Polish parliamentary election, 1991

Polish parliamentary election, 1991

27 October 1991

All 460 seats in the Sejm 231 seats were needed for a majority in the Sejm All 100 seats in the Senate Turnout 43.2%   First party Second party Third party   Leader Tadeusz Mazowiecki Aleksander Kwaśniewski Wiesław Chrzanowski Party UD SLD WAK Leader since May 1991 30 January 1990 28 October 1989 Leader's seat Poznań Warsaw Lublin Last election Did not exist 173 seats, 37.6% Did not exist Seats before 49[1] 102[1] Seats won 62 60 49 Seat change 13 42 49 Popular vote 1,382,051 1,344,820 980,304 Percentage 12.3% 12.0% 8.7% Swing 12.3% 25.6% 8.7%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Jarosław Kaczyński Waldemar Pawlak Leszek Moczulski Party POC PSL KPN Leader since 12 May 1990 29 June 1991 1 September 1979 Leader's seat Warsaw Płock Kraków Last election Did not exist 76 seats, 16.5% none Seats won 44 48 46 Seat change 44 28 46 Popular vote 977,344 972,952 841,738 Percentage 8.7% 8.7% 7.5% Swing 8.7% 7.8% 7.5%

Voivodeships with winning majority ■ – Democratic Union ■ – Democratic Left Alliance ■ – Polish People's Party ■ – Catholic Election Action ■ – Peasants' Agreement ■ – Civic Center Alliance ■ – Liberal Democratic Congress ■ – Confederation of Independent Poland ■ – Independent ■ – German Minority

Prime Minister before election Jan Krzysztof Bielecki KLD New Prime Minister Jan Olszewski Centre Agreement

The 1991 Polish parliamentary election was held on 27 October 1991 to elect deputies to both houses of the National Assembly.^[2] The 1991 election was notable on several counts. It was the first to be held since the formation of the Third Republic, the first entirely free and competitive election since the fall of communism, the first completely free national election of any sort since 1928, and only the fourth 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, with a multitude of new parties and alliances emerging in its wake.^[3] 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.^[4] As a result, 29 political parties gained entry into the Sejm and 22 in the Senate, with no party forming a decisive majority. Two months of intense coalition negotiations followed, with Jan Olszewski of the Centre Agreement forming a minority government along with the Christian National Union, remnants of the broader Center Civic Alliance, and the Peasants' Agreement, with conditional support from Polish People's Party, Solidarity and other minor parties.^[5]

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 elections, 27,517,280 citizens were eligible to vote, 11,887,949 (43.2%) of them cast their votes, 11,218,602 (94.4%) of those were counted as valid. In the Senate 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 frivolous Polish Beer-Lovers' Party with 16 seats gained news coverage worldwide.

Results

Party	Sejm			Senate
	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
Democratic Union	1,382,051	12.3	62	3,764,156	32.8	21
Democratic Left Alliance	1,344,820	12.0	60	2,431,178	21.2	4
Catholic Election Action	980,304	8.7	49	1,995,866	17.4	9
Center Civic Alliance	977,344	8.7	44	2,071,045	18.0	9
Polish People's Party	972,952	8.7	48	1,691,566	14.7	7
Confederation of Independent Poland	841,738	7.5	46	1,071,364	9.3	4
Liberal Democratic Congress	839,978	7.5	37	1,497,718	13.1	6
Peasants' Agreement	613,626	5.5	28	719,778	6.3	5
Solidarity	566,553	5.1	27	2,219,160	19.3	11
Polish Beer-Lovers' Party	367,106	3.3	16	–	–	–
Christian Democracy	265,179	2.4	5	–	–	–
Real Politics Union	253,024	2.3	3	371,891	2.2	0
Labour Solidarity	230,975	2.1	4	–	–	–
Democratic Party	159,017	1.4	1	453,721	4.0	0
German Minority	132,059	1.2	7	–	–	–
Party of Christian Democrats	125,314	1.1	4	507,722	4.4	3
Party X	52,735	0.5	3	417,857	3.6	0
Democratic-Social Movement	51,656	0.5	1	–	–	–
Ludowe Porozumienie Wyborcze "Piast"	42,031	0.4	1	–	–	–
Silesian Autonomy Movement	40,061	0.4	2	–	–	–
Solidarni z Prezydentem	27,586	0.2	1	–	–	–
Związek Podhalan	26,744	0.2	1	–	–	–
Polski Związek Zachodni	26,053	0.2	4	–	–	–
Wielkopolsce i Polsce	23,188	0.2	1	–	–	–
Jedności Ludowej	18,902	0.2	1	–	–	–
Prawosławnych	13,788	0.1	1	–	–	–
Solidarność 80	12,769	0.1	1	–	–	–
Unia Wielkopolan	9,019	0.0	1	–	–	–
Sojusz Kobiet	1,922	0.0	1	–	–	–
Local lists and independents	820,108	7.3	0	3,708,344	32.3	21
Invalid/blank votes	669,347	–	–	413,019	–	–
Total	11,887,949	100	460	11,887,865	100	100
Registered voters/turnout	27,517,280	43.2	–	25,517,280	43.2	–
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

References

1. "Posłowie X kadencji (Members of the X Sejm)". Sejm.gov.pl. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
2. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1491 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
3. Millard, Francis (September 1994). "The Shaping of the Polish Party System, 1989-93". East European Politics & Societies 8 (3): 467–494. doi:10.1177/0888325494008003005.
4. Lundberg, Thomas. "Political Transition in Hungary and Poland". Voting and Democracy Report: 1995. Center for Voting and Democracy. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
5. Jasiewicz, Krzysztof (1 January 1992). "From Solidarity to Fragmentation" (PDF). Journal of Democracy 3 (2): 55–69. doi:10.1353/jod.1992.0024. Retrieved 12 August 2012.

• Obwieszczenie Państwowej Komisji Wyborczej z dn. 31 X 1991 r., Monitor Polski. Nr 41, poz. 288
• Obwieszczenie PKW z dn. 30 X 1991 r., M.P. Nr 41, poz. 287