Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 27 October 1991 to elect deputies to both houses of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An expe ...

& Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1491 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 Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of most communist states in the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Natio ...

, the first completely free legislative election of any sort since

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhanov, J ...

, and only the fifth completely free election in all of Polish history. Due to the collapse of the Solidarity movement's political wing, the 1991 election saw deep

political fragmentation Political fragmentation is the fragmentation of the political landscape into different parties and groups, which makes it difficult to deliver effective governance. Political fragmentation can apply to political parties, political groups or other po ...

, with a multitude of new parties and alliances emerging in its wake. 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. 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 Jan Ferdynand Olszewski (; 20 August 1930 – 7 February 2019) was a Polish conservative lawyer and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Poland for five months between December 1991 and early June 1992 and later became a leading figure ...

of the

Centre Agreement Porozumienie Centrum (PC; en, Centre Agreement) was a Polish Christian democratic political party. The party rose in 1990. Its chairman was Jarosław Kaczyński. In its programme, the PC opposed socialism and was anti-communist. In 1997 PC join ...

forming a

minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and Cabinet (government), cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or Coalition government, coalition of parties do ...

along with the

Christian National Union The Christian National Union ( pl, Zjednoczenie Chrześcijańsko-Narodowe), abbreviated to ZChN,Maher (2004), p. 3458 was a Polish nationalist political party in Poland. Founded on 15 September 1989, the party traced its tradition to the Solida ...

, remnants of the broader

Center Civic Alliance The Center Civic Alliance ( pl, Porozumienie Obywatelskie Centrum), abbreviated as POC, was a center-right electoral alliance of several political parties that participated in the 1991 Polish parliamentary election. The Center Civic Alliance was ch ...

, and the

Peasants' Agreement The Polish People's Party – Peasants' Agreement ( pl, Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe – Porozumienie Ludowe, PSL-PL) was a Christian agrarian political party in Poland. History The party was established in October 1991 by a merger of Rural Solid ...

, with conditional support from

Polish People's Party The Polish People's Party ( pl, Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe, PSL) is an agrarian political party in Poland. It is currently led by Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz. Its history traces back to 1895, when it held the name People's Party, although it ...

, Solidarity and other minor parties. 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 The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of t ...

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 A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

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 remarkable 111 parties competed and 29 parties (listed below) won Parliamentary seats. The success of the satirical

Polish Beer-Lovers' Party The Polish Beer-Lovers' Party (PPPP; pl, Polska Partia Przyjaciół Piwa, lit=Polish Party of Friends of Beer) was a satirical Polish political party that was founded in 1990 by satirist Janusz Rewiński. Originally, the party's goal was to pr ...

with 16 seats gained news coverage worldwide.

Results

Sejm

Senate

References

*''Obwieszczenie Państwowej Komisji Wyborczej z dn. 31 X 1991 r.'',

Monitor Polski ''Monitor Polski'' ( en, Official Gazette of the Republic of Poland, abbreviated ''M. P.'' or ''MP'') is a publication of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland. The paper was launched in 1918. Between September and December 1939, the govern ...

. Nr 41, poz. 288 *''Obwieszczenie PKW z dn. 30 X 1991 r.'', M.P. Nr 41, poz. 287 {{History of the Third Polish Republic

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

Parliamentary elections in Poland 1991 elections in Poland History of Poland (1989–present) October 1991 events in Europe