Sejm (Second Republic)
The Sejm was in the Second Republic from 1918 to 1939 a chamber of the Polish Parliament, based in Warsaw .
Constituent Assembly
After independence was regained in autumn 1918, a constituent assembly , the Sejm Ustawodawczy, was elected on January 26, 1919 on the basis of the decree on the electoral regulations for the constituent Sejm of November 28, 1918 . This Sejm met from February 10, 1919 to September 27, 1922. It initially consisted of 395 (as of January 20, 1920) and then of 435 members. On February 20, 1919, the Provisional Minor Constitution was enacted. On March 17, 1921, the constitution of the Second Republic was passed.
The Sejm
From 1922 the constitution provided for a bicameral parliament. The Polish Senate existed alongside the Sejm .
The Sejm consisted of 444 members from 1922 to 1935 and 208 members from 1935 to 1939. Men and women with a minimum age of 25 years were eligible. The legal basis was the law of July 28, 1922 on the election regulations for the Sejm and the election regulations of July 8, 1935. By 1935, 372 members were elected in 64 constituencies , each with 4 to 14 seats. A further 72 deputies were elected via state lists.
| Electoral term | Election date | Legislative period |
|---|---|---|
| I. Sejm | November 5, 1922 | November 28, 1922 to November 30, 1927 |
| II. Sejm | March 4, 1928 | March 27, 1928 to March 29, 1930 |
| III. Sejm | November 16, 1930 | December 9, 1930 to June 28, 1935 |
| IV. Sejm | September 8, 1935 | October 4, 1935 to July 21, 1938 |
| V. Sejm | November 6, 1938 | November 28, 1938 to September 2, 1939 |
The turnout in 1928 was 78%. 122 seats went to the Piłsudski -friendly Bezpartyjny Blok Współpracy z Rządem ( BBWR ) , supported by manipulation and electoral assistance . The second largest group was made up of the Socialists with 63 members. The right-wing national democracy and the farmers' party each lost almost two thirds of the votes compared to the previous election and now only received 8 and 5 percent of the seats, respectively.
The election in November 1930 brought the BBWR, after manipulation and forgery, 247 seats.
With the occupation of Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union , the history of the Sejm of the Second Republic also ended.
literature
- Mads Ole Balling: From Reval to Bucharest - Statistical-Biographical Handbook of the Parliamentarians of the German Minorities in East Central and Southeastern Europe 1919–1945, Volume 1, 2nd edition . Copenhagen 1991, ISBN 87-983829-3-4 , pp. 177 .
Footnotes
- ↑ a b Włodzimierz Borodziej, History of Poland in the 20th Century , Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-406-60648-9 , pp. 171–173.
- ↑ a b Manfred Alexander, Kleine Geschichte Polens , Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-15-017060-1 , pp. 294–295