Politics of Poland
The political system of Poland is laid down in the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 2 April 1997.
The Republic of Poland is a parliamentary democracy.
- 5.1 Literature
- 5.2 External links
State Institutions
Legislature
Sejm
The Sejm is next to the Senate one of the two chambers of the Polish Parliament. It comprises 460 deputies, who are elected by a system of proportional representation.
The Polish Sejm is one of the oldest parliaments in the world. It exists in various forms and with interruptions since 1493rd
In its present form since the end of the Sejm of the People's Republic existed in 1989 and the consequent beginning of the Third Polish Republic.
The Polish parties represented in Parliament are grouped as fractions in a government and the opposition.
Senate
The Polish Senate has 100 senators, who are elected by a majority vote every four years by direct popular vote in the parliamentary elections.
The Senate has an advisory role in the legislative process. From the Sejm upcoming legislative proposals may be rejected before forwarding to the President by the Senate, with appropriate corrections can be suggested. The decision is then the Sejm, as the veto of the Senate does not apply to a renewed passage of the draft.
Traditionally, the Senate is also responsible for the Polish community abroad, the Polonia.
Executive
Government
The executive branch is of a prime minister (Polish Prezes Rady Ministrów shortly Premier) and a Council of Ministers executed, appointed by the President and share with this certain skills ( national defense, foreign policy ), but are responsible to the Parliament.
President
The President is the head of the executive. It represents the country abroad, appoints the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers. He also ratified by his signature laws and treaties with other states. In foreign policy, he works together with the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister.
The President is in wartime commander of the Polish Armed Forces, otherwise this task is performed by the defense minister.
He is directly elected every five years by the people. One-off re-election is possible.
Judiciary
The judiciary in Poland knows a large degree of formal independence, judges and prosecutors are therefore in no way linked to the transfer of the executive.
Party system
The party system in Poland was marked by significant changes since 1989. The political landscape is in constant motion, the party affiliation of voters is very low, but the MEPs also demonstrated previously a high willingness to change of party.
Among the represented in the Sejm parties since the parliamentary elections on October 21, 2007 include the liberal-conservative Platforma Obywatelska (PO, dt Civic Platform ), the right-wing conservative Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (PiS, GV Law and Justice ), the social democratic and liberal left -oriented center-left alliance Lewica i Demokraci ( LiD, German left and Democrats ) and the oldest continuously existing Party of Poland, which played an important role in the 19th century and in the " Second Republic ", the pro-European -minded and socially conservative Agrarian Party Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe ( PSL, dt Polish People's Party ). All other parties are in the parliamentary elections in October 2007 at the 5 - % level failed.
The PO in this case was the strongest force and has since formed together with the PSL a coalition government under the PO - chairman Donald Tusk as prime minister.
Administrative divisions
Since 1 January 1999, Poland is divided into 16 regions ( województwa ).
Since Poland is a central government, the provinces, in contrast to the German states, no state quality.
Each province has a self-governing bodies own parliament - Woiwodschaftssejmik ( sejmik województwa ) and elected by them Woiwodschaftsvorstand ( Zarząd województwa ) under the Woiwodschaftsmarschall ( Marszalek województwa ) as chairman.
The voivode ( wojewoda ), however, is the representative of the central government in Warsaw and for controlling the self-government of the provinces, Powiats ( counties ) and gminas (municipalities) responsible.
Next smaller self-governing unit is the powiat with 379 units which are again in a total of 2,497 gminas divide (as of 1 January 2010).
Other central authorities
- Najwyższa Izba Kontroli
- National Bank of Poland
- Institute of National Remembrance