1991 Polish parliamentary election

1991 Polish parliamentary election
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%
	Seats won by electoral district
Prime Minister before election; Jan Krzysztof Bielecki; KLD	New Prime Minister ; Jan Olszewski; Centre Agreement

Parliamentary elections were held in Poland 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 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 first completely free legislative election of any sort since 1928, 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, 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 holding 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 and 11,218,602 (94.4%) of the votes 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 satirical Polish Beer-Lovers' Party with 16 seats gained news coverage worldwide.

Results[]

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

Results of the Sejm election, showing vote strength by electoral district.

Sejm[]


Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Democratic Union	1,382,051	12.32	62
	Democratic Left Alliance	1,344,820	11.99	60
	Catholic Election Action	980,304	8.74	49
	Center Civic Alliance	977,344	8.71	44
	Polish People's Party	972,952	8.67	48
	Confederation of Independent Poland	841,738	7.50	46
	Liberal Democratic Congress	839,978	7.49	37
	Peasants' Agreement	613,626	5.47	28
	Solidarity	566,553	5.05	27
	Polish Beer-Lovers' Party	367,106	3.27	16
	Christian Democracy	265,179	2.36	5
	Real Politics Union	253,024	2.26	3
	Labour Solidarity	230,975	2.06	4
	Democratic Party	159,017	1.42	1
	German Minority Electoral Committee	132,059	1.18	7
	Party of Christian Democrats	125,314	1.12	4
	Party X	52,735	0.47	3
	Democratic-Social Movement	51,656	0.46	1
		42,031	0.37	1
	Silesian Autonomy Movement	40,061	0.36	2
		27,586	0.25	1
	Związek Podhalan	26,744	0.24	1
		26,053	0.23	4
	Wielkopolsce i Polsce	23,188	0.21	1
		18,902	0.17	1
		13,788	0.12	1
		12,769	0.11	1
	Unia Wielkopolan	9,019	0.08	1
		1,922	0.02	1
	Local lists and independents	820,108	7.31	0
Total		11,218,602	100.00	460

Valid votes		11,218,602	94.37
Invalid/blank votes		669,347	5.63
Total votes		11,887,949	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		27,517,280	43.20
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Senate[]


Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Democratic Union	3,764,156	16.42	21
	Democratic Left Alliance	2,431,178	10.61	4
	Solidarity	2,219,160	9.68	11
	Center Civic Alliance	2,071,045	9.04	9
	Catholic Election Action	1,995,866	8.71	9
	Polish People's Party	1,691,566	7.38	7
	Liberal Democratic Congress	1,497,718	6.53	6
	Confederation of Independent Poland	1,071,364	4.67	4
	Peasants' Agreement	719,778	3.14	5
	Party of Christian Democrats	507,722	2.22	3
	Democratic Party	453,721	1.98	0
	Party X	417,857	1.82	0
	Real Politics Union	371,891	1.62	0
	Local lists and independents	3,708,344	16.18	21
Total		22,921,366	100.00	100

Valid votes		11,474,846	96.53
Invalid/blank votes		413,019	3.47
Total votes		11,887,865	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		27,517,280	43.20
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

References[]

^ ^a ^b "Posłowie X kadencji (Members of the X Sejm)". Sejm.gov.pl. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
^ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1491 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
^ 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.
^ Lundberg, Thomas. "Political Transition in Hungary and Poland". Voting and Democracy Report: 1995. Center for Voting and Democracy. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
^ Jasiewicz, Krzysztof (1 January 1992). "From Solidarity to Fragmentation" (PDF). Journal of Democracy. 3 (2): 55–69. doi:10.1353/jod.1992.0024. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 August 2010. 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

[caucuses-1] "Posłowie X kadencji (Members of the X Sejm)". Sejm.gov.pl. Retrieved 8 January 2015.

[NS-2] Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1491 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7

[Millard-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.

[Lundberg-4] Lundberg, Thomas. "Political Transition in Hungary and Poland". Voting and Democracy Report: 1995. Center for Voting and Democracy. Retrieved 12 August 2012.

[Jasiewicz-5] Jasiewicz, Krzysztof (1 January 1992). "From Solidarity to Fragmentation" (PDF). Journal of Democracy. 3 (2): 55–69. doi:10.1353/jod.1992.0024. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 August 2010. Retrieved 12 August 2012.

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