Polish parliamentary election, 2007

Polish parliamentary election, 2007

21 October 2007

All 460 seats to the Sejm 231 seats were needed for a majority in the Sejm All 100 seats to the Senate of Poland Turnout 53.88%   First party Second party   Leader Donald Tusk Jarosław Kaczyński Party PO PiS Leader since 1 June 2003 18 January 2003 Leader's seat 19 – Warsaw I 19 – Warsaw I Last election 133 seats, 24.1% 155 seats, 27% Seats before 131[1] 151[1] Seats won 209 166 Seat change 78 15 Popular vote 6,701,010 5,183,477 Percentage 41.5% 32.1% Swing 17.4% 5.1%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Aleksander Kwaśniewski Waldemar Pawlak Party LiD PSL Leader since 9 September 2007 29 January 2005 Leader's seat Did not stand 16 – Płock Last election 55 seats, 17.6%* 25 seats, 7% Seats before 55[1] 27[1] Seats won 53 31 Seat change 2 4 Popular vote 2,122,981 1,437,638 Percentage 13.2% 8.9% Swing 4.4%* 1.9%

Powiats won by ■ – Civic Platform ■ – Law and Justice ■ – Polish People's Party ■ – Left and Democrats *As the sum of LiD's constituent parties, the Democratic Left Alliance, Labour United, Social Democracy of Poland, and the Democratic Party - demokraci.pl.

Prime Minister before election Jarosław Kaczyński PiS Prime Minister-Elect Donald Tusk PO

Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 21 October 2007,^[2] after the Sejm voted for its own dissolution on 7 September. The election took place two years before the maximum tenure of four years, with the previous elections having been in September 2005. The early elections were a result of serious allegations of massive corruption on the part of Andrzej Lepper, leader of the Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland, whose party served as a junior coalition partner to the government of Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński.^[3] All 460 seats in the Sejm and all 100 seats in the Senate were up for election.

The election was won by the largest opposition group, Civic Platform (PO), which soundly defeated the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party and its allies. Throughout the campaign, polls showed conflicting results as to which of the two parties had the greater support, yet by the closing week the polls had swung in favour of Civic Platform. Three other political groups won election into the Sejm, the centre-left Left and Democrats coalition, the agrarian Polish People's Party, and the tiny German Minority group. Both of Law and Justice's former minor coalition partners, the League of Polish Families and the Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland suffered an enormous voter backlash, failing to cross the 5% electoral threshold in order to enter the Sejm. Consequently, both parties lost all of their seats.

Prime Minister and PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński stepped down from office on 15 November, with Civic Platform leader Donald Tusk sworn in as Poland's Prime Minister on the following day. Civic Platform consequently formed a coalition majority government with the Polish People's Party.

The turnout for the elections was 53.8%, an increase of 13.2% from the 2005 elections, seeing the highest voter turnout in a Polish parliamentary election since the semi-free elections of 1989.

Contesting parties

Only seven parties contested all 41 electoral districts for the Sejm nationwide. They included:

• Law and Justice (PiS)
• Civic Platform (PO)
• Left and Democrats (LiD)
• Polish People's Party (PSL)
• League of Polish Families (LPR)
• Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland (SRP)
• Polish Labour Party (PPP)

Three other parties managed to register in at least one district:

• Women's Party (PK) — 7 districts;
• Patriotic Self-Defense (SOP) — one district;
• German Minority (MN) — one district;

On 26 September 2007, the leader of the National Party of Retirees and Pensioners, Tomasz Mamiński announced his party's withdrawal from the campaign, stating that Polish electoral law and media bias discriminate against smaller parties.^[4]

Although only the ten parties mentioned above openly contested elections to the lower house Sejm, there were other groups which entered the race for the Sejm. It is common practice in Polish elections for many smaller parties to register their candidates on the electoral committee lists of the larger parties contesting the election. These included:

• LPR's lists include members of the League of Polish Families, Real Politics Union and Right of the Republic;
• PiS's lists included members of the Polish People's Party "Piast", National People's Movement, Patriotic Movement, Centre Party and Christian-National Union;
• The SRP's lists include candidates from Piotr Ikonowicz's New Left party, Leszek Miller's Polish Left party and Zygmunt Wrzodak's National Congress of Poland;
• LiD's lists include members from Democratic Left Alliance, Social Democracy of Poland, Democratic Party - demokraci.pl, Labour Union, Reason of the Polish Left, Democratic Left Party and Polish Socialist Party;
• The PPP lists include members of the Communist Party of Poland, Union of the Left, Polish Socialist Party, Reason of the Polish Left, Movement for Unemployed Protection and National Forum of Retirees and Pensioners.^[5]

29 political groupings and independents contested the elections to the Senate.

The Greens registered in one district to the Senate (Katowice), receiving 4.55% of votes.

Opinion polls

Date	Polling firm	PiS	PO	SLD	UP	SDPL	PD	PSL	SRP	LPR	Others	Undecided	Lead
21 October 2007	Election results	32,1%	41,5%	13,2%				8,9%	1,5%	1,3%	1,5%	-	9,4% over PiS
10-14 October	CBOS	34%	39%	12%				8%	2%	3%	5%	-	5% over PiS
9-11 October	PBS DGA	39%	33%	13%				7%	3%	4%	1%	-	6% over PO
18-19 September	PGB	34%	33%	16%				4%	4%	7%	2%	-	1% over PO
16 September	TNS OBOP	34%	34%	12%				6%	4%	3%	7%	-	Tie
6-9 September	TNS OBOP	29%	30%	14%				4%	4%	2%	3%	14%	1% over PiS
31 August-4 September	CBOS	30%	28%	12%				5%	2%	2%	5%	14%	2% over PO
3-6 August	CBOS	24%	30%	10%				3%	6%[lower-alpha 1]		9%	17%	6% over PiS
2-6 August	TNS OBOP	20%	33%	10%				4%	6%	3%	7%	17%	13% over PiS
5-9 July	TNS OBOP	22%	30%	13%				3%	7%	5%	5%	15%	8% over PiS
29 June-2 July	CBOS	25%	27%	12%				5%	6%	2%	6%	16%	2% over PiS
26 June	PBS DGA	28%	32%	11%				2%	4%	3%	-	18%	4% over PiS
10-11 June	PBS DGA	27%	31%	12%				3%	6%	3%	3%	15%	4% over PiS
1-5 June	TNS OBOP	26%	33%	11%				3%	9%	2%	4%	12%	7% over PiS
1-4 June	CBOS	27%	29%	13%				3%	6%	2%	5%	15%	2% over PiS
30 May	GfK Polonia	27%	28%	11%				3%	6%	2%	4%	19%	1% over PiS
11-14 May	CBOS	23%	27%	12%				3%	6%	3%	8%	17%	4% over PiS
10-14 May	TNS OBOP	24%	34%	12%				2%	6%	3%	6%	13%	10% over PiS
12-16 April	TNS OBOP	22%	30%	15%				3%	4%	3%	6%	17%	8% over PiS
30 March-2 April	CBOS	23%	29%	12%				5%	4%	3%	6%	19%	6% over PiS
2-5 March	CBOS	24%	30%	12%				5%	5%	3%	7%	14%	6% over PiS
1-5 March	TNS OBOP	22%	34%	11%				5%	5%	5%	8%	10%	12% over PiS
2-5 February	CBOS	25%	30%	11%				4%	6%	5%	5%	14%	5% over PiS
1-5 February	TNS OBOP	28%	31%	6%	-	3%	1%	5%	7%	4%	4%	11%	3% over PO
12-15 January	CBOS	26%	33%	8%				4%	6%	4%	4%	15%	7% over PiS
5-9 January	TNS OBOP	27%	32%	6%	-	2%	1%	4%	6%	4%	5%	13%	5% over PO
2007
16-17 December	PBS DGA	27%	31%	11%				5%	8%	2%	-	16%	4% over PiS
1-4 December	CBOS	27%	30%	12%				5%	4%	2%	6%	14%	3% over PiS
1-4 December	TNS OBOP	33%	29%	6%	-	3%	1%	4%	5%	3%	3%	13%	4% over PO
18-19 November	PBS DGA	26%	31%	12%				6%	5%	4%	2%	14%	5% over PiS
12 November 2006	Local elections	25,1%	27,2%	14,3%				13,2%	5,6%	4,7%	9,9%	-	2,1% over PiS
November	GfK Polonia	24%	30%	7%				5%	10%	3%	-	21%	6% over PiS
3-6 November	TNS OBOP	26%	32%	7%	-	3%	0%	5%	5%	6%	5%	11%	6% over PiS
4-5 November	PBS DGA	24%	32%	11%				4%	8%	3%	2%	16%	8% over PiS
2-5 November	CBOS	26%	27%	5%	1%	1%	1%	6%	7%	6%	1%	18%	1% over PiS
20-24 October	CBOS	26%	35%	5%	1%	1%	0%	3%	6%	3%	3%	16%	9% over PiS
21-22 October	PBS DGA	25%	31%	12%				3%	8%	3%	2%	16%	6% over PiS
6-9 October	CBOS	25%	38%	6%	1%	2%	1%	3%	7%	3%	4%	11%	13% over PiS
5-9 October	TNS OBOP	22%	35%	8%	-	3%	0%	4%	9%	4%	5%	10%	13% over PiS
7-8 October	PBS DGA	23%	35%	7%	-	-	-	2%	10%	3%	3%	17%	12% over PiS
16-17 September	PBS DGA	26%	28%	7%	-	-	-	3%	12%	4%	3%	17%	2% over PiS
8-11 September	CBOS	26%	29%	6%	1%	1%	1%	2%	10%	3%	4%	16%	3% over PiS
7-11 September	TNS OBOP	24%	30%	6%	-	3%	3%	3%	8%	4%	3%	16%	6% over PiS
2-3 September	PBS DGA	27%	29%	7%	-	-	-	2%	7%	3%	6%	19%	2% over PiS
19-20 August	PBS DGA	26%	28%	7%	-	-	-	2%	11%	3%	3%	20%	2% over PiS
4-7 August	CBOS	27%	31%	6%	1%	2%	1%	3%	10%	4%	4%	12%	5% over PiS
3-7 August	TNS OBOP	29%	30%	6%	-	3%	1%	6%	8%	3%	1%	13%	1% over PiS
5-6 August	PBS DGA	31%	25%	8%	-	-	-	3%	6%	4%	5%	18%	6% over PO
22-23 July	PBS DGA	29%	27%	7%	-	-	-	2%	10%	4%	3%	18%	2% over PO
6-10 July	TNS OBOP	24%	32%	10%	-	4%	0%	3%	7%	3%	2%	15%	8% over PiS
8-9 July	PBS DGA	25%	28%	7%	-	-	-	2%	11%	2%	4%	21%	3% over PiS
1-4 July	CBOS	29%	27%	6%	1%	2%	1%	3%	10%	3%	4%	13%	2% over PO
24-25 June	PBS DGA	31%	30%	6%	-	-	-	2%	6%	4%	2%	19%	1% over PO
2-5 June	CBOS	26%	31%	7%	0%	2%	1%	3%	7%	3%	5%	16%	5% over PiS
1-5 June	TNS OBOP	21%	33%	6%	-	3%	2%	3%	10%	4%	3%	15%	12% over PiS
3-4 June	PBS DGA	26%	34%	8%	-	-	-	2%	8%	2%	2%	18%	8% over PiS
20-21 May	PBS DGA	28%	29%	10%	-	-	-	2%	10%	2%	2%	17%	1% over PiS
12-15 May	CBOS	24%	30%	7%	1%	3%	1%	3%	8%	3%	7%	14%	6% over PiS
11-15 May	TNS OBOP	25%	33%	7%	-	3%	2%	2%	12%	5%	4%	7%	8% over PiS
6-7 May	PBS DGA	27%	29%	7%	-	-	-	2%	10%	5%	4%	16%	2% over PiS
22-23 April	PBS DGA	27%	33%	6%	-	-	-	2%	10%	3%	2%	17%	6% over PiS
6-10 April	TNS OBOP	27%	36%	11%	-	3%	0%	2%	8%	3%	1%	9%	9% over PiS
1-4 April	CBOS	30%	32%	9%	0%	0%	1%	1%	8%	2%	4%	14%	2% over PiS
1-2 April	PBS DGA	29%	32%	8%	-	-	-	2%	7%	4%	2%	16%	3% over PiS
18-19 March	PBS DGA	32%	33%	7%	-	-	-	2%	5%	3%	2%	16%	1% over PiS
9-13 March	TNS OBOP	35%	31%	10%	-	2%	2%	3%	6%	3%	2%	6%	4% over PO
3-6 March	CBOS	33%	29%	7%	0%	2%	2%	2%	6%	6%	1%	11%	4% over PO
4-5 March	PBS DGA	33%	35%	9%	-	-	-	3%	9%	5%	6%	-	2% over PiS
18-21 February	CBOS	33%	31%	8%	0%	3%	1%	2%	8%	5%	0%	9%	2% over PO
18-19 February	PBS DGA	38%	32%	9%	2%		-	2%	10%	3%	4%	-	6% over PO
3-6 February	CBOS	34%	24%	7%	0%	1%	1%	4%	11%	5%	4%	9%	10% over PO
2-6 February	TNS OBOP	32%	33%	6%	-	3%	1%	1%	7%	6%	2%	9%	1% over PiS
4-5 February	PBS DGA	37%	35%	10%	3%		-	1%	7%	4%	3%	-	2% over PO
25 January	TNS OBOP	32%	33%	6%	-	2%	1%	2%	7%	2%	1%	12%	1% over PiS
20-23 January	CBOS[lower-alpha 2]	35%	31%	7%	0%	2%	2%	1%	7%	5%	0%	10%	4% over PO
21-22 January	PBS DGA	40%	35%	8%	-	-	-	3%	7%	3%	4%	-	5% over PO
6-9 January	CBOS	39%	25%	5%	0%	1%	2%	4%	8%	5%	0%	10%	14% over PO
5-9 January	TNS OBOP	35%	33%	6%	-	2%	2%	2%	4%	5%	2%	9%	2% over PO
7-8 January	PBS DGA	39%	29%	7%	-	-	-	4%	9%	5%	7%	-	10% over PO
2006
17-18 December	PBS DGA	37%	29%	9%	4%		-	4%	7%	5%	5%	-	8% over PO
2-5 December	CBOS	39%	30%	4%	0%	3%	1%	3%	8%	4%	3%	6%	9% over PO
1-5 December	TNS OBOP	32%	31%	6%	-	2%	1%	3%	8%	4%	5%	8%	1% over PO
3-4 December	PBS DGA	36%	33%	8%	3%		2%	3%	10%	4%	1%	-	3% over PO
12-14 November	TNS OBOP	34%	32%	6%	-	3%	1%	3%	7%	2%	4%	8%	2% over PO
11-14 November	CBOS	43%	28%	5%	0%	1%	2%	2%	8%	5%	1%	5%	15% over PO
5-6 November	PBS DGA	39%	32%	7%	2%		1%	3%	11%	3%	2%	-	7% over PO
30 September-2 October	PBS DGA	32%	26%	9%	4%		2%	6%	13%	6%	2%	-	6% over PO
25 September 2005	Election results	27%	24,1%	11,3%	3,9%		2,5%	7%	11,4%	8%	4,9%	-	2,9% over PO

Notes

1. This poll referred to League and Self-Defense, a possible coalition between Self-Defence and the League of Polish Families, which ultimately never materialised.
2. In this poll, the sample were asked how they would vote in a possible snap election.

Results

Party	Sejm				Senate
	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Civic Platform	6,701,010	41.5	209	+76	12,734,742	39.1	60	+26
Law and Justice	5,183,477	32.1	166	+11	10,208,412	31.4	39	–10
Left and Democrats	2,122,981	13.2	53	–2	4,751,281	14.6	0	0
Polish People's Party	1,437,638	8.9	31	+6	2,863,883	8.8	0	–2
Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland	247,335	1.5	0	–56	345,427	1.1	0	–3
League of Polish Families	209,171	1.3	0	–34	293,289	0.9	0	–7
Polish Labour Party	160,476	1.0	0	0	–	–	–	–
Women's Party	45,121	0.3	0	New	–	–	–	–
German Minority	32,462	0.2	1	–1	104,533	0.3	0	–
Patriotic Self-Defense	2,531	0.0	0	New	48,689	0.2	0	New
Local lists and independents	–	–	–	–	1,185,400	3.6	1	–4
Invalid/blank votes	335,532	–	–	–	284,868	–	–	–
Total	16,477,734	100	460	0	16,475,672	100	100	0
Registered voters/turnout	30,615,471	53.9	–	–	30,615,471	53.9	–	–
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

• 
  Distribution of seats in the Sejm
• 
  Distribution of seats in the Senate
• 
  The results compared to German Empire's borders before 1918

Aftermath

Consecutive postponements of the electoral silence's termination (initially planned for 8 PM) by the National Electoral Committee was widely criticized. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Election Assessment Mission stated that the elections demonstrate a democratic and pluralistic process, but challenges remain in oversight of the public media.^[6]

Prime Minister and PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński stepped down from office on 15 November, and PO leader, Donald Tusk, was sworn in as Poland's Prime Minister the following day. The Civic Platform formed a coalition majority government with the agrarian centrist Polish People's Party.

References

1. "Sejm parliamentary groups". Sejm.gov.pl. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
2. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1491 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
3. "Polish MPs choose early election". BBC News. 2007-09-07. Retrieved 2012-05-17.
4. 21.06.2010. "Krajowa Partia Emerytów i Rencistów nie startuje w wyborach - Informacje - TVN24.pl - Portal informacyjny - 26.09.2007". TVN24.pl. Retrieved 2010-06-21.
5. "Elections 2007". Wybory2007.pkw.gov.pl. Retrieved 2010-06-21.
6. "Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights - Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights - Elections - Polish elections demonstrate a democratic and pluralistic process, but challenges remain in oversight of the public media, OSCE finds". Osce.org. Retrieved 2010-06-21.

External links

• 2007 election National Election Commission
• Electoral leaflets and posters Tractotheque