2005 Polish parliamentary election

none Poland parliamentary 2001 Polish parliamentary election 2001 2007 Polish parliamentary election 2007 25 September 2005 Opinion polling for the 2005 Polish parliamentary election 30,229,031 yes Sejm legislative All 460 seats in the Sejm 231 12,244,903 (40.57%) 5.72pp Jarosław Kaczyński, 2004.jpg 135 120 150 0 7 Jarosław Kaczyński Law and Justice 18 January 2003 9.5%, 44 seats 155 111 3,185,714 27.0% 17.5 pp 00a1b0 Donald Tusk, 2007 (extended).jpg 120 120 150 3 0 Donald Tusk Civic Platform 1 June 2003 12.7%, 65 seats 133 68 2,849,269 24.1% 11.4 pp Andrzej Lepper in March 2007.png 158 120 150 13 17 Andrzej Lepper Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland 10 January 1992 10.2%, 53 seats 56 3 1,347,355 11.4% 1.2 pp Wojciech olejniczak.jpg 150 120 150 0 8 Wojciech Olejniczak Democratic Left Alliance (Poland) 29 May 2005 41.0%, 216 seats 55 161 1,335,257 11.3% 29.7 pp Roman Giertych 2005.png 157 120 150 4 18 Roman Giertych League of Polish Families 26 January 2002De facto leader of the party, while Marek Kotlinowski was the party president.Tomasz Koziełło Elita polityczna Ligi Polskich Rodzin (2001—2007) pl Studia Politicae Universitatis Silesiensis 2015 15 1 2353-9747 https://cejsh.icm.edu.pl/cejsh/element/bwmeta1.element.ojs-issn-2353-9747-year-2015-volume-15-article-5446/c/5446-3561.pdf 197 "Elita faktyczna LPR, czyli ludzie rzeczywiście decydujący o działaniach partii, obejmowała niewielką, kilkuosobową grupę osób. Najważniejszą spośród nich był Roman Giertych, w chwili powstania Ligi 29-letni adwokat, wiceprezes Stronnictwa Narodowego. W ten sposób widzieli jego rolę w LPR zwolennicy, przeciwnicy i neutralni obserwatorzy życia politycznego. O ile w pierwszych dwóch latach jego pozycję można określić jako jednego z 3 decydentów, o tyle po 2003 roku stał się głównym przywódcą partii, wyrazicielem jej poglądów i kreatorem polityki ugrupowania. O odgrywanej przez niego roli w Lidze świadczy fakt obecności przewodniczącego Kongresu i prezesa LPR w mediach — jego wypowiedzi, wywiady z nim oraz wystąpienia, zaprezentowane na łamach prasy narodowej („Myśl Polska”, „Racja Polska”, „Nasz Dziennik”), centrowej („Rzeczpospolita”, „Gazeta Wyborcza”) i na stronie internetowej partii zajmują mniej więcej tyle miejsca w omawianym okresie, ile te same treści związane z pozostałymi członkami kierowniczych gremiów. Oznacza to z jednej strony uczynienie ze swojej osoby postaci, która ma prawo w pierwszej kolejności wypowiadać się publicznie na temat spraw partyjnych, z drugiej natomiast uznanie R. Giertycha przez media za wyraziciela stanowiska LPR." Giertych was also the president of the party congress since 2002.https://journals.ur.edu.pl/polispol/article/view/3480/3547 "Na czele LPR w okresie największych jej wpływów politycznych stali Marek Kotlinowski, wieloletni prezes Zarządu Głównego (2001–2006) i przewodniczący Kongresu (2006) partii, oraz Roman Giertych, przewodniczący Kongresu (2002–2006) i prezes Zarządu Głównego (2006–2007)." Koncepcje ustrojowe polskiego obozu narodowego w XXI wieku na przykładzie Ligi Polskich Rodzin i Ruchu Narodowego Polityka i Społeczeństwo 20 1 pl 2022 10.15584/polispol.2022.1.5 Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Rzeszowskiego 1 Tomasz Koziełło subscription free 7.9%, 38 seats 34 4 940,762 8.0% 0.1 pp Waldemar Pawlak with Jerzy Buzek, 2009.jpg 500 120 150 10 103 Waldemar Pawlak Polish People's Party 29 January 2005 9.0%, 42 seats 25 17 821,656 7.0% 2.0 pp yes Senate All 100 seats in the Senate 51 12,239,019 (40.49%) 5.66pp yes Law and Justice 0 49 20.80 #00a1b0 Civic Platform 2 34 16.94 League of Polish Families 2 7 12.39 Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland 2 3 8.35 Polish People's Party 4 2 5.86 Independent (politician) 2 5 11.57 400px Sejm – results by constituency 400px Sejm – results by gmina Government Belka cabinet SLD—UP Government after election Marcinkiewicz cabinet PiSThe Marcinkiewicz cabinet was a minority government from 2005 to 2006 with confidence from PSL. In 2006, his government was expanded into a PiS—SRP—LPR coalition. Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 25 September 2005. All 460 members of the Sejm and 100 senators of the Senate were elected. The election resulted in a sweeping victory for two opposition parties: the right-wing, national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) and the centre-right, liberal-conservative Civic Platform (PO). The incumbent centre-left government of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) was soundly defeated. PiS won 155 seats and PO 133, while the governing SLD was reduced to fourth place with 55 seats, behind Andrzej Lepper's Self-Defence party, which won 56 seats. Normally, this would have made PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński Prime Minister. However, he declined the post so as not to prejudice his twin brother Lech's chances for the presidential election held later in October. In his place, Law and Justice nominated Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz for the post. Outgoing Prime Minister Marek Belka failed to win a seat in Łódź. In the Senate, PiS won 49 seats and PO 34 of the 100 seats, leaving eight other parties with the remaining 17 seats. The SLD won no seats in the Senate. In the subsequent presidential elections, Lech Kaczyński of the PiS defeated PO leader Donald Tusk. Background The 2005 Sejm was elected by proportional representation from multi-member constituencies, with seats divided among parties which gain more than five percent of the votes using the d'Hondt method. On the other hand, the Senate was elected under first-past-the-post bloc voting. This tended to cause the party or coalition which wins the elections to have a larger majority in the Senate than in the Sejm. In the 2001 elections the SLD and UP won 216 of the 460 seats, and were able to form a government with the support of the Polish People's Party (PSL). The former ruling party, Solidarity Electoral Action (AWS) based on the Solidarity trade union, lost all its seats. In its place several new right-wing parties emerged, such as the PO and the PiS. After 2003 a variety of factors combined to bring about a collapse of support for the government. Discontent with high unemployment, government spending cuts (especially on health, education and welfare), affairs related to privatizations was compounded by a series of corruption scandals, the most serious of them being Rywin-gate. Prime Minister Leszek Miller resigned in May 2004 and was succeeded by Marek Belka. All opinion polls suggested that the governing SLD-UP coalition would be heavily defeated at these elections and that the right-wing parties would win a large majority. With the expected downfall of the post-communists, the right-wing parties competed mainly against each other. Contestants The parties running in this election were mainly the same as in 2001, with the addition of Social Democracy of Poland (a splinter group from the Democratic Left Alliance), and the Democratic Party formed from the Freedom Union (UW) and some SLD dissidents. Both these new parties failed to win seats. The BBC commented on election day: "The two centre-right parties are both rooted in the anti-communist Solidarity movement but differ on issues such as the budget and taxation. Law and Justice, whose agenda includes tax breaks and state aid for the poor, has pledged to uphold traditional family and Christian values. It is suspicious of economic liberalism. The Citizens Platform strongly promotes free market forces and wants to introduce a flat 15% rate for income tax, corporation tax and VAT. It also promises to move faster on deregulation and privatisation, in order to adopt the euro as soon as possible." Opinion polls Opinion polling for the 2005 Polish parliamentary election thumb|1000px|centre| Graphical summary of opinion polls:10em Law and Justice (2001-2005) solid 5px Law and Justice Civic Platform solid 5px Civic Platform Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland solid 5px Self-Defence Democratic Left Alliance (Poland) solid 5px Democratic Left Alliance League of Polish Families solid 5px League of Polish Families Polish People's Party solid 5px Polish People's Party #F4B100 solid 5px Social Democracy Democratic Party - demokraci.pl solid 5px Democratic Party Freedom Union (Poland) solid 5px Freedom UnionReformed as the Democratic Party – demokraci.pl in May 2005. Labour Union (Poland) solid 5px Labour UnionContested election in the lists of Social Democracy of Poland. Results thumb|Powiats won by ■ – Civic Platform ■ – Law and Justice ■ – Polish People's Party ■ – Democratic Left Alliance ■ – Self-Defense ■ – German Minority Had the two leading parties been able to form a coalition as expected, it would have had 63 percent of seats in the Assembly, just short of the two-thirds supermajority required to carry out constitutional reform. Instead however, PiS formed a coalition with two other parties, SRP, and LPR. The populist and isolationist Self-Defense of the Polish Republic (Samoobrona) slightly improved its representation and became the third largest party ahead of the SLD, which despite losing most of its seats performed slightly better than expected based on opinion polls. However, the party lost all its Senate seats. The League of Polish Families and the Polish People's Party retained their representation. The German minority in Poland is exempt from the requirement of achieving at least 5% of the total vote and retained their two seats. Sejm File:2005 Polish Sejm.svg Law and Justice 3185714 155 +111 #00a1b0 Civic Platform 2849259 133 +68 Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland 1347355 56 +3 Democratic Left Alliance 1335257 55 –161 League of Polish Families 940762 34 –4 Polish People's Party 821656 25 –17 Social Democracy of Poland 459380 0 New Democratic Party 289276 0 New Janusz Korwin-Mikke Platform 185885 0 New Patriotic Movement pl Ruch Patriotyczny 124038 0 New Polish Labour Party 91266 0 New #FF0000 German Minority Electoral Committee 34469 2 0 Polish National Party 34127 0 New #FF0000 Ancestral Home 32863 0 New #e96363 Centre 21893 0 New #007FFF All-Poland Civic Coalition pl Ogólnopolska Koalicja Obywatelska 16251 0 New Initiative of the Republic of Poland 11914 0 New Polish Confederation – Dignity and Work 8353 0 New National Revival of Poland 7376 0 New #016E4F German Minority of Silesia 5581 0 0 Labour Party 1019 0 New Social Rescuers 982 0 New 440227 0 30229031 Nohlen & Stöver By constituency Although PiS and PO were the clear winners, their vote was very unevenly distributed, being overwhelmingly concentrated in the cities, particularly Warsaw and the southern industrial areas around Kraków and Katowice, but also including Gdańsk, Gdynia, Poznań, Wrocław and Szczecin. The only urban centre not to endorse the right was Łódź. The two main parties failed to win a majority in any rural district except Rzeszów in the south. In seven rural districts they polled less the 40 percent of the vote, while in one (Chełm) they polled less than 35 percent. Self-Defence managed to win in four districts. The vote shows the continuing sharp divide in Polish politics between urban voters, who are generally more socially liberal and in favour of free-market economics, and rural voters, who are more socially conservative and economically left-wing. Constituency TurnoutPiSPOSRPSLDLPRPSLSDPLPDMN Others Lead1 – Legnica 36.75 24.77 24.41 12.65 15.26 6.90 3.85 3.29 4.23 - 4.64 0.362 – Wałbrzych 35.74 22.21 25.93 13.25 13.86 7.25 6.51 5.29 1.71 - 3.99 3.723 – Wrocław 46.73 25.70 32.36 8.42 10.00 6.73 3.03 3.98 4.28 - 5.50 6.664 – Bydgoszcz 37.98 24.71 20.80 11.70 18.66 6.70 6.16 3.11 1.70 - 6.46 3.915 – Toruń 35.69 22.67 18.64 18.59 11.77 7.98 7.05 5.55 3.88 - 3.87 4.036 – Lublin 42.89 25.82 17.04 14.59 8.09 12.37 11.36 4.21 1.55 - 4.97 8.787 – Chełm 38.64 20.82 11.40 20.83 8.32 12.35 18.32 3.31 1.01 - 3.64 0.018 – Zielona Góra 35.44 22.84 24.21 11.41 16.18 7.63 7.85 3.51 1.99 - 4.38 1.379 – Łódź 43.62 24.63 24.30 8.63 14.12 7.64 2.13 5.72 6.04 - 6.79 0.3310 – Piotrków Trybunalski 39.31 23.26 15.33 21.56 11.20 9.06 10.80 2.82 1.76 - 4.21 1.7011 – Sieradz 38.10 21.38 15.04 21.87 14.86 6.64 12.21 2.62 1.63 - 3.75 0.4912 – Chrzanów 42.11 34.88 21.86 8.51 8.58 11.48 6.05 3.43 1.77 - 3.44 13.0213 – Kraków 47.34 37.29 30.56 5.05 7.96 5.70 3.13 3.56 2.86 - 3.89 6.7314 – Nowy Sącz 45.07 37.17 21.92 8.48 6.00 12.69 8.02 1.22 1.53 - 2.97 15.2515 – Tarnów 42.76 33.93 20.28 9.88 5.92 12.64 9.34 2.20 1.20 - 4.61 13.6516 – Płock 36.01 24.20 14.41 17.84 11.94 6.94 15.83 2.93 1.75 - 4.16 6.3617 – Radom 40.67 25.60 15.62 19.42 9.90 8.07 13.28 2.63 1.09 - 4.39 6.1818 – Siedlce 41.69 25.46 12.62 18.80 7.27 11.75 16.35 1.87 1.05 - 4.83 6.6619 – Warsaw I 56.05 29.93 33.07 2.34 11.53 5.85 0.94 6.50 4.91 - 4.93 3.1420 – Warsaw II 44.71 32.95 28.09 7.34 7.17 7.34 5.46 2.98 2.38 - 6.29 4.8621 – Opole 33.47 20.53 24.24 10.59 10.39 6.82 4.79 2.80 2.89 12.92 3.03 3.7122 – Krosno 41.10 33.78 15.44 11.83 9.16 13.63 9.56 2.28 1.07 - 3.25 18.3423 – Rzeszów 44.24 38.20 16.25 7.89 7.34 13.09 10.24 2.16 0.85 - 3.98 21.9524 – Białystok 38.41 28.46 15.25 12.16 12.31 11.38 8.39 3.82 1.41 - 6.82 13.2125 – Gdansk 44.01 25.75 39.90 6.73 9.04 5.61 2.73 3.85 2.20 - 4.19 14.1526 – Gdynia 42.86 26.83 32.73 9.39 11.22 7.64 2.97 2.92 1.67 - 4.63 5.9027 – Bielsko-Biała 44.40 35.71 26.55 6.60 9.26 7.90 3.41 3.99 2.91 - 3.67 9.1628 – Częstochowa 38.62 27.68 24.78 13.73 10.67 6.09 5.70 4.74 2.11 - 4.50 2.9029 – Gliwice 35.81 28.43 33.12 6.97 11.69 5.34 1.95 3.56 2.44 - 6.50 4.6930 – Rybnik 39.81 31.33 31.67 7.64 11.65 7.01 2.50 2.56 1.65 - 3.99 0.3431 – Katowice 41.04 31.33 34.38 5.18 10.51 4.97 1.29 4.62 3.38 - 4.34 3.0532 – Sosnowiec 36.49 24.27 27.21 - 21.15 7.25 3.59 6.81 2.64 - 7.08 2.9433 – Kielce 36.53 23.76 15.39 17.23 12.33 6.16 14.15 4.06 1.31 - 5.61 6.5334 – Elbląg 34.40 21.85 23.48 17.68 12.03 5.58 9.01 3.56 3.09 - 3.72 1.6335 – Olsztyn 34.54 22.59 24.08 11.80 14.28 7.79 9.44 3.09 2.97 - 3.96 1.4936 – Kalisz 38.53 20.13 21.72 16.55 13.02 7.47 10.98 4.59 1.39 - 4.15 1.5937 – Konin 38.27 19.69 18.78 20.70 13.07 6.28 10.19 4.36 1.62 - 5.31 1.1038 – Piła 39.53 16.93 24.71 14.75 15.82 7.44 9.65 5.84 1.51 - 3.35 7.7839 – Poznań 47.23 25.55 37.97 5.71 10.48 5.40 2.05 5.41 3.73 - 3.70 12.4240 – Koszalin 35.57 20.33 21.76 22.78 13.87 4.61 5.25 4.72 3.74 - 2.94 1.0241 – Szczecin 38.26 23.24 28.21 11.47 14.84 6.11 3.84 5.51 3.02 - 3.76 4.97Poland 40.57 26.99 24.14 11.41 11.31 7.97 6.96 3.89 2.45 0.29 4.59 2.85 Seat distribution by constituency Constituency PiS PO SRP SLD LPR PSL MN Sum1 – Legnica 4 3 2 2 1 - - 122 – Wałbrzych 3 3 1 1 - - - 83 – Wrocław 5 6 1 1 1 - - 144 – Bydgoszcz 4 3 1 3 1 - - 125 – Toruń 3 3 3 2 1 1 - 136 – Lublin 5 3 2 1 2 2 - 157 – Chełm 3 1 3 1 2 2 - 128 – Zielona Góra 3 4 1 2 1 1 - 129 – Łódź 3 3 1 2 1 - - 1010 – Piotrków Trybunalski 3 1 2 1 1 1 - 911 – Sieradz 3 2 3 2 1 1 - 1212 – Chrzanów 4 2 - 1 1 - - 813 – Kraków 6 5 - 1 1 - - 1314 – Nowy Sącz 4 2 1 - 1 1 - 915 – Tarnów 4 2 1 - 1 1 - 916 – Płock 3 2 2 1 - 2 - 1017 – Radom 3 1 2 1 1 1 - 918 – Siedlce 4 2 2 1 1 2 - 1219 – Warsaw I 7 8 - 3 1 - - 1920 – Warsaw II 4 4 1 1 1 - - 1121 – Opole 3 4 2 1 1 - 2 1322 – Krosno 4 2 1 1 2 1 - 1123 – Rzeszów 7 3 1 1 2 1 - 1524 – Białystok 5 3 2 2 2 1 - 1525 – Gdańsk 4 6 1 1 - - - 1226 – Gdynia 4 6 1 2 1 - - 1427 – Bielsko-Biała 4 3 - 1 1 - - 928 – Częstochowa 3 2 1 1 - - - 729 – Gliwice 4 4 1 1 - - - 1030 – Rybnik 4 4 - 1 - - - 931 – Katowice 5 6 - 1 - - - 1232 – Sosnowiec 3 3 - 2 1 - - 933 – Kielce 5 3 3 2 1 2 - 1634 – Elbląg 2 2 2 1 - 1 - 835 – Olsztyn 3 3 1 1 1 1 - 1036 – Kalisz 3 3 2 2 1 1 - 1237 – Konin 2 2 3 1 - 1 - 938 – Piła 2 3 1 2 - 1 - 939 – Poznań 4 5 - 1 - - - 1040 – Koszalin 2 2 3 1 - - - 841 – Szczecin 4 4 2 2 1 - - 13Total 155 133 56 55 34 25 2 460 Senate File:2005 Polish Senate.svg Law and Justice 5020704 49 +49 #00a1b0 Civic Platform 4090497 34 +32 Democratic Left Alliance 3114118 0 –75 League of Polish Families 2990092 7 +5 Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland 2016858 3 +1 Polish People's Party 1413872 2 –2 Democratic Party 683799 0 New Social Democracy of Poland 573556 0 New Janusz Korwin-Mikke Platform 375037 0 New Centre 246143 0 New #007FFF Patriotic Movement pl Ruch Patriotyczny 234093 0 New Ancestral Home 181337 0 New #e96363 Polish National Party 168413 0 New #FF0000 German Minority Electoral Committee 88875 0 – All-Poland Civic Coalition pl Ogólnopolska Koalicja Obywatelska 65561 0 New Initiative of the Republic of Poland 45712 0 New Social Rescuers 18439 0 New Polish Labour Party 11765 0 – #FF0000 Polish Confederation – Dignity and Work 10528 0 New Local lists and independents 2792572 5 +3 Independent 11812965 426054 0 30229031 Nohlen & Stöver By constituency No.ConstituencyTotal seatsSeats wonPiSPOLPRSRPPSLOthers1Legnica3212Wałbrzych2113Wrocław3124Bydgoszcz225Toruń3126Lublin3217Chełm31118Zielona Góra31119Łódź21110Piotrków Trybunalski21111Sieradz32112Kraków42213Nowy Sącz21114Tarnów21115Płock21116Radom21117Siedlce32118Warsaw42219Warsaw21120Opole31221Krosno2222Rzeszów311123Białystok31224Gdańsk31225Gdynia32126Bielsko-Biała21127Częstochowa21128Gliwice21129Rybnik21130Katowice311131Sosnowiec21132Kielce32133Elbląg21134Olsztyn21135Kalisz311136Konin21137Piła21138Poznań21139Koszalin21140Szczecin211Total10049347325Source: National Electoral Commission Aftermath Negotiations between PiS and PO about forming a government collapsed in late October, precipitated by disagreement regarding who would be speaker of the Sejm. On 1 November PiS announced a minority government headed by Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz as Prime Minister. The negotiations were affected by the 9 October presidential election where the PiS candidate Lech Kaczyński (the twin brother of PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński) was elected; Jarosław Kaczyński had promised that he would not become the Prime Minister if his brother wins the election. The constitutional requirement to form a government within a set time period also heated up the coalition negotiations. A major stumbling block in PiS-PO government negotiations was the latter's insistence on receiving the Interior portfolio, as to prevent one party from controlling all three of the "power" ministries (Security, Justice and Interior) that manage police and security services. The PO also opposed a "tactical alliance" between the PiS and the Self-Defense (Samoobrona) party, which shared eurosceptic and populist sentiments, although differing on economic policy. The election campaign, in which PiS and PO mainly competed against each other rather than parties to their left, accentuated differences and created an antagonistic relationship between the two parties. The PiS minority government depended on the support of the radical Samoobrona party and the hard-right League of Polish Families (LPR) to govern, a situation that made many of those hoping for a PiS-PO coalition uneasy. On 5 May 2006 PiS formed a coalition government with Samoobrona and LPR. In July 2006, Marcinkiewicz tendered his resignation following reports of a rift with PiS party leader Kaczyński. Kaczyński formed a new government and was sworn in on 14 July as prime minister. The SLD's severe defeat sent the party into a sharp decline from which it has never fully recovered; it lost all of its remaining seats in 2015 though it regained some ground in 2019 as part of Lewica, and the Polish left-wing would not govern until New Left, formed from the merger of the SLD and Spring, entered Tusk's third cabinet as a junior coalition partner following the 2023 parliamentary election. The 2005 election proved to be a realigning election in Polish politics, as Law and Justice and Civic Platform (and presidential candidates supported by them) have finished in top two of every election since. Further reading Markowski Radosław September 2006 The Polish elections of 2005: Pure chaos or a restructuring of the party system? West European Politics 29 4 814–832 10.1080/01402380600842452 153447398 Notes References External links Polish parliamentary election - unofficial results Poland's elections 2005: Full Coverage Axis Globe Brief Information About the Participants Axis Globe Elections 2005 Polish National Electoral Commission The Polish lifeboat Analysis from Adam Szostkiewicz Return of the right The Economist, 28 September 2005 https://archive.today/20150506173415/http://news.ft.com/cms/s/c6bced74-4a7b-11da-b8b1-0000779e2340.html Minority government for Poles after coalition talks collapse el Financial Times, 1 November 2005 Category:Parliamentary elections in Poland Poland Parliamentary Category:History of Poland (1989–present) Parliamentary