ELECTIONS HELD IN 1991
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| Chamber: | |
| Sejm | |
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| 27 October 1991 | |
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| Elections were held for all the seats in Parliament following the premature dissolution of this body. General elections had previously been held in June 1989. | |
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| The election date was announced on 3 July 1991 and the campaign lasted from the next day until 26 October. As opposed to the previous (June 1989) general elections, when polling was based on an agreement that only a limited number of seats would be freely contested., all parliamentary seats in 1991, for the first time since World War II, were open to any contender. As a result, a multitude of parties fielded for 6,000 candidates for the two Houses.
Major groups included the centre-left Democratic Union by former Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki, the Democratic Left Alliance made up of former Communists, three Solidarity (trade-union movement) splinter parties and three Catholic groups. During the generally peaceful campaign, most contestants advocated development of a market economy and further privatisation, and emphasized protection of health, the environment and development of housing. But the main parties differed on the pace of economic reforms in the face of lingering problems such as unemployment, inflation and foreign debt. Polling day was marked by a low turnout, which observers varyingly attributed to the complex electoral law and the bewildering array of parties. Final results ushered in a fragmented legislature - 29 parties in the Sejm, with the leading one (Democratic Union) obtaining 62 seats and 12.3 % of the popular vote; only 113 of the 460 members had served previously. In this context, formation of a new Government took several weeks, during which outgoing Prime Minister J.K. Bielecki (Liberal Democratic Congress) continued in a caretaker capacity. Finally, on 5 December, President of the Republic Lech Walesa nominated Mr. Jan Olszewski (POC), leader of a five-party centre-right coalition in the Sejm, as Prime Minister. He heads a coalition Council of Ministers, approved on 23 December. |
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STATISTICS
| Round no 1 (27 October 1991): Elections results | |
| Number of registered electors | 27,516,166 |
| Voters | 1,887,949 (43.2%) |
| Blank or invalid ballot papers | 669,347 |
| Valid votes | 11,218,602 |
| Round no 1: Distribution of votes | |||
| Political Group | Candidates | Votes | % |
| Democratic Union (UD) | 186 | 1,381,051 | 12.31 |
| Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) | 105 | 1,344,812 | 11.98 |
| Catholic Electoral Action (WAK) | 90 | 957,785 | 8.73 |
| Polish Peasant Party “Programme Alliance” (PSL) | 70 | 472,952 | 8.67 |
| Confederation for an Independent Poland (KPN) | 69 | 841,738 | 7.50 |
| Centre Citizens’ Alliance (POC) | 70 | 912,291 | 8.71 |
| Liberal Democratic Congress (KLD) | 100 | 830,385 | 7.48 |
| People’s Alliance (PL) | 69 | 595,739 | 5.46 |
| Solidarity Trade Union | 79 | 566,553 | 5.05 |
| Polish Party of Beer Friends (PPPP) | 88 | 343,126 | 3.27 |
| German Minority | 48 | 132,059 | 1.17 |
| Christian Democracy | 69 | 224,977 | 2.36 |
| Christian Democrats Party | 130 | 125,314 | 1.11 |
| Labour Solidarity | 69 | 230,975 | 2.05 |
| Polish Western Union | 68 | 25,290 | 0.23 |
| Real Politics Union | 137 | 253,024 | 2.25 |
| Other parties | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. |
| Round no 1: Distribution of seats | |||
| Political Group | Total | ||
| Democratic Union (UD) | 62 | ||
| Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) | 60 | ||
| Catholic Electoral Action (WAK) | 49 | ||
| Polish Peasant Party “Programme Alliance” (PSL) | 48 | ||
| Confederation for an Independent Poland (KPN) | 46 | ||
| Centre Citizens’ Alliance (POC) | 44 | ||
| Liberal Democratic Congress (KLD) | 37 | ||
| People’s Alliance (PL) | 28 | ||
| Solidarity Trade Union | 27 | ||
| Polish Party of Beer Friends (PPPP) | 16 | ||
| German Minority | 7 | ||
| Christian Democracy | 5 | ||
| Christian Democrats Party | 4 | ||
| Labour Solidarity | 4 | ||
| Polish Western Union | 4 | ||
| Real Politics Union | 3 | ||
| Other parties | 16 | ||
| Distribution of seats according to sex: | |
| Men: | 416 |
| Women: | 44 |
| Distribution of seats according to age: | ||
| 20-29 years | 35 | |
| 30-39 years | 135 | |
| 49-49 years | 183 | |
| 50-59 years | 73 | |
| 60-69 years | 33 | |
| 70-79 years | 1 | |
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| Academic/teaching sector | 55 | |
| Farmers | 51 | |
| Administrative staff | 48 | |
| Politicians | 33 | |
| Physicians | 20 | |
| Lawyers | 19 | |
| Engineers | 17 | |
| Technicians | 11 | |
| Economists | 15 | |
| Journalists | 14 | |
| Humanists | 12 | |
| Stock farmers | 4 | |
| Medical staff | 3 | |
| Others | 67 | |
| Unemployed (incl. retired, students, housewives) | 71 | |
| No data available | 20 | |
Copyright © 1991 Inter-Parliamentary Union