The Sejm, officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland, is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland.
The Government of Poland takes the form of a unitary parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the President is the head of state and the Prime Minister is the head of government. However, its form of government has also been identified as semi-presidential.
The Senate is the upper house of the Polish parliament, the lower house being the Sejm. The history of the Polish Senate stretches back over 500 years; it was one of the first constituent bodies of a bicameral parliament in Europe and existed without hiatus until the final partition of the Polish state in 1795. The contemporary Senate is composed of 100 senators elected by a universal ballot and is headed by the Marshal of the Senate. The incumbent Marshal of the Senate is Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska.
Poland does not legally recognize same-sex unions, either in the form of marriage or civil unions. In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples have limited legal rights in regards to the tenancy of a shared household. A few laws also guarantee certain limited rights for unmarried couples, including couples of the same sex. Same-sex spouses also have access to residency rights under EU law.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Poland face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. According to ILGA-Europe's 2023 report, the status of LGBTQ rights in Poland is the worst among the European Union countries.
The Constitutional Tribunal is the constitutional court of the Republic of Poland, a judicial body established to resolve disputes on the constitutionality of the activities of state institutions; its main task is to supervise the compliance of statutory law with the Constitution of the Republic of Poland.
Dziennik Ustaw or Dziennik Ustaw Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej is the most important Polish publication of legal acts. It is the only official source of law for promulgation of Polish laws. The publication of this journal is solely the responsibility of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland. 'Dziennik Ustaw' traces its history to the 1918 'Dziennik Praw Królestwa Polskiego' and has changed its name several times during its existence.
The Constitution of the Polish People's Republic was a supreme law passed in communist-ruled Poland on 22 July 1952. It superseded the post-World War II provisional Small Constitution of 1947, which in turn replaced the pre-war April Constitution of 1935.
Kosma Tadeusz Złotowski is a Polish politician who was a member of both chambers of the Polish parliament, President (=Mayor) of Bydgoszcz (1994-1995) and a member of Bydgoszcz City Council (2002-2005). , graduated in Polish philology from University of Warsaw. In 2004, obtained the degree of Master of Business Administration (MBA) at Dominican University in Chicago.
The judiciary of Poland are the authorities exercising the judicial power of the Polish state on the basis of Chapter 8 of the Constitution of Poland. As in almost all countries of continental Europe, the Polish judiciary operates within the framework of civil law.
A children's ombudsman, children's commissioner, youth commissioner, child advocate, children's commission, youth ombudsman or equivalent body is a public authority in various countries charged with the protection and promotion of the rights of children and young people, either in society at large, or in specific categories such as children in contact with the care system. The agencies usually have a substantial degree of independence from the executive, the term is often used differently from the original meaning of ombudsman, it is often an umbrella term, often used as a translation convention or national human rights institutions, dealing with individual complaints, intervening with other public authorities, conducting research, and – where their mandate permits them to engage in advocacy – generally promoting children's rights in public policy, law and practice. The first children's commissioner was established in Norway in 1981. The creation of such institutions has been promoted by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, and, from 1990 onwards, by the Council of Europe.
Andrzej Sebastian Duda is a Polish lawyer and politician who has served as president of Poland since 6 August 2015. Before becoming president, Andrzej Duda was a member of the Polish Lower House (Sejm) from 2011 to 2014 and the European Parliament from 2014 to 2015.
Adam Piotr Bodnar is a Polish lawyer, educator, human rights activist and politician. He was the Polish Ombudsman for Citizen Rights from 2015 until July 2021.
Second Cabinet of Mateusz Morawiecki was the previous 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.
Agnieszka Dudzińska is a Polish sociologist. She is a professor of sociology at the University of Warsaw. She is also an advocate for housing and the welfare of disabled people in Poland, and has been nominated twice for the position of Ombudsman for Children in the government of Poland.
The Polish constitutional crisis, also known as the Polish rule-of-law crisis, is a political conflict ongoing since 2015 in which the Polish government has been accused of failing to adhere to European and Polish constitutional law. The 2015 elections resulted in the Law and Justice party winning control of both the presidency and the parliament. With this government trifecta as a result of its participation in the United Right, PiS used its power to appoint judges to the Constitutional Tribunal in 2015, leading to the 2015 Polish Constitutional Court crisis. The government of Poland continued to expand its hold on the judiciary resulting in the 2017 Supreme Court crisis, and the 2019 Polish judicial disciplinary panel law. These events have allowed the legislature and executive of the Polish government to have de facto control over judges and their appointments.
Ewa Łętowska is a Polish lawyer, a specialist in civil law and professor of legal science. Since 1985, she has worked at the Institute of Law of the Polish Academy of Sciences and since 1997, she has been a member of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1988, she became the first person to be appointed the Ombudsman for Citizen Rights in Poland. Between 1999 and 2002, she served as a judge at the Supreme Administrative Court of Poland and between 2002 and 2011 as a judge of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal.
Fundacja Trans-Fuzja is a Polish LGBT rights organization. It was founded in February 2008 and acquired the status of a public interest organisation (OPP), working to better the wellbeing of transgender people in Poland.
Draginja Nadażdin is a Serbian-Polish human rights activist. She was director of Amnesty International Poland for 14 years and was a member of Social Council at Office of the Ombudsman. she was awarded the Golden Cross of Merit by Polish president in 2014.
Piotr Sylwester Wawrzyk is a Polish government official. He was the Deputy Foreign Minister until 31 August 2023 when he and seven others were removed from office for accepting bribes in return for issuing official visas. He is currently hospitalized after he attempted suicide.
