Political system of Poland

Coat of arms of Poland

The political system of Poland is based on the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of April 2, 1997.

The Republic of Poland can be classified as a semi-presidential system of government .

State institutions

legislative branch

Sejm

Alongside the Senate, the Sejm forms one of the two chambers of the Polish Parliament . It comprises 460 members, who are elected according to proportional representation.

The Polish Sejm is one of the oldest parliaments in the world. It has existed in various forms and with interruptions since 1493.

The Sejm has existed in its current form since the end of the People's Republic in 1989 and the beginning of the Third Polish Republic .

The Polish parties represented in parliament are grouped as parliamentary groups in a government and the opposition .

senate

The Polish Senate comprises 100 senators, who are elected directly by the people in parliamentary elections every four years according to a majority vote.

The Senate has an advisory role in legislation . Bills from the Sejm can be rejected by the Senate before they are forwarded to the President, whereby appropriate corrections can be proposed. The decision then lies with the Sejm, as the Senate's right of veto no longer applies if the draft is passed through again.

Traditionally, the Senate is also responsible for the Polish community abroad, the Polonia .

executive

government

The executive is carried out by a Prime Minister ( Polish: Prezes Rady Ministrów , or Prime Minister for short ) and a Council of Ministers, who are appointed by the President and share with him certain powers ( national defense , foreign policy ), but are responsible to Parliament .

President

The President is at the head of the executive . He represents the country externally, appoints the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers . He also ratifies laws and treaties with other states by signing. In foreign policy he works with the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister.

The President is the Commander in Chief of the Polish Armed Forces .

He is elected directly by the people every five years. One-time re-election is possible.

Judiciary

The judiciary in Poland is largely independent; Judges and public prosecutors are in no way bound by the instructions of the executive. The jurisdiction is in Chapter VIII, Art. 272–301 of the Constitution . The Supreme Court serves as the highest instance for ordinary and military jurisdiction, and the Supreme Administrative Court for administrative jurisdiction . The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Poland is the guardian of the constitution with the decision on constitutional complaints and organ disputes ; The State Court of Justice also decides on the legality of the administration of office and possible impeachment of high politicians .

Party system

The party system in Poland had been marked by major changes since 1989. The party landscape is in constant flux, voters have low party ties, but the MPs have so far also shown a high willingness to change parties.

Administrative division

Since January 1, 1999 Poland has been divided into 16 voivodships ( województwa ).

Since Poland is a central state , the voivodships, unlike the German federal states, have no state quality.

Each voivodship has its own representative body as a self-governing body - voivodship sejmik ( sejmik województwa ) and a voivodship board ( zarząd województwa ) elected by them under the voivodship marshal ( marszałek województwa ) as chairman.

The voivode ( wojewoda ), on the other hand, is the representative of the central government in Warsaw and is responsible for controlling the self-government of the voivodships, powiats ( districts ) and gminas ( municipalities ).

The next smaller self-administration unit is the Powiat with 379 units, which are again divided into a total of 2,497 Gminas (as of January 1, 2010).

Other central authorities

literature

Federal Agency for Civic Education: Poland . Information on political education, issue No. 273/2001, Bonn 2001, ISSN 0046-9408
Klaus Ziemer : The Political System of Poland: An Introduction . VS-Verlag, Wiesbaden 2008, ISBN 978-3-531-13595-3 .

Web links

Commons : Political System of Poland - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Footnotes

^ Section VIII of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland from 1997 on the Sejm website (official German translation).

[1] Section VIII of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland from 1997 on the Sejm website (official German translation).