Next Polish parliamentary election
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All 460 seats to the Sejm 231 seats are needed for a majority in the Sejm All 100 seats to the Senate of Poland | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The next Polish parliamentary elections must be held not later than November 2019.[lower-alpha 2] All 460 members of the Sejm and 100 senators will be elected.
Background
Following the 2015 parliamentary elections the Law and Justice (PiS) party was able form a majority government, after receiving 235 seats to the 138 won by their main competitor, Civic Platform, the first time in the post-communist era that a party had won an outright majority in parliamentary elections.[1][2] Beata Szydło became Prime Minister on 16 November 2015 in a cabinet also including Solidary Poland and Poland Together, which ran on joint lists with Law & Justice.
On 23 December 2015 the Sejm passed a law, 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. Article 190 (5) of the Polish Constitution requires only the majority of votes also in early 2016 PiS' government passed a law starting the process of giving the government full control of state radio and television.[3] After that, the Committee for the Defence of Democracy, with help from the Modern party and Civic Platform, started demonstrations across the country.[4]
Electoral system
The 460 members of the Sejm are elected by open party-list proportional representation in multi-member constituencies. Seats are allocated using the D'hondt method, with a 5% threshold for single parties and 8% threshold for coalitions (although requirements waived for national minorities). The Senate is elected using first-past-the-post voting in single-member districts.[5] Candidates for Deputies are nominated either by the electoral committees of the various political parties and or by individual voter committees.[6]
Overall, the Sejm includes 460 MPs. Should a party have 231 or more deputies in Parliament, it has an absolute majority and could thus govern autonomously, without a coalition partner. The constitution can be amended with a supermajority of two-thirds, or 307 deputies.
Election date
The Constitution of Poland 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.[7] Elections can be held earlier under certain conditions, for instance if the Sejm is dissolved or no government is created in time limited by the constitution.[8]
Since the current Sejm and Senate first sitting took place on 12 November 2015,[9] possible dates are Sundays 13 October, 20 October, 27 October, 3 November and 10 November 2019. The other possible but unlikely dates are public holidays 1 November (All Saints' Day) and 11 November (Independence Day) 2019. The date will be chosen by the President of Poland.
Opinion polls
Notes
- ↑ Party only stands in the Opole constituency.
- ↑ See Election date section for a detailed explanation of possible election dates.
References
- ↑ "Poland Ousts Government as Law & Justice Gains Historic Majority". Bloomberg. 25 October 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
- ↑ "Poland elections: Conservatives secure decisive win". 25 October 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
- ↑ "Poland's president signs media law despite EU concerns". Business Insider. Retrieved 2016-01-30.
- ↑ "Polish media laws: Nationwide protests are staged - BBC News". BBC News. Retrieved 2016-01-30.
- ↑ Álvarez-Rivera, Manuel (17 October 2015). "Election Resources on the Internet: Elections to the Polish Sejm, Part I". electionresources.org. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
- ↑ http://www.sejm.gov.pl/english/sejm/pos.htm
- ↑ Constitution of Poland, Article 98, p. 2.
- ↑ Constitution of Poland, Article 98, p. 5.
- ↑ "12 listopada odbędą się pierwsze posiedzenia Sejmu i Senatu nowych kadencji". TVP. 5 November 2015. Retrieved 5 November 2015.