial level, taking 25 per cent of the seats in the counties and 68 per cent in the municipalities respectively. The SLD won 27.7 per cent of the seats in the district council elections, the Alliance 13 per cent (in comparison: AWS - 30.4 per cent). The distribution of seats at the level of municipalities up to 20,000 inhabitants was as follows: Social Alliance - 6.9 per cent, SLD - 5.3 per cent, AWS - 9 per cent. Adding up the figures for the whole country and for councils at all levels, SLD had 8,837 seats, PS - 4,584 and AWS - 10,615 and UW - 1,146. [3]

In the post-election governing coalitions formed at the provincial level, cooperation between the SLD and the Social Alliance was most common - this was the case in nine provinces, and in one (Warmińsko-Mazurskie) there was cooperation between the PS and AWS. At the district level, the formation of majority coalitions also depended in many cases on the position of the Social Alliance. Particularly important in this context was the PS leaders' adoption of the principle of not making top-down recommendations on who to enter into coalitions with. It is worth mentioning the then rather exotic AWS-SLD coalition that was concluded in Racibórz, which met with a very critical reception from the AWS leaders and a rather neutral attitude from the PS politicians. [3]

In assessing the outcome of the individual groupings, there was the very good result of the SLD, which, after its defeat in the 1997 parliamentary elections, slowly began to narrow the gap with the Solidarity Electoral Action, dominant on the political scene at the time. The 1998 elections also played an important role in the SLD's transformation from a broad electoral coalition into a centralised political party. [3]

There are two elements which contribute to the assessment of the Social Alliance's success: on the one hand, it became the third political force in the country, and - due to the balance of power in the local governments and councils - an important subject of the coalition negotiations conducted by AWS or SLD; on the other hand, the main beneficiary of the PS's success was the Polish People's Party (PSL), which took over the vast majority of the seats it won. This was related to the fact that Labour Union's candidates dominated the lists in municipal districts where the Social Alliance did not enjoy particular support. This was the case, for example, in Warsaw, where some 600 candidates were fielded for councils at various levels and not a single seat was won. The only seats won (in the Mazovian assembly) went to the PSL. [3]

UP's small gains were also the result of the weakness of many of the territorial structures of both parties. This is why, despite the announcement that the Social Alliance would be maintained, there were voices in the Labour Union after the elections that were critical of the establishment of cooperation with the Polish People's Party. The Labour Union's youth, among others, considered it a big mistake to continue to remain in this coalition. The consequence of such opinions was the establishment of cooperation with the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD). [3]

Apart from the PSL, the radical agrarian Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland also greatly benefited from its participation in PS, giving it nationwide recognition and allowing it to emerge as the third largest party in the 2001 Polish parliamentary election. Self-Defence presented itself as the "party of working people, of the impoverished, exploited, and wronged". [4] Formed out of the dissidents wings of the Polish United Workers' Party such as the national communists and Maoists, Samoobrona established itself as an anti-establishment and a left-wing populist party. Shortly after the 1998 elections, Samoobrona started cooperating with the Polish Socialist Party of Piotr Ikonowicz, and both parties considered forming a coalition known as the "Workers' and Peasants' Alliance". Self-Defence also gained support of SLD party ranks, and the party attracted a sizable group of left-wing activists, both at the central and local level. [5]

Voivodeship councils

Seats distribution

Voivodeship

Council

AWS SLD PS UW MN  [ pl ] RP"O" RP Total
Lower Silesia 19252955
Kuyavia-Pomerania 15265450
Lublin 201612250
Lubusz 14223645
Łódź 19249355
Lesser Poland 38133660
Masovia 3230116180
Opole 1114341345
Subcarpathian 31108150
Podlaskie 25135245
Pomerania 27162550
Silesia 313111275
Świętokrzyskie 102111345
Warmia-Masuria 16176645
Greater Poland 21295560
West Pomerania 132236145
Poland342329897613321855
PartyVotes%Seats
Solidarity Electoral Action 3,905,38333.31342
Democratic Left Alliance 3,731,30331.83329
Social Alliance 1,410,83512.0389
Freedom Union 1,369,24111.6876
Polish Family Association 606,2375.171
Homeland Patriotic Movement 376,3173.212
German Minority in Opole 67,9210.5813
Real Politics Union 44,8380.380
"Wspólnota Świętokrzyska" Association  [ pl ]41,8710.363
Silesian Autonomy Movement 30,8190.260
"Christian Democracy" Electoral Committee22,4110.190
Christian Democracy of the Third Polish Republic 11,8000.100
Affranchisement Association11,7520.100
Committee for Defence of Opole11,5330.100
Szczecin League10,8040.090
Ecological Association of Wrocław6,3290.050
Independent Electoral Forum "Helping Families"4,5770.040
Warsaw Economic Council Agreement4,3950.040
Labor Defence - CONSULTRIX4,3590.040
Polish Anglers' Union3,8140.030
Polytechnic Electoral Committee3,6610.030
Polish Society of War Veterans 3,5780.030
Agreement for Górnik Zabrze3,2760.030
Citizen's Self-Governance3,0130.030
Forward Silesia2,8630.020
Education Electoral Commitee2,7280.020
Agreement for Zabory Lands 20102,7160.020
Handicapped People's Electoral Committee2,6840.020
Independent Self-Governance Initiative Starachowice - "Common Cause"2,5130.020
Citizen's and Interparochial Self-Governance2,4610.020
Economic Entities Association2,1810.020
Lublin Cooperatives - Self-Governance1,9250.020
Krosno Economic Forum1,9140.020
Dębiany Individual Nonpartisan Farmers' Electoral Committee1,8610.020
Zabrze Residents' Citizen's Defence Movement1,7590.020
"Our Kielce" - Commitee for Support of Local Self-Governance1,6630.010
Independents for the Handicapped and Pensioners1,3090.010
Democratic People's Party  [ pl ]9360.010
Christian Forum9080.010
Przedwiośnie-Independents Electoral Committee8600.010
Regional Cattle Dairy Farmers' Union6220.010
Association of Self-Growth Activism4500.000
Our Youth Electoral Committee4260.000
Polish National Community3610.000
Total11,723,207100.00855
Valid votes11,723,20790.55
Invalid/blank votes1,223,2389.45
Total votes12,946,445100.00
Registered voters/turnout28,546,38545.35
Source: National Electoral Commission [6]

References

  1. Zarycki, Tomasz (1999-01-01). "Wybory samorządowe w 1998 r." Grzegorz Gorzelak (Ed.) Decentralizacja terytorialnej organizacji kraju: Założenia, przygotowanie, ustawodawstwo. CASE Foundation, Warszawa.
  2. "OBWIESZCZENIE PAŃSTWOWEJ KOMISJI WYBORCZEJ z dnia 23 października 1998 r. – Tekst pierwotny – Baza aktów prawnych – INFOR.pl – portal księgowych" (in Polish). www.infor.pl.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Sieklucki, Dominik (2007). Partie lewicy i centrolewicy w polskim systemie partyjnym: Aktywność SLD, PSL i UP na polskiej scenie politycznej (in Polish). Kraków: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego. pp. 150–152. ISBN   978-83-233-2241-2.
  4. Millard, Frances (1994). "The Polish Parliamentary Election of September, 1993". Communist and Post-Communist Studies. 27 (3). University of California Press: 301.
  5. Tomasiewicz, Jarosław [in Polish] (2023). "Populiści w poszukiwaniu tożsamości – ideologiczne inspiracje Samoobrony (1991–2007)". Praktyka Teoretyczna (in Polish). 48 (2): 54–55. doi: 10.19195/prt.2023.2.2 .
  6. "Samorząd 1998".