Parliament of Poland

The parliament of Poland is the bicameral legislature of Poland. It is composed of an upper house (the Senate) and a lower house (the Sejm). Both houses are accommodated in the Sejm and Senate Complex in Warsaw. The Constitution of Poland does not refer to the Parliament as a body, but only to the Sejm and Senate.

"Polish Parliament" redirects here. For the expression, see Polish parliament (expression).
Parliament of Poland

Parlament Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej
9th term Sejm and 10th term Senate
Polish coat of arms
Type
Type
Houses
Term limits
4 years
Leadership
Tomasz Grodzki, PO
since 12 November 2019
Elżbieta Witek, PiS
since 9 August 2019
Structure
Seats
Senate political groups
Government (46)
  •   United Right (46)[lower-alpha 4]

Confidence and supply (1)

Opposition (53)

Sejm political groups
Government (229)

Confidence and supply (4)

Opposition (227)

Elections
First-past-the-post voting
Proportional representationa
Last Senate election
13 October 2019
Last Sejm election
13 October 2019
Meeting place
Sejm chamber, Warsaw
Senate chamber, Warsaw
Footnotes
a Open-list proportional representation in 41 constituencies (5% national electoral threshold, 8% national electoral threshold for coalitions).

Members of both houses are elected by direct election, usually every four years. The Sejm has 460 members, while the Senate has 100 senators. To become law, a bill must first be approved by both houses, but the Sejm can override a Senate refusal to pass a bill.

On certain occasions, the Marshal of the Sejm summons the National Assembly, a joint session of the members of both houses. It is mostly ceremonial in nature, and it only convenes occasionally, such as to witness the inauguration of the President. Under exceptional circumstances, the constitution endows the National Assembly with great responsibilities and powers, such as to bring the President before the State Tribunal (impeachment). The current leading party in the Sejm is the Law and Justice (PiS) party with 226 out of 460 seats in Sejm whereas with 48 out of 100 seats in Senate (thus controlled by opposition parties, currently: Civil Coalition, The Left, and Polish People's Party). The two debating halls have designated seats for the deputies, senators and the single Marshal (speaker) of each. Senators and deputies are equipped with voting devices.

Parliamentary groups and affiliations

After election deputies and senators will remain or splinter into deputy or senatorial groupings, or have no affiliations and sit as "independents". In both chambers, there are two formal sizes of groups: Clubs (Polish: kluby, klub (SG) which are the entire party groups of the elected, where none have splintered away or defected to another klub) and circles (Polish: koła, koło (SG)). The primary difference between these is the degree of right to join and contribute to the relevant Seniors' Konwent (Polish: Konwent Seniorów), the procedural committee that determines the drafting of agendas and chamber workings.

In the Sejm,[1]

  • Clubs consists of at least 15 deputies;
  • Circles consists of at least 3 deputies.

In the Senate,[2]

  • Clubs consists of at least 7 senators;
  • Circles consists of at least 3 senators.

National Assembly
See also: National Assembly

The National Assembly (Polish: Zgromadzenie Narodowe) is the name of a joint sitting of the Sejm and the Senate. It is headed by the Marshal of the Sejm (or by the Marshal of the Senate when the former is absent).

Under the 1997 Constitution of Poland the National Assembly has the authority to

  • declare the President's permanent incapacity to exercise his duties due to the state of his health (by a majority vote of at least two-thirds of the statutory number of members),
  • bring an indictment against the President to the State Tribunal (by a majority of at least two-thirds of the statutory number of members, on the motion of at least 140 members),
  • adopt its own rules of procedure.

The National Assembly is also called in order to

  • receive the President's oath of office,
  • hear a presidential address (however, the President may choose to deliver his address to either the Sejm or the Senate).
Sejm and Senate Complex of Poland

In the periods 1922–1935 and 1989–1990, it was this joint sitting which elected the President of the Republic of Poland by an absolute majority of votes. In and from 1935, it was replaced by an Assembly of Electors, which consisted of the Marshal of the Senate (as president of the Assembly of Electors), the Marshal of the Sejm, the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice, the General Armed Forces Inspector, 50 electors elected by the Sejm, and 25 electors elected by the Senate. The Senate was abolished in 1946 so in 1947 Bolesław Bierut was elected President only by the Sejm. There were no presidents from 1952 until 1989 when the Senate was restored and the National Assembly elected Wojciech Jaruzelski as President.

Since 1990, the President has been elected by the people. However, the President is still sworn in before the National Assembly, which is also the only organ which can declare the President's permanent incapacity to perform his duties, or bring an indictment against him before State Tribunal.

From 1992 to 1997, the National Assembly drafted and passed a new Constitution, which was approved by a national referendum on 25 May 1997.

Current standings

Standings in the 9th Sejm and the 10th Senate
AffiliationDeputies (Sejm)Senators (Senate)
Results of the
2019 election		As of
20 August 2023		 Change Results of the
2019 election		As of
20 August 2023		 Change
Parliamentary clubs
Law and Justice235227Decrease 84846Decrease 2
Civic Coalition134129Decrease 54340Decrease 3
The Left4943Decrease 621Decrease 1
Polish Coalition
Polish Coal. Senators' Group		3027Decrease 334Increase 1
Parliamentary groups
Poland 2050—6Increase 6—1Increase 1
Deputies' groups
Confederation1111Steady——Steady
Democratic Left Association—3Increase 3——Steady
Kukiz'15—3Increase 3——Steady
Polish Affairs—3Increase 3——Steady
Senators' groups
Ind. Senators Group——Steady—3Increase 3
Non-inscrits/Independents
Independents18Increase 743Decrease 1
Total members460460Steady10098Decrease 2
Vacant—0Steady—2Increase 2
Total Seats460100

Notes
  1. Mieczysław Golba
  2. Tadeusz Kopeć
  3. Rafał Ambrozik, Grzegorz Bierecki, Margareta Budner, Michał Seweryński, Dorota Tobiszowska, Jacek Włosowicz
  5. Lidia Staroń
  6. Barbara Borys-Damięcka, Alicja Chybicka, Zygmunt Frankiewicz, Janusz Pęcherz
  8. Ryszard Bober, Jan Filip Libicki
  9. Michał Kamiński
  10. Kazimierz Michał Ujazdowski
  12. Krzysztof Kwiatkowski, Wadim Tyszkiewicz
  13. Wojciech Konieczny, Gabriela Morawska-Stanecka
  14. Jacek Bury
  15. Józef Zając
  16. Stanisław Gawłowski
  17. Jan Maria Jackowski
  19. Anna Dąbrowska-Banaszek, Andrzej Gut-Mostowy, Wojciech Murdzek, Marcin Ociepa, Grzegorz Piechowiak
  20. Jadwiga Emilewicz, Monika Pawłowska
  22. While Polish Affairs are not directly affiliated with United Right, and therefore not a part of the government, Agnieszka Ścigaj holds a ministerial position
  23. Andrzej Sośnierz, Zbigniew Girzyński
  24. Even though The Republicans are a part of United Right, and therefore a part of the government, Łukasz Mejza has never joined the United Right parliamentary club and has not been a minister since 2021
  25. Elected from Civic Coalition list, Zbigniew Ajchler has been a supporter of the government since being sworn in
  28. Former Democratic Left Alliance and Spring MPs
  30. Radosław Lubczyk, Ireneusz Raś, Jacek Tomczak
  31. Jacek Protasiewicz
  33. Robert Winnicki, Krzysztof Bosak, Krzysztof Tuduj, Krystian Kamiński, Michał Urbaniak
  34. Janusz Korwin-Mikke, Konrad Berkowicz, Stanisław Tyszka
  35. Grzegorz Braun
  37. Michał Gramatyka, Paulina Hennig-Kloska, Joanna Mucha, Mirosław Suchoń, Paweł Zalewski, Tomasz Zimoch
  38. Stanisław Bukowiec, Jarosław Gowin, Iwona Michałek, Magdalena Sroka
  39. Artur Dziambor Jakub Kulesza, Dobromir Sośnierz
  40. Paweł Kukiz, Jarosław Sachajko, Stanisław Żuk
  41. Andrzej Rozenek and Joanna Senyszyn are also members of the Democratic Left Association
  42. Robert Kwiatkowski
  44. Ryszard Galla
  45. Hanna Gill-Piątek, Wojciech Maksymowicz, Paweł Szramka, Michał Wypij

References
  1. "REGULAMIN SEJMU RZECZYPOSPOLITEJ POLSKIEJ". sejm.gov.pl. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
  2. "REGULAMIN SENATU RZECZYPOSPOLITEJ POLSKIEJ". senat.gov.pl. Retrieved 2 November 2019.

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