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Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 13 October 2019. All 460 members of the
Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...
and 100 senators of 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 ...
were elected. The ruling right-wing
Law and Justice Law and Justice ( , PiS) is a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative List of political parties in Poland, political party in Poland. The party is a member of European Conservatives and Refo ...
(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.


Background

Following the 2015 parliamentary elections the
Law and Justice Law and Justice ( , PiS) is a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative List of political parties in Poland, political party in Poland. The party is a member of European Conservatives and Refo ...
(PiS) party was able to form a majority government, after receiving 235 seats to the 138 won by their main competitor,
Civic Platform The Civic Platform (, PO)The party is officially the Civic Platform of the Republic of Poland (''Platforma Obywatelska Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''). is a Centre-right politics, centre-right liberal conservative political party in Poland. Since ...
, the first time in the post-communist era that a party had won an outright majority in parliamentary elections.
Beata Szydło Beata Maria Szydło (, née Kusińska ; born 15 April 1963) is a Polish politician who has served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2019. A member of Law and Justice (PiS), she previously served as the prime minister of Poland f ...
became
Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
on 16 November 2015 heading a cabinet that also included
Solidary Poland Sovereign Poland (, SP), also known as United Poland (; alternatively translated to Solidarity Poland), until 2023, was a Catholic-nationalist political party in Poland led by Zbigniew Ziobro. It was founded in 2012, as the Catholic-nationalist ...
and
Poland Together Poland Together (, PR or PRZP), formally Poland Together United Right (''Polska Razem Zjednoczona Prawica''), was a conservative-liberal political party in Poland. The party was founded on 7 December 2013 by former Minister of Justice and Civic ...
, which ran on joint lists with Law & Justice. On 23 December 2015 the Sejm passed a
law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...
, which reorganized the Constitutional Court, introducing a requirement for a two-thirds majority and the mandatory participation of at least 13, instead of 9 of the 15 judges. In addition, in early 2016 the PiS government passed a law which began the process of giving the government full control of state radio and television. In protest, the
Committee for the Defence of Democracy The Committee for the Defence of Democracy, CDD (, ''KOD'') is a Polish-born civic organization and NGO with goals that includes promoting the European values, especially democracy, rule of law, and human rights. It was founded in November 201 ...
, with help from the Modern party and Civic Platform, started demonstrations across the country. In December 2016 a parliamentary crisis took place, after the
Marshal of the Sejm The Marshal of the Sejm (, ) is the speaker (chair) of the Sejm, the lower house of the Polish Parliament. The office traces its origins to the 15th century. In modern Poland, the full title is Marshal of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (). ...
Marek Kuchciński excluded a Civic Platform's MP Michał Szczerba from the Sejm's proceedings. In protest, members of the opposition occupied the Sejm's rostrum. The Marshal, unable to proceed in the main session chamber, moved the session to the smaller Column Hall. Some politicians and commentators supporting Law and Justice accused opposition of attempting a "
coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...
". It ended fruitlessly for the opposition, though the Modern party was disgraced, as its leader,
Ryszard Petru Ryszard Jerzy Petru (born 6 July 1972) is a Polish politician. He served as an assistant to several members of parliament in the 1990s. He has worked as an economist for the World Bank, PricewaterhouseCoopers and several Polish banks. Since 201 ...
, was photographed flying to
Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...
, with fellow MP Joanna Schmidt, during the tense situation. Modern's opinion poll ratings fell as a result. In December 2017
Mateusz Morawiecki Mateusz Jakub Morawiecki (; born 20 June 1968) is a Polish economist, historian and politician who served as the prime minister of Poland between 2017 and 2023. A member of the Law and Justice (PiS) party, he previously served in the Cabinet of ...
succeeded
Beata Szydło Beata Maria Szydło (, née Kusińska ; born 15 April 1963) is a Polish politician who has served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2019. A member of Law and Justice (PiS), she previously served as the prime minister of Poland f ...
as Prime Minister. December 6, 2018 the Pro-Polish Coalition was formed - an alliance of KORWiN and the National Movement, with more parties joining later in order to contest the 2019 Elections to the European Parliament. The alliance later changed its name to just "
Confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...
". In February 2019 the Wiosna party was founded as a
left wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social hierarchies. Left-wing politic ...
anticlerical Anti-clericalism is opposition to religious authority, typically in social or political matters. Historically, anti-clericalism in Christian traditions has been opposed to the influence of Catholicism. Anti-clericalism is related to secularism, ...
party. For the 2019 European Parliament elections, the opposition formed a wide coalition, the
European Coalition European Coalition was the name adopted by various electoral coalitions formed in Spain for elections to the European Parliament. The coalitions were headed by Canarian Coalition The Canarian Coalition (, CC or CCa) is a regionalist and Canarian ...
, with the exception of Wiosna. However, PiS won the European elections. Following the loss, the European Coalition dissolved and the Confederation lost many member parties and leaders. In June 2019 Modern and the Civic Platform formed a joint parliamentary club. August 6, the Left was formed, a ''de facto'' coalition of Razem, SLD and Wiosna, ''de jure'' carrying the SLD name. On August 8, 2019
PSL PSL may refer to: Sport *Pakistan Super League, a Twenty20 cricket league *Palau Soccer League, top division association football league in Palau *Pilipinas Super League, a professional basketball league *Philippine Super Liga, a defunct profes ...
allied with
Kukiz'15 Kukiz'15 is a right-wing populist political party in Poland led by Paweł Kukiz. It was formed in 2015 as a loose movement that registered itself as an association in 2016 and later as a political party in 2020. Initially, it was connected wit ...
in an alliance named "
Polish Coalition The Polish Coalition (, KP) is a political alliance in Poland. It is led by the Polish People's Party. It was formed in 2019. In the 2019 parliamentary election, the Polish Coalition placed fourth, winning 30 seats in total. Its 2020 preside ...
".


Electoral system

The 460 members of the Sejm are elected by
open Open or OPEN may refer to: Music * Open (band), Australian pop/rock band * The Open (band), English indie rock band * ''Open'' (Blues Image album), 1969 * ''Open'' (Gerd Dudek, Buschi Niebergall, and Edward Vesala album), 1979 * ''Open'' (Go ...
party-list proportional representation Party-list proportional representation (list-PR) is a system of proportional representation based on preregistered Political party, political parties, with each party being Apportionment (politics), allocated a certain number of seats Apportionm ...
in 41 multi-member
districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...
. Each district has between 7 and 20 seats. Seats are allocated using the
D'Hondt method The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is an apportionment method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in proportional representation among political parties. It belongs to ...
, with a 5% threshold for single parties and 8% threshold for coalitions (thresholds are waived for national minorities). The Senate is elected using
first-past-the-post voting First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or first-preference, and the candidate with more first- ...
in
single-member district A single-member district or constituency is an electoral district represented by a single officeholder. It contrasts with a multi-member district, which is represented by multiple officeholders. In some countries, such as Australia and India ...
s. Candidates for Deputies are nominated either by the electoral committees of the various political parties and or by individual voter committees. Overall, the Sejm includes 460 MPs. Should a party have 231 or more deputies in Parliament, it has an
absolute majority A majority is more than half of a total; however, the term is commonly used with other meanings, as explained in the " Related terms" section below. It is a subset of a set consisting of more than half of the set's elements. For example, if a gr ...
and could govern by itself, without a
coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...
partner. The constitution can be amended with a
supermajority A supermajority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority rules in a democracy can help to prevent a majority from eroding fun ...
of two-thirds, or 307 deputies.


Election date

The date of the election, 13 October, was set by the
President of Poland The president of Poland ( ), officially the president of the Republic of Poland (), is the head of state of Poland. His or her prerogatives and duties are determined in the Constitution of Poland. The president jointly exercises the executive ...
,
Andrzej Duda Andrzej Sebastian Duda (born 16 May 1972) is a Polish lawyer and politician who has served as the sixth president of Poland since 2015. Before becoming president, he served as a Member of the Sejm from 2011 to 2014 and before becoming Member of ...
. The
Constitution of Poland The Constitution of the Republic of Poland ( or ''Konstytucja RP'' for short) is the supreme law of the Republic of Poland, which is also commonly called the Third Polish Republic ( or ''III RP'' for short) in contrast with the preceding syste ...
requires that the next election should take place on a non-working day, Sunday or national holiday, within the 30-day period before the expiry of the 4-year period beginning from the commencement of the current Sejm's and Senate's term of office. Elections can be held earlier under certain conditions, for instance, if the Sejm is dissolved or if no government is formed in time limit set by the constitution. Since the former Sejm and Senate first sitting took place on 12 November 2015, possible dates were Sundays 13 October, 20 October, 27 October, 3 November and 10 November 2019. The other possible but unlikely dates were public holidays 1 November (
All Saints' Day All Saints' Day, also known as All Hallows' Day, the Feast of All Saints, the Feast of All Hallows, the Solemnity of All Saints, and Hallowmas, is a Christian solemnity celebrated in honour of all the saints of the Church, whether they are know ...
) and 11 November (
Independence Day An independence day is an annual event memorialization, commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or Sovereign state, statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or after the end of a milit ...
) 2019.


Lists


Electoral committees registered in all constituencies


Electoral committees registered in less than half of the constituencies


Electoral committees with candidates only for the Senate


Campaign slogans


Opinion polls


Results


Sejm


By constituency


Senate


By constituency


Electorate demographics


Notes


Further reading

* Radoslaw Markowski (2020) Plurality support for democratic decay: the 2019 Polish parliamentary election, West European Politics.


References


External links


Polish Parliamentary Elections 2019 — National Electoral Commission / National Electoral Office
{{Polish elections
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
Parliamentary election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...
Parliamentary election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...
Parliamentary elections in Poland