Parliamentary election in Poland 2011

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Result (in%)

 %

40

30th

20th

10

0

39.2

29.9

10.0

8.4

8.2

2.2

1.1

1.0

PO

PiS

RP

PSL

SLD ^e

PJN

KNP

Otherwise.

Gains and losses

compared to 2007

 % p

 10

   8th

   6th

   4th

   2

   0

  -2

  -4

  -6

-2.3

-2.2

+10.0

-0.5

-5.0

+2.2

+1.1

-3.3

PO

PiS

RP

PSL

SLD ^e

PJN

KNP

Otherwise.

Remarks:

^{e joined in} 2007 as a political alliance LiD ( SLD , SDPL , PD and UP )

Allocation of seats Sejm

      

A total of 460 seats

• SLD : 27
• RP : 40
• MN : 1
• PO : 207
• PSL : 28
• PiS : 157

Allocation of seats in the Senate

    

A total of 100 seats

• PO : 63
• PSL : 2
• Independent: 4
• PiS : 31

The 2011 parliamentary elections in Poland took place on October 9th. The Platforma Obywatelska (PO) won an absolute majority of the seats in the Sejm . The Polish Farmers' Party (PSL), which had been the junior partner in the Tusk I cabinet since November 2007 , continued the coalition. Donald Tusk was re-elected by the Sejm and formed the Tusk II cabinet in November 2011 . Tusk is the first re-elected Polish Prime Minister since the end of the People's Republic of Poland .

Choice and appointment

In the elections, the voters decided on the composition of the two chambers ( Sejm and Senate ) of the Polish Parliament .

Poland's President Bronisław Komorowski announced the date on August 4, 2011, officially confirming a date that he had publicly suggested the month before.

Electoral system

The Sejm was elected by proportional representation and the Senate by relative majority . There was a 5% threshold and 8% for party alliances. The legislative period for both chambers of parliament was four years.

Participating parties and top candidates

The following 7 parties ran for the Sejm in all 41 constituencies:

Political party			Alignment	Top candidate
		Platforma Obywatelska (PO) Civic Platform	Economically liberal , liberal-conservative	Donald Tusk
		Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (PiS) Law and Justice	national conservative	Jarosław Kaczyński
		Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej (SLD) Association of the Democratic Left	social democratic	Grzegorz Napieralski
		Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe (PSL) Polish Peasant Party	christ-democratically agrarian	Waldemar Pawlak
		Ruch Palikota (RP) Palikot Movement	anti-clerical , left-wing liberal	Janusz Palikot
		Polska Jest Najważniejsza (PJN) Poland is the most important thing	economically liberal, conservative	Paweł Kowal
		Polska Partia Pracy (PPP) Polish Labor Party	socialist	Bogusław Ziętek

Other participating parties that did not run in all districts:

• Congress of the New Right (KNP); 21 districts
• Prawica Rzeczypospolitej (PR); 20 districts
• Nasz Dom Polska - Samoobrona (NDP); 9 districts
• German Minority Election Committee (MN); 1 circle

With the exception of the German minority, which as an ethnic minority party is exempt from the five percent threshold clause , none of the parties also referred to as other made it into the Sejm in the election polls . Some other smaller parties had decided not to take part in the election, but to apply for candidate places on the electoral lists of larger parties.

Election campaign

Election poster for the PiS at a bus stop in the city of Sanok

Donald Tusk highlighted Poland's economic successes during his reign at election campaigns. He also spoke out in favor of further rapprochement with Russia.
The PiS party stuck to its suspicious course towards Russia and Germany. In his book The Poland of Our Dreams , which was published shortly before the election, Jarosław Kaczyński accused Merkel of belonging “to this generation of German politicians who want to restore the imperial power of Germany” and forming a “strategic axis with Moscow” in which Poland “only an obstacle ”could be. "Our country must therefore be subjugated, one way or another."

Survey

Opinion polls 2011

Opinion polls on the Polish parliamentary elections were first carried out on May 16, 2010 and carried out until shortly before election day on October 9. The two largest parties, PO and PiS, recorded significant decreases in voter approval; the increasing popularity of the Palikot movement came as a surprise.

Surveys (in%)

date	Institute	PO	PiS	SLD	PSL	RP	PJN	PPP
October 2011	CBOS	34	20th	9	6th	7th	1	1
September 2011	CBOS	37	20th	7th	6th	2	1	0
August 2011	CBOS	36	20th	8th	4th	1	0	0
July 2011	CBOS	38	17th	9	4th	1	0	0
June 2011	CBOS	34	22nd	11	5	1	3	0
May 2011	CBOS	37	21st	12	4th	1	1	0
April 2011	CBOS	31	23	12	5	1	2	0
March 2011	CBOS	35	18th	16	4th	1	3	0
February 2011	CBOS	37	20th	12	4th	0	4th	0
January 2011	CBOS	39	20th	9	6th	1	3	1
December 2010	CBOS	41	21st	11	6th	0	1	0
November 2010	CBOS	40	19th	11	6th	0	-	0
Election 2007		41.51	32.11	13.15	8.91	New	New	0.99

Election result

Results by district . As seen in previous elections, there is a tendency towards a division into a more liberal, Europe-friendly West (orange) and a more conservative East (blue)

Result of the elections to the Senate (colors as in the table)

Distribution of seats in the Sejm after the 2011 election

Prime Minister Donald Tusk's liberal-conservative PO won by a clear margin over the national-conservative PiS party of the former head of government Jarosław Kaczyński . The counting of 99 percent of the votes resulted in 39.2 percent for the PO, which won 207 of the 460 seats and became the strongest party in the new Sejm. The PiS received 29.9 percent of the vote and 157 seats. The new left-liberal Palikot movement (RP) received 10.0 percent and 40 seats. The peasant party PSL received 28 seats, the Bund der Democratic Left received 27 seats. The turnout was 48.9 percent.

The election result was seen as the result of a young middle class who expected continuity from politics. At the same time, the result can be seen as a confirmation of the integration-friendly European policy course of the citizens' platform. The fact that the PO managed to keep Poland stable during the global economic and financial crisis was another reason for its good performance. The PiS, which announced the break with the previous policy, mobilized PO voters who wanted to prevent such a thing. The calm governance without hectic reforms was a support for the election result of the PO.
The Polish Constitution limits the national debt to 60% of the gross domestic product , which is why expenditure must be reduced. The success of the Ruch Palikota was considered particularly remarkable. Young students in particular supported the party, which is calling for greater secularization of Poland . For the first time, an openly homosexual ( Robert Biedroń ) and a transsexual ( Anna Grodzka ) moved into the Sejm.

Result of the 2011 parliamentary election in Poland

Political party		Sejm					senate
		be right	%	+/-	Seats	+/-	Seats	+/-
	Platforma Obywatelska (PO)	5,629,773	39.18	−2.33	207	−2	63	+3
	Law and Justice (PiS)	4,295,016	29.89	−2.22	157	−9	31	−8
	Palikot Movement (RP)	1,439,490	10.02	+10.02	40	+40	-	-
	Polish People's Party (PSL)	1,201,628	8.36	−0.55	28	−3	2	+2
	Federation of the Democratic Left (SLD)	1,184,303	8.24	−4.91	27	−26	-	-
	Poland is Most Important (PJN) (2)	315.393	2.19	+2.19	-	-	-	-
	Congress of the New Right (KNP)	151.837	1.06	+1.06	-	-	-	-
	Polska Partia Pracy (PPP)	79,147	0.55	−0.44	-	-	-	-
	Rights of the Republic - Union for Realpolitik (Prawica)	35,169	0.24	+0.24	-	-	-	-
	Election Committee German Minority (MN) (1)	28,014	0.19	−0.01	1	-	-	-
	Our house Poland - self-defense	9,733	0.07	−1.46	-	-	-	-
	Independent	-	-	-	-	-	4th	+3
total		14,369,503	100.00		460		100
Valid votes		14,369,503	95.48
Invalid votes		680.524	4.52
voter turnout		15,050,027	48.92
Eligible voters		30,762,931	100.00
Source: State Electoral Commission

⁽¹⁾ The 5% threshold clause did not apply to the German minority (MN).
^{(2) The} PJN did not exist in the previous election to the Sejm, but the party had 15 seats in the Sejm and one in the Senate when the previous parliament was dissolved.

References

See also

• Political system of Poland
• List of Sejm members of the 7th electoral term (since 2011)

Web links

Commons : Parliamentary Election in Poland 2011  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website of the State Electoral Commission (Polish)
• Official website of the Sejm (Polish, English, French)
• Official website of the Senate (Polish, English)

Footnotes

1. ↑ ^{a b} Official result of the 2011 parliamentary elections State Election Commission , (Polish, English)
2. ↑ Postanowienie Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, Dz.U. 2011 nr 162 poz. 978, August 4, 2011. Online
3. ↑ Poland re-elects PM Donald Tusk , BBC News , October 10, 2011 (English)
4. ↑ Kaczynski: Merkel wants West Poland n-tv , October 4, 2011
5. ↑ Survey 10/2011 CBOS , PDF file (Polish)
6. ↑ Survey 09/2011 CBOS , PDF file (Polish)
7. ↑ Survey 08/2011 CBOS , PDF file (Polish)
8. ↑ Survey 07/2011 CBOS , PDF file (Polish)
9. ↑ Survey 06/2011 CBOS , PDF file (Polish)
10. ↑ Survey 05/2011 CBOS , PDF file (Polish)
11. ↑ Survey 04/2011 CBOS , PDF file (Polish)
12. ↑ Survey 03/2011 CBOS , PDF file (Polish)
13. ↑ Survey 02/2011 CBOS , PDF file (Polish)
14. ↑ Survey 01/2011 CBOS , PDF file (Polish)
15. ↑ Survey 12/2010 CBOS , PDF file (Polish)
16. ↑ Survey 11/2010 CBOS , PDF file (Polish)
17. ↑ Historical victory for Tusk in Poland  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Evening newspaper Munich , October 10, 2011  
18. ↑ ^{a b} Election Analysis 2011 Country Analysis , PDF file