Polish parliamentary election, 2001

Polish parliamentary election, 2001

23 September 2001

All 460 seats in the Sejm 231 seats were needed for a majority in the Sejm All 100 seats in the Senate Turnout 46.29%   First party Second party Third party   Leader Leszek Miller Maciej Płażyński Andrzej Lepper Party SLD-UP PO SRP Leader since 1 July 1997 24 January 2001 10 January 1992 Leader's seat 9 – Łódź 25 – Gdańsk 40 – Koszalin Last election 164 seats, 34.1%* Did not exist 0 seats, 0.1% Seats won 216 65 53 Seat change 52 65 53 Popular vote 5,342,519 1,651,099 1,327,624 Percentage 41.0% 12.7% 10.2% Swing 6.9% 12.7% 10.1%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Lech Kaczyński Jarosław Kalinowski Roman Giertych Party PiS PSL LPR Leader since 22 March 2001 11 October 1997 21 April 2001 Leader's seat 25 – Gdańsk 18 – Siedlce 20 – Warsaw II Last election Did not exist 27 seats, 7.3% Did not exist Seats won 44 42 38 Seat change 44 15 38 Popular vote 1,236,787 1,168,659 1,025,148 Percentage 9.5% 9.0% 7.9% Swing 9.5% 1.7% 7.9%   Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party   Leader Jerzy Buzek Bronisław Geremek Henryk Kroll Party AWS UW MN Leader since 15 January 1999 18 December 2000 1991 Leader's seat 29 – Gliwice (defeated) 19 – Warsaw I (defeated) 21 – Opole Last election 201 seats, 33.8% 60 seats, 13.4% 2 seats, 0.4% Seats won 0 0 2 Seat change 201 60 Popular vote 729,207 404,074 47,230 Percentage 5.6% 3.1% 0.4% Swing 28.2% 10.3%

Powiats with party majority ■ – Democratic Left Alliance ■ – Polish People's Party ■ – Civic Platform ■ – Solidarity Electoral Action ■ – League of Polish Families ■ – German Minority * As the sum of SLD-UP's constituent parties, the Democratic Left Alliance, Labour United and the National Party of Retirees and Pensioners.

Prime Minister before election Jerzy Buzek AWS New Prime Minister Leszek Miller SLD

The 2001 Polish parliamentary election was held on 23 September 2001 to elect deputies to both houses of the National Assembly.^[1] The election concluded with an overwhelming victory for the centre-left Democratic Left Alliance – Labor Union, the electoral coalition between both the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) and the Labour Union (UP), which captured 41% of the vote in the crucial lower house Sejm. The 2001 election is recognized as marking the emergence of both Civic Platform (PO) and Law and Justice (PiS) as players in Polish politics, while also witnessing the outright collapse of the Solidarity Electoral Action (AWS) and its former coalition partner, the Freedom Union (UW).

Voter turnout for the 2001 election was 46.29%^[2] For this election only, list seats were allocated using the Sainte-Laguë method instead of the d'Hondt method.

Background

At the end of its four-year term, the ruling AWS government of Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek faced bleak prospects for the September parliamentary election. In the previous presidential election in 2000, the SLD's Aleksander Kwaśniewski achieved a landslide reelection over AWS candidate Marian Krzaklewski. Economically, Polish consumer confidence dropped to its lowest since the mid-1990s, with unemployment rising above 16%.^[3] Politically, the Buzek government faced a series of crises undermining its credibility. In May 2000, the AWS' junior coalition partner, the Freedom Union, walked out of the government regarding the party's objections to the slow pace of reform, forcing Buzek to set up a relatively weak minority government in its place.^[4] Later in July 2001, Buzek's government was again hit by three further ministerial resignations over corruption charges, while the government's reform program for pensions and health care grounded to a halt in the Sejm.^[3]

In light of Buzek's besieged administration, opposition parties took advantage of AWS' organisational and economic weaknesses. From the centre left, a political coalition between the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) and the Labour Union (UP), headed by Leszek Miller, appeared as the ruling government's most formidable, united and vocal opposition. On the centre right, Solidarity's traditional spectrum of support increasingly became divided by the emergence of new political groups. Civic Platform (PO), composed of former AWS and UW members, repeated calls for a low flat-rate income tax and a culling of bureaucracy to attract investment.^[3] Further down the right, the Law and Justice party (PiS), composed of AWS' more conservative and anti-communist adherents, campaigned on promises of tough anti-corruption and organised crime legislation.^[3]

The campaign leading up to the September election was marred by voter antipathy due to the summer holidays, as well as being marginalized by the September 11 attacks in the United States.^[5]

Opinion polls

Results

The SLD triumphed in the final tally, receiving 41% percent of the vote, though shy of an outright parliamentary majority in the Sejm.^[6] The party increased its representation by 52 seats, earning it 216 representatives, and returned to the Chancellery after a four-year period of sitting in opposition. Partly due to the fractious nature of its opponents, the SLD secured pluralities in all of Poland's voivodeships as well as in an overwhelming majority of the nation's powiats. On the centre right, Civic Platform entered parliament for the first time, coming in second place with nearly 13% of the vote.^[6] The party stood relatively strong in Pomeranian Voivodeship.

Surprisingly, ultra-nationalist parties performed well in the election's final results. The left-wing nationalist Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland (SRP) increased its vote 100-fold from the 1997 election, securing 53 seats and 10% of the vote, coming in third place. Headed by populist Andrzej Lepper, the party campaigned against Warsaw excess and Poland's ongoing negotiations to enter the European Union.^[7] On the far right, the League of Polish Families which campaigned on a staunchly Catholic and anti-EU platform also entered the Sejm for the first time, gaining 38 seats and 8% of the vote.^[7]

Law and Justice (PiS), headed by Lech Kaczyński, a former Minister of Justice in the Buzek government, scored 44 seats and 9.5% of the vote, also securing his party's entrance into the Sejm for the first time. The Polish People's Party (PSL) won 42 seats, slightly reversing the party's devastating losses from 1997. The PSL would later enter into coalition with the SLD to achieve a parliamentary majority.

The election proved catastrophic for Solidarity Electoral Action and its former Freedom Union coalition partner. Both parties failed to secure the 8% for coalitions and 5% for standalone parties threshold to enter the Sejm, with AWS and UW falling to 5.6% and 3.1%, respectively.^[6] In the election's aftermath, Prime Minister Buzek tendered his resignation. Both the AWS and UW faced political extinction following the election's aftermath. The AWS dissolved itself by the end of 2001; the UW lingered until its own dissolution in 2005.

Sejm

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Democratic Left Alliance – Labor Union	5,342,519	41.0	216	+52
Civic Platform	1,651,099	12.7	65	New
Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland	1,327,624	10.2	53	+53
Law and Justice	1,236,787	9.5	44	New
Polish People's Party	1,168,659	9.0	42	+15
League of Polish Families	1,025,148	7.9	38	New
Solidarity Electoral Action	729,207	5.6	0	–201
Freedom Union	404,074	3.1	0	–60
Social Alternative Movement	54,266	0.4	0	New
German Minority	47,230	0.4	2	0
Polish Socialist Party	13,459	0.1	0	New
German Minority Upper Silesia	8,024	0.1	0	0
Polish Economic Union	7,189	0.1	0	New
Polska Wspólnota Narodowa	2,644	0.0	0	New
Invalid/blank votes	541,483	–	–	–
Total	13,559,412	100	460	0
Registered voters/turnout	29,364,455	46.3	–	–
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Senate

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Democratic Left Alliance – Labor Union	10,476,677	38.7	75	+47
Senate 2001	6,582,224	24.3	15	–
Polish People's Party	3,631,234	13.5	4	+1
Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland	1,158,887	4.3	2	–
League of Polish Families	1,097,058	4.1	2	New
Real Politics Union	469,815	1.7	0	0
Local lists	3,624,697	13.4	2	–3
Invalid/blank votes	479,179	–	–	–
Total	13,590,426	100	100	0
Registered voters/turnout	29,364,455	46.3	–	–
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

• 
  Distribution of seats in the Sejm
• 
  Distribution of seats in the Senate

References

1. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1491 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
2. "Wybory do Sejmu: ogólne dane statystyczne". Wybory do Sejmu Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej i Senatu Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, 23 września 2001. Państwowa Komisja Wyborcza. Retrieved 30 May 2012.
3. "The end of Solidarity". The Economist. 16 August 2001. Retrieved 30 May 2012.
4. "Poland sets up minority government". BBC News. 6 June 2000. Retrieved 30 May 2012.
5. Szczerbiak, Aleks (1 September 2002). "Poland's Unexpected Political Earthquake: The September 2001 Parliamentary Election". Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics. 18 (3): 41–76. doi:10.1080/714003608.
6. "Left victorious in Poland". BBC News. 24 September 2001. Retrieved 30 May 2012.
7. "The left is back—in the centre". The Economist. 27 September 2001. Retrieved 30 May 2012.

• Obwieszczenie Państwowej Komisji Wyborczej z dn. 26 IX 1997 r., Monitor Polski. Nr 109, poz. 1186
• Obwieszczenie PKW z dn. 26 IX 2001 r., Dz.U. Nr 109, poz. 1187