1994 Polish local elections

1994 Polish regional assembly election Poland parliamentary no 1990 Polish local elections 1990 1998 Polish local elections 1998 19 June 1994 2468 municipal councils 27,621,841 9,329,776 (33.78%) 8.49pp Aleksander Kwaśniewski in Strasbourg, 1998.jpg 283 120 150 7 82 center Aleksander Kwaśniewski SLD-SdRP 27% Waldemar Pawlak 1994.jpg 135 120 150 0 8 Waldemar Pawlak Polish People's Party 18% Tadeusz Mazowiecki 1998.jpg 425 120 150 47 205 Tadeusz Mazowiecki Freedom Union (Poland) 12% Marian Krzaklewski 1991 (cropped).jpg 130 120 150 0 10 Marian Krzaklewski Solidarity Citizens' Committee 5% Wieslaw Chrzanowski.jpg 60 60 75 0 0 Hall Aleksander.JPG 100 60 75 0 35 Artur Balazs.JPG 60 60 75 0 0 Wiesław ChrzanowskiAleksander HallArtur Balazs KKW "O" 4% 324DA6 Zbigniew Religa Kancelaria Senatu Senat Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej V kadencji.jpg 210 120 150 33 47 Zbigniew Religa Nonpartisan Bloc for Support of Reforms 3% The 1994 Polish local elections were held on 19 June 1994. Elected positions Representatives for the following were chosen: 2468 municipal councils, 7 district councils in the gmina Warszawa-Centrum, Warsaw City Council Background The second local elections in Poland - on 19 June 1994 - took place in a completely different political context than the 1990 Polish local elections. In four years, local government had managed to establish itself and win the trust of Poles - 49% of CBOS respondents said that their gmina council worked well or very well, and confidence in gmina authorities was higher than in any other elected body by 1994. Two developments heavily impacted the national political scene at the time, which had a major impact on local politics: the disintegration and defeat of the Solidarity camp in the 1993 Polish parliamentary election, and the formation of a new ruling coalition, composed of left-wing parties originating from the former communist regime that abandoned further reforms of the country's territorial system. Additionally, numerous new political parties emerged.Wybory lokalne Maciej Drzonek Jarosław Flis Artur Wołek https://rcin.org.pl/Content/208661/PDF/WA51_242810_PANB5061-r2018_Wybory-lokalne.pdf pl in: M. Kowalski, P. Śleszyński (red.), Atlas wyborczy Polski Instytut Geografii i Przestrzennego Zagospodarowania PAN Warsaw 239 For the first time, local government elections were, at least in cities with more than 40,000 inhabitants, clearly linked to nationwide party divisions. For the activists of the extra-parliamentary post-Solidarity parties, the 1994 elections were the first opportunity to gain political foothold after the 1993 defeat, while for the Polish People's Party and the Democratic Left Alliance they were the first assessment of the ruling coalition's actions by voters. The increased interest of politicians in local government elections was manifested in a doubling of the number of candidates for councillors - particularly evident in large cities, where on average seven candidates were running for one seat. As a result, 62% of councillors elected in multi-mandate districts came from lists submitted by political parties and their coalitions. Unlike the 1990 elections, the 1994 local elections took place on a normal date, after the term of 1990-1994 councilors passed, which was an important sign of political normalization in Poland. The left-wing government of Waldemar Pawlak did not evoke strong feelings from the general population, and was relatively bereft of political conflicts. The largest conflict was considered the departure of Marek Borowski from the office of deputy prime minister and minister of finance. Compared to 1990, local administration was slightly reformed, with the most impactful change being the reform of the local authorities in Warsaw. According to CBOS surveys, 49% of the population was satisfied with their 1990-1994 local council, while 26% of the surveyed were dissatisfied. Rural voters were considerably more satisfied with their local councils (57%), compared to the urban voters (36%). Nevertheless, the general approval of local authorities was also coupled with political apathy.Jacek Raciborski Polskie wybory: zachowania wyborcze społeczeństwa polskego 1989–1995 Wydawnictwo Naukowe „Scholar” 83-87367-16-8 1997 Warsaw pl 123 Campaign In small towns and municipalities, the public did not require special advertising and self-presentation from candidates, although they sometimes appeared in the local press. Candidates who were well-known in their districts were limited to collecting signatures and informal meetings in small groups. In multi-mandate districts there were posters promoting individuals, and only a few chose to appear in the local media, but TV election programmes were characterised by low appeal. New to the campaign were festivals often organised in larger towns, often combined with primaries. Inadequate promotion resulted in a lack of public interest in voting. The role of the 1990 voter committees was taken over by the political parties. Already in the pre-election period, the parties tried to form local government-political coalitions. The merger of the Democratic Union and the Liberal Democratic Congress resulted in the formation of a new party, the Freedom Union, which established local coalitions such as the Freedom and Local Government Union (pl Unia Wolności i Samorządności), the Wrocław 2000 Civic Coalition (pl Koalicja Obywatelska "Wrocław 2000"), the Gdańsk UW-PK Coalition and the Kraków Your City Coalition (pl Koalicja Krakowska "Twoje Miasto"). Right-wing groups also formed ad hoc electoral coalitions, such as Centre Right for Warsaw (pl Centroprawica dla Warszawy) and Right Together (pl Prawica Razem) in Kraków. The National Party also participated in the election, running independently in regions such as Poznań, while entering coalitions with right-leaning parties in other. It participated in a coalition Rightist Łódź (pl Prawa Łódź) organized by parties such as the Party of Christian Democrats, the Christian National Union, and Peasants' Agreement.Jarosław Tomasiewicz :pl:Jarosław Tomasiewicz Ugrupowania neoendeckie w III Rzeczypospolitej 83-7322-668-0 Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek Toruń 2003 87 pl The political campaign was characterized by consolidation of parliamentary political parties - SLD and PSL ran independently and used their own name. According to the CBOS polls, the intensity of political campaign heavily varied between urban and rural constituencies. In medium-sized cities, 70% of those surveyed stated that the political campaign was noticeable. In large cities (500,000 people or more), only 45% did, and in the countryside only 10% of correspondents considered the political campaign noticeable. Voters were more informed about meetings with candidates - 45% of urban and 25% of rural voters were aware of them.Jacek Raciborski Polskie wybory: zachowania wyborcze społeczeństwa polskego 1989–1995 Wydawnictwo Naukowe „Scholar” 83-87367-16-8 1997 Warsaw pl 124-125 In Poznań, a common list united 14 right-wing organisations, while the Democratic Left Alliance, Polish People's Party and Labour Union issued lists under their own names (the exception was Warsaw, where these parties created one list). Far-left parties that participated in the election, such as the Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland and the Polish Socialist Party did not enter electoral alliances. Although local government elections in large cities were dominated by political groupings, there were also committees expressing local interests; such committees were more common in small municipalities, where, in principle, candidates did not have to form an electoral representation. The lack of need to demonstrate party affiliation is also evidenced by the names of local committees, in which voters were not able to see political affiliations. The election was also contested by some far-right parties, such as the National Self-Defence Front.https://danewyborcze.kbw.gov.pl/index5c15.html?title=Samorz%C4%85d_1994 Dane o kandydatach na radnych z oznaczeniem liczby głosów i faktu uzyskania mandatu 11 February 2022 pl National Electoral Commission Election results Distribution of seats Electoral committee % of seats Democratic Left Alliance (Poland) silver Democratic Left Alliance-SdRP 27% Polish People's Party silver Polish People's Party 18% Freedom Union (Poland) silver Freedom Union 12% Solidarity Citizens' Committee silver Solidarity Citizens' Committee 5% #324DA6 silver Catholic Electoral Committee "Fatherland" 4% #A9A9A9 silver Nonpartisan Bloc for Support of Reforms 3% Labour Union (Poland) silver Labour Union 3% Centre Agreement silver Centre Agreement 2% Confederation of Independent Poland silver Confederation of Independent Poland 2% Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland silver Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland 1% Polish Socialist Party silver0501ad silver92aced silver0000cc silver000000 silverPeasants' Agreement silver Other parties, including:Polish Socialist PartyNational PartyParty of Christian DemocratsChristian National UnionNational Self-Defence FrontPeasants' Agreement 6% silver silver Independents 17% Total 100% Sources:Partie lewicy i centrolewicy w polskim systemie partyjnym: aktywność SLD, PSL i UP na polskiej scenie politycznej Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego Dominik Sieklucki 978-83-233-2241-2 Kraków 2006 1st 149 plJacek Raciborski Polskie wybory: zachowania wyborcze społeczeństwa polskego 1989–1995 Wydawnictwo Naukowe „Scholar” 83-87367-16-8 1997 Warsaw pl 126 Distribution of votes All candidates 9022499 149772 157505 27621841 National Electoral Commission Summary The elections were held on 19 June 1994, and were largely ignored by the general population. The election was dominated by local electoral committees representing local interests, with names such as "Citizens of ...", "For the Common Good Inter-Parish Agreement", "Firefighters", "Allotmentists", "Co-operative Committee". Parties such as SLD, UP, PSL and UW ran under their own names. Andrzej Piasecki wrote that most committees contained candidates with centre-right political views. In cities of 40,000 or more, there were 761 electoral lists and 39,839 candides in total, contesting for 5337 seats. In other gminas there were 142,061 candidates contesting 46,569 seats. The National Electoral Commission (PKW) caused controversy by presenting the results in a complicated way, without stating how many seats each political party and electoral committee had won. The authorities of the commission claimed that this was beyond the purpose of the PKW. This forced political scientists to estimate the results based on the polls as well as the internal estimates of the political parties. The press considered the Democratic Left Alliance and the Polish People's Party the winners of the local elections, while the results of parties such as the Labour Union and right-wing coalitions fell below expectations. This was confirmed by the estimates of Polish political scientist Dominik Sieklucki, who calculated that the SLD had won 27% of council seats, while the PSL won 18%.Partie lewicy i centrolewicy w polskim systemie partyjnym: aktywność SLD, PSL i UP na polskiej scenie politycznej Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego Dominik Sieklucki 978-83-233-2241-2 Kraków 2006 1st 149-150 pl Coalitions were the most characteristic element of these local elections. Parties formed extensive, highly diverse alliances, both with other parties aspiring to participate in national politics and with local groupings. This made it difficult to estimate who won the 1994 elections. In a CBOS survey conducted after the elections on a representative sample of councillors, 8% of councillors admitted to having been elected on the recommendation of PSL, SLD/SdRP - 6%, UW - 2%, NSZZ ‘Solidarność’ - 2%, KKW ‘Ojczyzna’ - 3%. Turnout for municipal councils reached 33,78% with 1,60% invalid votes. Moreover, 1,69% of ballots cast were blank. In comparison, in the 1990 Polish local elections, 3% of the ballots were invalid and 5% were blank - because of this, media noted that Polish voters were getting used to electoral procedures.https://www.studiapolitologiczne.pl/pdf-117447-46625?filename=46625.pdf pl Wybory samorządowe, partie parlamentarne a wzory tworzenia koalicji w samorządach wojewódzkich 20 Studia Politologiczne Tatiana Majcherkiewicz 113 Moreover, the election brought about the domination of political parties - 64% of elected councillors belonged to a political party.978-83-233-3256-5 Marketing polityczny w regionie pl Agnieszka Szczudlińska-Kanoś Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego 2011 70 1st Kraków This marked a considerable change from the 1990 local elections, where only around a quarter (27,6%) of councillors were from political parties - in comparison, 39% of newly-elected councillors were independent, and 46,1% came from voter committees.Wybrane aspekty rywalizacji wyborczej w wyborach do organów samorządu terytorialnego Jarosław Galicki Studia Wyborcze 17 1 2014 Łódzkie Towarzystwo Naukowe http://cejsh.icm.edu.pl/cejsh/element/bwmeta1.element.desklight-b10868b4-ec1d-44be-a755-e82acf2d2845 pl 128 There was almost no electoral campaign activity, which also translated into low turnout of 33,78%. Media campaigns started very late, at the end of May 1994. One of the leading issues during the election was decommunization - many streets had been renamed, which was seen as controversial and confusing by most voters. Some candidates addressed this issue by pledging to not change the street plaques, thus keeping the old socialist names. Most voters were also unaware of the candidates and parties, saved for the most established ones like SLD and PSL. Media discussed the mysteriousness of the names of many election committees, such as "Alliance for ..." or "City League". The profileration of unknown committees and names discouraged voters.https://czasopisma.ukw.edu.pl/index.php/kronika-bydgoska/article/download/1157/1186 pl Jacek Lindner Kronika Bydgoska 2019 40 325-342 Elekcja przenosi się do sieci i na ulice The capitalist reforms, rising unemployment and lack of prospects also translated into growing social pessimism.Wybory samorządowe – co, jak i dlaczego. Część 1 https://nadmorski24.pl/aktualnosci/36852-wybory-samorzadowe-co-jak-i-dlaczego-czesc-1 pl 2 September 2018 Some also pointed out that the low turnout was caused by 'political fatigue', as this marked the 5th election in four years. The election also became unique in that, contrary to the 1993 parliamentary elections, the inhabitants of rural areas and small towns voted more willingly than urban voters, with a difference of over 10 percentage points. Almost half of the elected councillors were re-electees from the 1990 election or from the Communist Poland. In large cities, 62% of seats were acquired by political parties. SLD won in 29 voivodeship capital cities. Whereas SLD won in northern, western and central Poland, rightwing parties won in southern and eastern Poland. Center-right coalitions won in eight voivodeship capitals, and the Freedom Union with its allies in seven. The rest were won by local coalitions. In the gminas, PSL was the most successful party.Andrzej K. Piasecki Samorząd terytorialny i wspólnoty lokalne 2009 Opinion polls CBOS polls Date Sample size PSL SLD UW UP PdPAlliance for Poland (pl Przymierze dla Polski), defined as a possible coalition of: Christian National Union; Centre Agreement; Peasants' Agreement; Movement for the Republic; Conservative Coalition. KO "S" BBWR KKW "O" KPN SRP Others Independent candidate Undecided Lead 19-23 May 1994 654 21 12 15 8 6 6 4 5 3 1 2 6 12 6 7-10 May 1994 634 16 15 12 10 7 4 4 4 4 1 2 3 18 1 Source: https://www.cbos.pl/PL/publikacje/raporty_tekst.php?id=1128 Przed wyborami samorządowymi 31 May 1994 Jarosław Najdowski Komunikat z badań BS/93/81/94 Warsaw CBOS 7 pl OBOP polls Date Sample size PSL SLD UW UP BBWR KO "S" KKW "O" KPN Others Undecided Lead 19 June 1994(exit poll - multi-seat constituencies) 1463 2 26 22 421 25 Local committees: 18 Business lists: 3 Others: 4 - 4 6-24 May 1994Combined probe 2554 18 14 9 6 5 4 4 3 6 31 4 20-24 May 1994 1277 17 14 8 7 5 3 3 3 5 35 3 6-10 May 1994 1277 19 14 10 6 6 6 5 3 5 26 5 Source: https://public.kantarpolska.com/archiwumraportow/1994/05/25/na-kogo-beda-glosowac-polacy-w-wyborach-samorzadowych-maj-1995/ Na kogo będą głosować Polacy w wyborach samorządowych - maj 1994? 25 May 1994 pl Warsaw OBOPhttps://public.kantarpolska.com/archiwumraportow/1994/06/19/wybory-samorzadowe-19-czerwca-1994-r-wyniki-badania-exit-poll/ Wybory samorządowe 19 czerwca 1994 r. Wyniki badania exit poll. pl Warsaw OBOP 19 June 1994 (exit poll) Notes References Category:Local elections in Poland Category:1994 in Poland Category:1994 elections