VI.

Government

Communist Poland was governed under a constitution adopted in 1952 and subsequently amended. In December 1989 major constitutional revisions ended the monopoly of the Communist Party, established an upper chamber in the legislature, and reintroduced democratic rules and principles in Poland. In 1992 a transitional constitution known as the “Little Constitution” was adopted. However, this constitution established imprecise limits on the power of Poland’s president, prime minister, and legislature, which led to some confrontation between those officeholders, particularly regarding foreign policy and defense. A full revision of the constitution was initiated in November 1992. The final draft was completed in April 1997 and approved by voters in a nationwide referendum the following month. Among its numerous provisions, the new constitution clarifies the division of powers within the branches of government, while shifting some power away from the president. The president’s veto, for example, may be overridden by a three-fifths majority in the legislature, rather than the two-thirds previously required.

A.

Executive

Under the Communist regime, a unicameral legislature elected the head of state. In 1989 general elections were held for a new bicameral legislature, and the two houses elected Wojciech Jaruzelski as president of the republic. In December 1990 Poland held its first direct presidential elections since the interwar period (1918-1939), electing labor-activist Lech Wałęsa.

The Polish president is directly elected for a maximum of two five-year terms. As head of state, he or she is the highest representative of the country in domestic and international affairs and the head of the armed forces. Under certain circumstances the president also has the power to dissolve the legislature and call for new elections.

The prime minister of Poland serves as head of government. The prime minister is appointed by the president with the approval of the lower house of the legislature and is typically a leader of the majority party or coalition. The prime minister heads the Council of Ministers, which is responsible for carrying out the decisions of the legislature. Other ministers within the council head various government departments. Council members other than the prime minister are appointed by the legislature and are responsible to that body.

B.

Legislature

The national legislature of Poland is comprised of two chambers, the Sejm, or lower house, and the Senat, or upper house. The Sejm consists of 460 members who are elected for four-year terms according to a system of proportional representation. The Senat was reestablished in 1989 after having been abolished by the Communists in 1947. Its 100 members are also elected for four-year terms.

In the general elections of June 1989, 65 percent of the seats in the Sejm were reserved for the Communist Party and its allies, the United Peasant Party and the Democratic Party, and 35 percent were reserved for the opposition, led by Solidarity. In September 1991 free legislative elections were held in Poland, in which all seats in parliament were contested and none were reserved for members of any specific party. Since the general elections held in 1993, minimum requirements are placed on parties seeking representation in parliament. To gain seats, single parties need at least 5 percent of the vote, and coalitions need at least 8 percent. All Polish citizens aged 18 and older are eligible to vote.

C.

Judiciary

The Supreme Court is Poland’s highest court of appeal and is responsible for supervising all lower courts. The court is organized into four chambers: criminal, civil, labor and social insurance, and administration. Its more than 100 members are appointed for life terms by the president from a list prepared by the independent National Council of the Judiciary. The presiding officer of the Supreme Court, called the first president, is appointed from among the court justices by the Sejm upon the recommendation of the country’s president. Poland’s judicial system also includes the Supreme Administrative Court, and a number of provincial, district, and special courts.

The State Tribunal and the Constitutional Tribunal were both established by the Jaruzelski regime in 1982. The Constitutional Tribunal pronounces judgment on the constitutionality of laws and regulations, while the State Tribunal pronounces judgment on the guilt or innocence of high government officials charged with violating the constitution and laws. Selected by the Sejm for four-year terms, the members of both tribunals are independent and bound only by the law.

D.

Political Parties

The Polish United Workers’ Party, also known as the Communist Party, was the leading political force in Poland from 1948 until 1989, when it yielded power to a Solidarity-led government. In early 1990 the Communist Party reestablished itself as the new Social-Democracy of the Polish Republic (SdRP). Around that time, conflicts developed among the leaders of Solidarity, and by mid-1990 the movement had splintered into factions. Dozens of small parties and groups also emerged in Poland after 1989 and many achieved representation in the government. In an effort to simplify the party system, in 1993 the Polish government established a minimum electoral threshold for representation in parliament.

Several parties and political coalitions became important after 1993. These included the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), a leftist coalition that included the SdRP; and Solidarity Electoral Action (AWS), an alliance of Roman Catholic, centrist, populist, and right-wing parties. Also important were the centrist agrarian Polish People’s Party (PSL; also known as the Polish Peasants’ Party) and the pro-business Freedom Union (UW).

In the 2001 general election the Solidarity-led AWS collapsed after it failed to win any seats. Several new parties on the right emerged to supplant the AWS. They included Civic Platform (PO; also known as the Citizens’ Platform), a pro-business party formed by Solidarity defectors; the right-wing, anticorruption Law and Justice Party; the Self-Defense Party, a populist agrarian party; and the nationalist League of Polish Families.

Following the 2005 general election, the Law and Justice Party formed a ruling coalition with the League of Polish Families, the Polish People’s Party, and the Self-Defense Party. Civic Platform and the Democratic Left Alliance formed the opposition. Following early legislative elections in 2007, power shifted to a Civic Platform-led coalition with the Polish People’s Party. No government had been reelected in Poland since the fall of Communism in 1989.

E.

Local Government

Poland’s first democratic local elections since the interwar period were held in 1990; subsequent elections were held in 1994 and 1998. Poland is administered locally through a system of provinces (województwa). The provinces are divided into counties (powiaty), which are subdivided into towns and communes (gminy). Local governors and provincial assemblies administer the local districts. Members of the provincial assemblies are chosen by popularly elected councils that represent the towns and communes. Both the provincial and community levels of government enjoy far greater autonomy than they did under the highly centralized Communist system.

F.

Social Services

Communist Poland had an extensive system of social welfare funded from the national budget. Both health care and social security benefits were free and comprehensive. After 1989 this sector underwent substantial restructuring and decentralization. Poles now have to pay much more directly for health care and other welfare provisions.

Private general medicine has increased in recent years, as has the practice of charging fees for medical care in hospitals. Most Polish pharmacies are now privately owned. Social security benefits are funded in part by a payroll tax and in part from the state budget. Benefits provided to Polish citizens include pensions, disability payments, child allowances, survivor benefits, maternity benefits, funeral subsidies, sickness compensation, and alimony payments. Unemployment benefits were expanded in the first years after Communism ended in response to the large increase in the unemployment rate, but laws passed in the early 1990s drastically reduced the scope of the unemployment program.

G.

Defense

The Polish armed forces were cut drastically after the fall of Communism in the late 1980s. In 2004 Polish military forces included an army of about 89,000 troops, a navy of 14,300, and an air force of 30,000. Military service is compulsory for all men for a period of 18 months, but deferments are granted on various grounds. The last contingent of Russian combat troops—remnants of a Soviet force that had been stationed on Polish soil for decades—withdrew from the country in 1993. In 2003 Poland participated in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, sending about 200 Polish soldiers as part of the invasion force. See also U.S.-Iraq War.

H.

International Organizations

Poland is a member of the United Nations (UN), the Council of Europe (CE), the Central European Initiative, and the European Union. In March 1999 Poland joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as one of three formerly Communist nations chosen to become part of the Western military alliance.