Poland
Parliamentary Elections
Electoral system
- Bicameral parliament
- Name: National Assembly (Sejm)
- Members (lower house): 460
- Term: 4 years
- Constituencies: 41 multi-member (7-19 seats) constituencies, a total of 460 seat.
- Voting system: Proportional: all 460 members are elected by proportional representation, distribution of seats being effected on the basis of the modified Saint-Lague method; parties win seats according to the aggregate vote for their candidates in a constituency, and then allocate them to those with highest totals. There are thresholds for participation in allocation of seats: 5% of the total votes cast for party list; 8% for a coalition list. National minorities' lists are exempt from thresholds requirements.
- Voter requirements: 18 years of age; Polish citizenship.
- Voting is not compulsory.
Latest elections
Election results 2005, main parties. NUTS 2
In the latest general election in Poland, held on 21 October 2007, the Polish voters, as in all elections in the post-communist era, rejected the incumbent party in favour of the opposition. The minority government of Jaroslaw Kaczynski and his Law and Justice Party (PiS) transferred power to the coalition of Civic Platform (PO) led by Donald Tusk and the Polish Peasant Party (PSL). PO won 41.51 percent of votes and 209 seats; PiS received 32.11 percent of votes and 166 seats. Two more parties cleared the 5 percent threshold: the LiD coalition with 13.15 percent of votes and 53 seats, and PSL with 8.91 percent of votes and 31 seats. As the PO did not win an outright majority, it had to seek a coalition partner. Its only viable choice was the PSL, and on 9 November, the President designated Donald Tusk as the Prime Minister of the PO-PSL government.
Sources
Inter-Parliamentary Union, PARLINE database on national parliaments
Government (Poland), in Europa World online. London, Routledge. University of Bergen. Retrieved 08 September 2006 from http://www.europaworld.com/entry/pl.is.51
Jasiewicz, K. & Jasiewicz-Betkiewicz, A. 2008. Poland. European Journal of Political Research, Vol. 47(7-8), 1096-1107.
