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2011 Polish parliamentary election

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Field	Value
country	Poland
type	parliamentary
previous_election	2007 Polish parliamentary election
previous_year	2007
outgoing_members	List_of_Sejm_members_(2007–2011)
next_election	2015 Polish parliamentary election
next_year	2015
elected_members	List_of_Sejm_members_(2011-2015)
opinion_polls	Opinion polling for the 2011 Polish parliamentary election
election_date	9 October 2011
registered	30,762,931
module	{{Infobox election
embed	yes
election_name	Sejm
type	legislative
seats_for_election	All 460 seats in the Sejm
majority_seats	231
turnout	15,050,027 (48.92%) 4.9 pp
image1
leader1	Donald Tusk
party1	Civic Platform
leader_since1	1 June 2003
last_election1	41.5%, 209 seats
seats1	207
seat_change1	2
popular_vote1	5,629,773
percentage1	39.2%
swing1	2.3 pp
image2
leader2	Jarosław Kaczyński
party2	Law and Justice
leader_since2	18 January 2003
last_election2	32.1%, 166 seats
seats2	157
seat_change2	9
popular_vote2	4,295,016
percentage2	29.9%
swing2	2.2 pp
image3
leader3	Janusz Palikot
party3	Palikot's Movement
leader_since3	1 June 2011
last_election3	Did not exist
seats3	40
seat_change3	New
popular_vote3	1,439,490
percentage3	10.0%
swing3	New party
image4
leader4	Waldemar Pawlak
party4	Polish People's Party
leader_since4	29 January 2005
last_election4	8.9%, 31 seats
seats4	28
seat_change4	3
popular_vote4	1,201,628
percentage4	8.4%
swing4	0.5 pp
image5
leader5	Grzegorz Napieralski
party5	Democratic Left Alliance (Poland)
leader_since5	31 May 2008
last_election5	13.2%, 53 seats
seats5	27
seat_change5	26
popular_vote5	1,184,303
percentage5	8.2%
swing5	5.0 pp
image6
leader6	Ryszard Galla
party6	German Minority
leader_since6	20 January 2008
last_election6	0.2%, 1 seat
seats6	1
seat_change6	0
popular_vote6	28,014
percentage6	0.2%
swing6	0.0 pp
module	{{Infobox legislative election
embed	yes
election_name	Senate
seats_for_election	All 100 seats in the Senate
majority_seats	51
turnout	15,048,260 (48.92%) 4.89 pp
noleader	yes
party1	Civic Platform	leader1 =	last_election1 = 60	seats1 = 63	percentage1 = 35.60
party2	Law and Justice	leader2 =	last_election2 = 39	seats2 = 31	percentage2 = 26.94
party3	Polish People's Party	leader3 =	last_election3 = 0	seats3 = 2	percentage3 = 9.39
party4	KWW Rafał Dutkiewicz	color4=#d46008	last_election4 = 0	seats4 = 1	percentage4 = 1.80
party5	Independent (politician)	leader5 =	last_election5 = 1	seats5 = 3	percentage5 = 7.87
map	{{Switcher
title	Government
before_election	First Tusk cabinet	before_party = PO—PSL
after_election	Second Tusk cabinet	after_party = PO—PSL

Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 9 October 2011. All 460 members of the Sejm and 100 senators of the Senate were elected. The ruling Civic Platform (PO) won a plurality of seats and Tusk became the first Polish prime minister to be appointed for a second consecutive term since the fall of communism. Both the Civic Platform and its junior partner, the Polish People's Party (PSL), agreed to continue their governing coalition after the election.

Electoral system

The election was for all 460 seats of the Sejm and all 100 seats of the Senate. Candidates for Deputies are nominated either by the electoral committees of the various political parties and or by individual voter committees. The process of election for the Sejm is through party-list proportional representation via the D'hondt method in multi-seat constituencies (41 in total), with a 5% threshold for single parties and 8% threshold for coalitions (requirements waived for national minorities).

The election was the first one to take place under a new Election Code which altered the electoral system in the Senate election from a plurality block voting to the first-past-the-post voting, with one member to be returned in each of the 100 single member constituencies.

There were 25,993 precincts for 30,512,850 voters.

Senate constituencies.

Election date

The date of the election, October 9, was set by the President of Poland, Bronisław Komorowski, and announced on 4 July. The latest possible date for the election to be held was 30 October 2011, four years after the previous election. Prior to the announcement of the election date, the most likely dates were thought to be 16 October or 23 October.

Although the governing coalition had a strong majority, it was suggested that the elections be brought forward to the spring, to avoid the campaign interrupting Poland's Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of the year. The idea was supported by the Democratic Left Alliance and Poland Comes First, but firmly opposed by Law and Justice. The Civic Platform favoured an election date of 23 October. Since the State Electoral Commission decided that 30 October falls too close to the national holiday of All Saints' Day, and elections are always held on Sundays, 23 October was the latest possible date to hold the election. In the end, Komorowski decided on 9 October.

The idea of holding the election over two days instead of the usual one, to increase turnout, was raised. An election over two days would have cost 130–140 million złoty, compared to 90 million for a one-day election. The single day election option prevailed.

Parties

Civic Platform (PO), the largest governing party under prime minister Donald Tusk, was seeking reelection. Opinion polls over the past four years had fairly consistently shown the PO to have the largest level of popular support among Poland's political parties. PO was seeking either to win majority government in its own right, or to continue its coalition with the smaller Polish People's Party (PSL). During the election campaign, prime minister Donald Tusk ruled out the possibility of a coalition with either Law and Justice or Palikot's Movement.

Law and Justice Law and Justice (PiS), is Poland's second largest party as of 2007, and was the leading party of government from 2005 to 2007. PiS's greatest difficulty this election, was not only that it trailed PO in popular support, but that even if it were to outpoll the PO, it might have had difficulty in finding other parties willing to enter into a coalition with it. Jarosław Kaczyński had publicly denied the possibility of allying his party with the post-communist SLD and relations with the PSL (traditionally viewed by the media as an opportunist coalition partner, ready to form a coalition with everyone) were tense. This tension was exacerbated following PiS's spokesperson Adam Hofman's statement during the election campaign, in which he attacked PSL members in an abusive manner following the airing of the People's Party newest electoral TV ad.

Democratic Left Alliance Poland's strongest left-wing party, the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) had struggled since 2005 to regain its position as one of the countries two largest parties. The SLD indicated its potential interest in being a coalition partner with PO following the election.

Polish People's Party The Polish People's Party (PSL) is an agrarian-rooted party. It was the minority partner in a coalition government with PO. Although some opinion polls showed popular support for PSL to be dangerously close to the 5% electoral threshold, in the past PSL generally performed a little better than opinion polls indicated. It is widely seen as a coalition partner for every party that happens to need such.

Palikot's Movement Palikot's Movement (Ruch Palikota), officially the Movement of Support (Ruch Poparcia, RP), is a breakaway faction of the PO that followed MP Janusz Palikot after he had been expelled from the party for his "scandalous" remarks on late President Lech Kaczyński. The RP is distinctive on Poland's political scene in that it is the first party in the country's history that puts strong emphasis on its program's anticlerical features (the usual practice being that parties either try to win the Church's unofficial support or at least do not try to appear anti-Church) along with appeals for putting an end to the anti-abortion policy and introducing civil unions for same-sex couples. In terms of economy, the RP blends leftist and rightist ideas.

Poland Comes First A new party on the Polish political scene, Poland Comes First (PJN), emerged as a splinter group from PiS, following the 2010 Polish presidential election. PJN's future parliamentary representation was uncertain, given that most opinion polls showed support levels for PJN to be below the 5% electoral threshold. The party had suffered an almost constant internal crisis since its very foundation that led many of its MPs to leave it for the other parties in Parliament, including the most famous one, chairwoman Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska, who joined the PO. Commentators argue that the PJN failed to establish itself as a real alternative on the political scene, being widely perceived as nothing but a milder variant of the party it had once left.

Other parties The only other party contesting all 41 electoral districts for the Sejm in 2011, was the Polish Labour Party (PPP). The remaining parties include Congress of the New Right (KNP) (21 districts), Right of the Republic (PR) (20 districts), Our Homeland Poland (NDP) (9 districts) and German Minority group (MN) (1 district). With the exception of the German Minority group (which as an ethnic minority party is exempt from the 5% election threshold requirement), these parties were not expected to poll the required 5% to enter the Sejm. Some other minor parties, had decided not to contest the elections independently, opting instead to negotiate a place for their candidates on the electoral lists of the larger parties. This strategy had worked for some minor parties in past elections, and seen them get some of their candidates elected in this way.

Campaign

Tusk campaigned on a platform that drew on the record of its economic success during the previous government. He also said that he would pursue a "steady rapprochement" with Russia, in spite of prior rows over missile defence, gas pipelines and the inquiry into the plane crash that killed Poland's former president in 2010. Conversely the Law and Justice Party had been distrustful of Russia and Germany.

Monitors

Various delegations from the electoral boards and of political party representatives from Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, due to hold their own free elections in the coming months, monitored the election in Warsaw, Radom and Płock at the invitations of the Foreign Ministry, as Deputy Foreign Minister Krzysztof Stanowski said that "I hope the climax of our help comes when [the countries’ policymakers] begin discussing the constitution, reforms in economy and local government." Rania Mbarki, from a local election commission in Tunis, said that "it's obligatory to stand in the voting booth before putting pen to paper. Here, the ballot papers are marked on tables with families around. There is a discussion. In our country it's confidential, we can't say what we have chosen, you can't show what you have chosen, so this is different for us;" while Mounira Belghouthi, from a local election board in Kairouan, added that the advanced voting machines were more technologically advanced than in Tunisia and they sought to get an idea its usage.

Opinion polls

Main article: Opinion polling for the Polish parliamentary election, 2011

Results

■ – Civic Platform

■ – Law and Justice ■ – Polish People's Party

■ – Democratic Left Alliance]]

Senate election result by constituency.

With all votes counted, voter turnout was 48.92%. In the Sejm, Poznań recorded the highest turnout of 60.2% and Elbląg recorded the lowest turnout with 41.24%. The valid votes were 95.48% of the ballots. In the Senate, voter turnout was 48.92% with one of Warszawa I's seats recording the highest turnout of 73.61% and Opole recording the lowest turnout with 38.1%. The valid votes were 96.57% of the ballots.

The Civic Platform party won a plurality with 207 seats in the Sejm, followed by the Law and Justice Party with 157 seats. The breakaway Palikot Movement won 40 seats and the second biggest incumbent coalition party, the Polish People's Party, won 28 seats. The Democratic Left Alliance got 27 seats. In the Senate, Civic Platform won an absolute majority with 63 seats, while Law & Justice came away with 31. The only other party to achieve Senate representation was the Polish People's Party, which won 2 seats. Four independents were also elected.

Sejm

Party breakdown

Senate

By constituency

#	Voivodeship	Commission	#	Party	Elected member
1	Lower Silesian	Legnica	I	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition
2	II	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Józef Pinior
3	III	Law and Justice}}"		Law and Justice	Dorota Czudowska
4	Wałbrzych	I	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Wiesław Kilian
5	II	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Stanisław Jurcewicz
6	Wrocław	I	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Jarosław Duda
7	II	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Alicja Chybicka
8	III		Rafał Dutkiewicz Electoral Committee	Jarosław Obremski
9	Kuyavian-Pomeranian	Bydgoszcz	I	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition
10	II	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Jan Rulewski
11	Toruń	I	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Jan Wyrowiński
12	II	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Michał Wojtczak
13	III	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Andrzej Person
14	Lublin	Lublin	I	Law and Justice}}"		Law and Justice
15	II	Law and Justice}}"		Law and Justice	Grzegorz Czelej
16	III	Law and Justice}}"		Law and Justice	Henryk Cioch
17	Chełm	I	Law and Justice}}"		Law and Justice	Grzegorz Bierecki
18	II	Polish People's Party}}"		Polish People's Party	Józef Zając
19	III	Law and Justice}}"		Law and Justice	Jerzy Chróścikowski
20	Lubusz	Zielona Góra	I	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition
21	II	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Helena Hatka
22	III	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Robert Dowhan
23	Łódź	Łódź	I	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition
24	II	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Ryszard Bonisławski
25	Sieradz	I	Law and Justice}}"		Law and Justice	Przemysław Błaszczyk
26	II	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Andrzej Owczarek
27	III	Law and Justice}}"		Law and Justice	Michał Seweryński
28	Piotrków Trybunalski	I	Law and Justice}}"		Law and Justice	Wiesław Dobkowski
29	II	Law and Justice}}"		Law and Justice	Grzegorz Wojciechowski
30	Lesser Poland	Kraków	I	Law and Justice}}"		Law and Justice
31	II	Law and Justice}}"		Law and Justice	Bogdan Pęk
32	III	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Janusz Sepioł
33	IV	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Bogdan Klich
34	Tarnów	I	Law and Justice}}"		Law and Justice	Maciej Klima
35	II	Law and Justice}}"		Law and Justice	Kazimierz Wiatr
36	Nowy Sącz	I	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Stanisław Hodorowicz
37	II	Law and Justice}}"		Law and Justice	Stanisław Kogut
38	Masovian	Płock	I	Law and Justice}}"		Law and Justice
39	II	Law and Justice}}"		Law and Justice	Jan Jackowski
40	Warszawa	I	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Anna Aksamit
41	II	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Łukasz Abgarowicz
42	III	Independent}}"		Independent	Marek Borowski
43	IV	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Marek Rocki
44	V	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Barbara Borys-Damięcka
45	VI	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Aleksander Pociej
46	Siedlce	I	Law and Justice}}"		Law and Justice	Robert Mamątow
47	II	Law and Justice}}"		Law and Justice	Henryk Górski
48	III	Law and Justice}}"		Law and Justice	Waldemar Kraska
49	Radom	I	Law and Justice}}"		Law and Justice	Stanisław Karczewski
50	II	Law and Justice}}"		Law and Justice	Wojciech Skurkiewicz
51	Opole	Opole	I	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition
52	II	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Piotr Wach
53	III	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Aleksander Świeykowski
54	Subcarpathian	Rzeszów	I	Law and Justice}}"		Law and Justice
55	II	Law and Justice}}"		Law and Justice	Władysław Ortyl
56	III	Law and Justice}}"		Law and Justice	Kazimierz Jaworski
57	Krosno	I	Law and Justice}}"		Law and Justice	Alicja Zając
58	II	Law and Justice}}"		Law and Justice	Andrzej Matusiewicz
59	Podlaskie	Białystok	I	Law and Justice}}"		Law and Justice
60	II	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Tadeusz Arłukowicz
61	III	Independent}}"		Independent	Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz
62	Pomeranian	Słupsk	I	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition
63	II	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Roman Zaborowski
64	III	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Edmund Wittbrodt
65	Gdańsk	I	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Bogdan Borusewicz
66	II	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Andrzej Grzyb
67	III	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Leszek Czarnobaj
68	Silesian	Częstochowa	I	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition
69	II	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Andrzej Szewiński
70	Katowice	I	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Maria Pańczyk-Pozdziej
71	II	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Andrzej Misiołek
72	Bielsko-Biała	I	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Adam Zdziebło
73	II	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Antoni Motyczka
74	Katowice	III	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Leszek Piechota
75	IV	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Elżbieta Bieńkowska
76	V	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Zbigniew Meres
77	VI	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Bogusław Śmigielski
78	Bielsko-Biała	III	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Rafał Muchacki
79	IV	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Tadeusz Kopeć
80	Katowice	VII	Independent}}"		Independent	Kazimierz Kutz
81	Świętokrzyskie	Kielce	I	Law and Justice}}"		Law and Justice
82	II	Law and Justice}}"		Law and Justice	Beata Gosiewska
83	III	Law and Justice}}"		Law and Justice	Krzysztof Słoń
84	Warmian-Masurian	Elbląg	I	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition
85	II	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Stanisław Gorczyca
86	Olsztyn	I	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Ryszard Górecki
87	II	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Marek Konopka
88	Greater Poland	Piła	I	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition
89	II	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Jan Libicki
90	Poznań	I	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Marek Ziółkowski
91	II	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Jadwiga Rotnicka
92	Konin	I	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Piotr Gruszczyński
93	II	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Ireneusz Niewiarowski
94	Kalisz	I	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Marian Poślednik
95	II	Polish People's Party}}"		Polish People's Party	Andżelika Możdżanowska
96	III	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Witold Sitarz
97	West Pomeranian	Szczecin	I	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition
98	II	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Sławomir Preiss
99	Koszalin	I	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Grażyna Sztark
100	II	Civic Coalition (Poland)}}"		Civic Coalition	Piotr Zientarski

Reactions

Civic Platform's Donald Tusk said of the victory that: "It is the highest honour for me and for Civic Platform that we will be working for the next four years for all of you, regardless of who you voted for today. In the next four years we will work twice as hard." Polish financial markets reacted positively to the outcome, while the zloty rose.

Analysis

The Civic Platform was considered to be the big winner of the election, being the only Polish political party to have achieved reelection over the past 20 years of democratic elections. Further to that, PO saw only a very small voter swing against it (-2.3%) and a loss of only two seats from its 2007 outcome which was a record result. The other big winner, was the newly established Palikot Movement, which managed to poll double figures (10%) to come in at third place, ahead of PSL and SLD, both of which were longstanding established parties. Opinion polls, of only a month or so prior to the election, had Palikot's Movement at around 2% of the vote, well below the election threshold. The Polish People's Party (8.4%) managed to hang on to its support base (despite some opinion polls suggesting that they would struggle to achieve the threshold), allowing it to continue its coalition with PO, and maintain its level of representation in the new government.

On the other hand, Law and Justice was one of the big losers in the election. PiS was seeking to defeat PO, but failed to even lift its own vote (falling from over 32% in 2007 to less than 30% in 2011). The other big loser was the Democratic Left Alliance, which for the first time in its history failed to achieve a result above 10% (2001 -40%, 2005 - 11%, 2007 - 13%). It was the first time in which SLD fell to fifth place in party results, and the first time in which it polled below the Polish People's Party. Poland Comes First, failed to capture the middle ground between the two major parties, as it was hoping to do, and lost all of its parliamentary seats, achieving only a very modest 2.2% of the vote.

Bloomberg said of the victory for Civic Platform that, as Poland was the only EU country to avoid a recession in 2009, it could continue with its economic initiatives such as consolidating the budget with an expected shortfall and also to avoid austerity measures that many other EU countries have been forced to endure. It also added that the success of the breakaway Palikot movement, coupled with the People Party's reluctance to support some policies, could provide a counterweight to keeping Civic Platform from getting complacent.

Government formation

Following Civic Platform's victory, Tusk said that his party's coalition alliance with the smaller Polish People's Party would continue. Tusk also declared that his ministry would remain unchanged for the remainder of the year, citing the fact that this was the preferable course of action given Poland's presidency of the EU, which continues to the end of the year.

Notes

References

"Electoral law".
"Elections to the Polish Sejm, Part I".
"Republic Of Poland." ''Background Notes On Countries Of The World 2003'' (2003): 1-13. ''Academic Search Premier.'' Web. 22 Dec. 2011.
(5 January 2011). "Kodeks wyborczy".
"Elections 2011 to the Sejm and Senate".
(24 February 2010). "President to choose election date". [[Polskie Radio]].
"Parliamentary elections on October 16 or 23 - Warsaw Business Journal - Online Portal - wbj.pl".
(1 December 2010). "An interview with Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska". [[The Economist]].
(2 March 2011). "PM and president discuss possible election date". [[Polskie Radio]].
(24 February 2011). "State commission gives possible election dates". [[Polskie Radio]].
(4 August 2011). "Wybory jednodniowe 9 października".
"IFES Election Guide {{!}} Elections: Poland Sejm October 2011".
"Elections 2011 to the Sejm and Senate".
(10 October 2011). "Poland re-elects PM Donald Tusk". [[BBC News]].
"Elections 2011 - Senate Results".
"Polish PM wins second term".
Pidd, Helen. (10 October 2011). "Poland re-elects PM Donald Tusk". The Guardian.
(11 October 2011). "Poland's New Parliamentary Party May Help Spur Tusk's Economic Overhaul". Bloomberg.
(12 October 2011). "Election 2011 – Tusk: 'No change in government till New Year'".

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