2007 Polish parliamentary election explained

Country:	Poland
Type:	parliamentary
Previous Election:	2005 Polish parliamentary election
Previous Year:	2005
Next Election:	2011 Polish parliamentary election
Next Year:	2011
Seats For Election:	All 460 seats in the Sejm 231 seats needed for a majority
Opinion Polls:	Opinion polling for the 2007 Polish parliamentary election
Election Date:	21 October 2007
Turnout:	18,678,457 (53.82%) 13.31%
Leader1:	Donald Tusk
Party1:	Civic Platform
Last Election1:	24.1%, 133 seats
Seats1:	209
Seat Change1:	76
Popular Vote1:	6,701,010
Percentage1:	41.5%
Swing1:	17.4pp
Leader2:	Jarosław Kaczyński
Party2:	Law and Justice
Last Election2:	27.0%, 155 seats
Seats2:	166
Seat Change2:	11
Popular Vote2:	5,183,477
Percentage2:	32.1%
Swing2:	5.1pp
Leader4:	Aleksander Kwaśniewski
Party4:	Left and Democrats
Last Election4:	17.6%, 55 seats*
Seats4:	53
Seat Change4:	2
Popular Vote4:	2,122,981
Percentage4:	13.2%
Swing4:	4.4pp*
Leader5:	Waldemar Pawlak
Party5:	Polish People's Party
Last Election5:	7.0%, 25 seats
Seats5:	31
Seat Change5:	6
Popular Vote5:	1,437,638
Percentage5:	8.9%
Swing5:	1.9pp
Government
Before Election:	Kaczyński cabinet
Before Party:	PiS
Posttitle:	Government after election
After Election:	First Tusk cabinet
After Party:	PO—PSL

Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 21 October 2007. All 460 members of the Sejm and 100 senators of the Senate were elected. The largest opposition group, Civic Platform (PO), which soundly defeated the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party and its allies. Throughout the campaign, polls showed conflicting results as to which of the two parties had the greater support, yet by the closing week the polls had swung in favour of Civic Platform. Three other political groups won election into the Sejm, the centre-left Left and Democrats coalition, the agrarian Polish People's Party, and the tiny German Minority group. Both of Law and Justice's former minor coalition partners, the League of Polish Families and the Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland suffered an enormous voter backlash, failing to cross the 5% electoral threshold in order to enter the Sejm. Consequently, both parties lost all of their seats.

Early elections were called after the Sejm voted for its own dissolution, due to serious allegations of massive corruption on the part of Andrzej Lepper, leader of the Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland, whose party served as a junior coalition partner to the government of Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński.^[1] All 460 seats in the Sejm and all 100 seats in the Senate were up for election.

Prime Minister and PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński stepped down from office on 15 November, with Civic Platform leader Donald Tusk sworn in as Poland's Prime Minister on the following day. Civic Platform consequently formed a coalition majority government with the Polish People's Party.

The turnout for the elections was 54%, an increase of 13pp from the 2005 elections, seeing the highest voter turnout in a Polish parliamentary election since the semi-free elections of 1989.

Contesting parties

Only seven parties contested all 41 electoral districts for the Sejm nationwide. They included:

Law and Justice (PiS)
Civic Platform (PO)
Left and Democrats (LiD)
Polish People's Party (PSL)
League of Polish Families (LPR)
Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland (SRP)
Polish Labour Party (PPP)

Three other parties managed to register in at least one district:

Women's Party (PK) — 7 districts;
Patriotic Self-Defence (SOP) — one district;
German Minority (MN) — one district;

On 26 September 2007, the leader of the National Party of Retirees and Pensioners, Tomasz Mamiński announced his party's withdrawal from the campaign, stating that Polish electoral law and media bias discriminate against smaller parties.^[2]

Although only the ten parties mentioned above openly contested elections to the lower house Sejm, there were other groups which entered the race for the Sejm. It is common practice in Polish elections for many smaller parties to register their candidates on the electoral committee lists of the larger parties contesting the election. These included:

LPR's lists include members of the League of Polish Families, Real Politics Union and Right of the Republic;
PiS's lists included members of the Polish People's Party "Piast", National People's Movement, Patriotic Movement, Centre Party and Christian-National Union;
The SRP's lists include candidates from Piotr Ikonowicz's New Left party, Leszek Miller's Polish Left party and Zygmunt Wrzodak's National Congress of Poland;
LiD's lists include members from Democratic Left Alliance, Social Democracy of Poland, Democratic Party - demokraci.pl, Labour Union, Reason of the Polish Left, Democratic Left Party and Polish Socialist Party;
The PPP lists include members of the Communist Party of Poland, Union of the Left, Polish Socialist Party, Reason of the Polish Left, Movement for Unemployed Protection and National Forum of Retirees and Pensioners.^[3]

29 political groupings and independents contested the elections to the Senate.

The Greens registered in one district to the Senate (Katowice), receiving 4.55% of votes.

Opinion polls

See main article: Opinion polling for the 2007 Polish parliamentary election.

Results

Sejm

By constituency

Constituency	Turnout	PO	PiS	LiD	PSL	SRP	LPR	PPP	MN	Others	Lead
Constituency	Turnout	data-sort-type="number" style="height:1px; background:;"		data-sort-type="number" style="height:1px; background:;"		data-sort-type="number" style="height:1px; background:;"		data-sort-type="number" style="height:1px; background:;"		Others	Lead	data-sort-type="number" style="height:1px; background:;"	data-sort-type="number" style="height:1px; background:;"	data-sort-type="number" style="height:1px; background:;"	data-sort-type="number" style="height:1px; background:;"
1 – Legnica	51.32	42.97	28.96	17.89	6.60	1.49	1.12	0.97	-	0.00	14.01
2 – Wałbrzych	48.91	46.39	26.23	15.73	7.76	1.59	1.04	1.25	-	0.00	20.16
3 – Wrocław	58.18	53.20	28.40	10.39	4.84	1.12	1.20	0.84	-	0.00	24.80
4 – Bydgoszcz	53.26	44.09	24.21	19.01	8.71	1.71	1.07	1.20	-	0.00	19.88
5 – Toruń	48.13	39.27	26.75	18.34	11.36	2.34	0.88	1.07	-	0.00	12.52
6 – Lublin	53.05	29.47	41.52	10.59	12.55	1.76	1.91	0.78	-	1.42	12.05
7 – Chełm	46.23	24.09	39.51	10.50	19.38	3.30	2.10	1.12	-	0.00	15.42
8 – Zielona Góra	50.35	47.06	22.47	17.64	8.39	1.69	1.44	1.32	-	0.00	24.59
9 – Łódź	61.98	45.68	27.85	17.77	3.64	1.45	1.13	0.76	-	1.72	17.83
10 – Piotrków Trybunalski	50.66	27.92	41.42	12.35	13.66	2.27	1.26	1.11	-	0.00	13.50
11 – Sieradz	49.46	30.46	35.14	14.03	14.05	2.71	1.22	0.92	-	1.47	4.68
12 – Chrzanów	54.73	36.43	40.40	10.70	9.01	0.97	1.52	0.98	-	0.00	3.97
13 – Kraków	61.38	47.35	34.43	9.67	4.18	0.62	1.22	1.67	-	0.86	12.92
14 – Nowy Sącz	52.27	28.76	51.35	6.40	10.28	1.23	1.32	0.67	-	0.00	22.59
15 – Tarnów	52.26	32.22	45.64	7.33	11.23	1.15	1.56	0.87	-	0.00	13.42
16 – Płock	47.05	29.54	35.58	11.25	19.82	1.93	0.99	0.88	-	0.00	6.04
17 – Radom	50.56	28.24	42.72	8.94	15.02	2.66	1.49	0.93	-	0.00	14.48
18 – Siedlce	50.51	24.83	42.93	8.36	18.96	2.36	1.78	0.77	-	0.00	18.10
19 – Warsaw I	74.03	54.01	27.66	12.66	2.33	0.40	1.24	0.48	-	1.22	26.35
20 – Warsaw II	61.83	45.17	35.63	7.93	8.26	0.79	1.41	0.81	-	0.00	9.54
21 – Opole	45.53	46.58	22.87	11.19	6.62	1.74	1.28	0.91	8.81	0.00	23.71
22 – Krosno	41.10	29.30	44.19	9.21	12.96	1.81	1.49	1.05	-	0.00	14.89
23 – Rzeszów	44.24	27.81	48.43	8.78	11.16	1.09	1.84	0.89	-	0.00	20.62
24 – Białystok	49.50	32.36	38.81	14.72	9.14	2.02	1.44	0.61	-	0.90	6.45
25 – Gdańsk	58.34	54.62	27.08	10.59	4.38	1.19	1.34	0.81	-	0.00	27.54
26 – Gdynia	56.80	51.03	26.55	12.45	6.12	1.37	1.56	0.93	-	0.00	24.48
27 – Bielsko-Biała	58.84	41.76	35.41	12.81	6.62	0.91	1.14	1.34	-	0.00	6.35
28 – Częstochowa	52.94	40.12	30.88	14.76	9.79	1.53	1.55	1.36	-	0.00	9.24
29 – Gliwice	50.96	49.69	29.62	13.26	4.63	0.82	0.97	1.01	-	0.00	20.07
30 – Rybnik	53.01	44.55	36.23	11.99	3.98	0.95	1.01	1.29	-	0.00	8.32
31 – Katowice	57.45	49.74	31.52	12.26	3.31	0.59	0.97	1.62	-	0.00	18.22
32 – Sosnowiec	49.73	44.75	24.98	21.61	5.03	0.93	1.16	1.56	-	0.00	19.77
33 – Kielce	47.45	27.94	39.07	13.81	14.72	1.63	0.98	0.94	-	0.91	11.13
34 – Elbląg	46.89	43.34	24.26	15.43	11.42	3.00	1.40	1.14	-	0.00	19.08
35 – Olsztyn	48.90	45.25	24.15	14.07	12.61	1.70	1.30	0.92	-	0.00	21.10
36 – Kalisz	50.91	38.59	26.48	16.89	13.40	2.19	1.25	1.20	-	0.00	12.11
37 – Konin	50.78	34.18	29.24	17.44	13.83	2.36	1.38	1.58	-	0.00	4.94
38 – Piła	51.78	41.88	21.73	19.75	12.63	2.13	0.97	0.92	-	0.00	20.15
39 – Poznań	66.68	58.60	21.04	12.63	5.45	0.60	0.99	0.68	-	0.00	37.56
40 – Koszalin	49.15	45.88	21.57	17.58	8.58	4.24	1.04	1.12	-	0.00	24.31
41 – Szczecin	53.53	48.96	24.05	17.00	6.12	1.63	1.33	0.92	-	0.00	24.91
allign=center	Poland	53.88	41.51	32.11	13.15	8.91	1.53	1.30	0.99	0.20	0.30	9.40

Seat distribution by constituency

Constituency	PO	PiS	LiD	PSL	MN	Sum
Constituency	data-sort-type="number" style="height:1px; background:;"		data-sort-type="number" style="height:1px; background:;"		data-sort-type="number" style="height:1px; background:;"	Sum		data-sort-type="number" style="height:1px; background:;"	data-sort-type="number" style="height:1px; background:;"
1 – Legnica	6	4	2	-	-	12
2 – Wałbrzych	5	2	1	-	-	8
3 – Wrocław	9	4	1	-	-	14
4 – Bydgoszcz	6	3	2	1	-	12
5 – Toruń	6	4	2	1	-	13
6 – Lublin	5	7	1	2	-	15
7 – Chełm	3	6	1	2	-	12
8 – Zielona Góra	6	3	2	1	-	12
9 – Łódź	5	3	2	-	-	10
10 – Piotrków Trybunalski	3	4	1	1	-	9
11 – Sieradz	4	5	1	2	-	12
12 – Chrzanów	3	4	1	-	-	8
13 – Kraków	7	5	1	-	-	13
14 – Nowy Sącz	3	5	-	1	-	9
15 – Tarnów	3	5	-	1	-	9
16 – Płock	3	4	1	2	-	10
17 – Radom	3	4	1	1	-	9
18 – Siedlce	3	6	1	2	-	12
19 – Warsaw I	11	6	2	-	-	19
20 – Warsaw II	5	4	1	1	-	11
21 – Opole	7	3	1	1	1	13
22 – Krosno	3	6	1	1	-	11
23 – Rzeszów	4	8	1	2	-	15
24 – Białystok	5	7	2	1	-	15
25 – Gdańsk	8	3	1	-	-	12
26 – Gdynia	8	4	2	-	-	14
27 – Bielsko-Biała	4	4	1	-	-	9
28 – Częstochowa	3	3	1	-	-	7
29 – Gliwice	6	3	1	-	-	10
30 – Rybnik	4	4	1	-	-	9
31 – Katowice	7	4	1	-	-	12
32 – Sosnowiec	5	2	2	-	-	9
33 – Kielce	5	7	2	2	-	16
34 – Elbląg	4	2	1	1	-	8
35 – Olsztyn	5	3	1	1	-	10
36 – Kalisz	5	3	2	2	-	11
37 – Konin	3	3	2	1	-	9
38 – Piła	4	2	2	1	-	9
39 – Poznań	7	2	1		-	10
40 – Koszalin	5	2	1	-	-	8
41 – Szczecin	8	3	2	-	-	13
allign=center	Total	209	166	53	31	1	460

Senate

By constituency

No.	Constituency	Total seats	Seats won
			PO	PiS	Others

1	Legnica	3	2	1
2	Wałbrzych	2	2
3	Wrocław	3	3
4	Bydgoszcz	2	2
5	Toruń	3	3
6	Lublin	3		3
7	Chełm	3	1	2
8	Zielona Góra	3	2	1
9	Łódź	2	2
10	Piotrków Trybunalski	2		2
11	Sieradz	3	2	1
12	Kraków	4	3	1
13	Nowy Sącz	2		2
14	Tarnów	2		2
15	Płock	2	1	1
16	Radom	2		2
17	Siedlce	3		3
18	Warsaw	4	3	1
19	Warsaw	2	1	1
20	Opole	3	2	1
21	Krosno	2		2
22	Rzeszów	3		3
23	Białystok	3		2	1
24	Gdańsk	3	3
25	Gydnia	3	2	1
26	Bielsko-Biała	2	2
27	Częstochowa	2	1	1
28	Gliwice	2	2
29	Rybnik	2	1	1
30	Katowice	3	2	1
31	Sosnowiec	2	2
32	Kielce	3	1	2
33	Elbląg	2	1	1
34	Olsztyn	2	2
35	Kalisz	3	2	1
36	Konin	2	2
37	Piła	2	2
38	Poznań	2	2
39	Koszalin	2	2
40	Szczecin	2	2
Total		100	60	39	1

Aftermath

Consecutive postponements of the electoral silence's termination (initially planned for 8 PM) by the National Electoral Committee was widely criticized. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Election Assessment Mission stated that the elections demonstrate a democratic and pluralistic process, but challenges remain in oversight of the public media.^[4]

Prime Minister and PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński stepped down from office on 15 November, and PO leader, Donald Tusk, was sworn in as Poland's Prime Minister the following day. The Civic Platform formed a coalition majority government with the agrarian centrist Polish People's Party.

External links

2007 election National Election Commission
Electoral leaflets and posters Tractotheque

Notes and References

Web site: Polish MPs choose early election . BBC News . 2007-09-07 . 2012-05-17.
Web site: Krajowa Partia Emerytów i Rencistów nie startuje w wyborach. 2007-09-26 . TVN24.pl . 2010-06-21.
Web site: Elections 2007 . Wybory2007.pkw.gov.pl . 2010-06-21.
Web site: Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights - Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights - Elections - Polish elections demonstrate a democratic and pluralistic process, but challenges remain in oversight of the public media, OSCE finds . https://archive.today/20070808203252/http://www.osce.org/odihr-elections/item_1_27483.html . dead . 2007-08-08 . . 2010-06-21 .