Sejm of the Republic of Poland
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- For the Lithuanian and Latvian parliaments, see Seimas and Saeima. For the river, see Sejm River.
The Sejm (pronounced: [sɛjm] ) is the lower house of the Polish parliament.
Before the 20th century, the term "Sejm" referred to the entire three-chamber Polish parliament, comprising the lower house (Chamber of Envoys; Polish: Izba Poselska), the upper house (Senate; Polish: Senat) and the King. It was commonly termed a three-estate parliament. Since the Second Polish Republic (1918-1939), the term "Sejm" has referred only to the lower house of the parliament; the upper house is called the "Senat".
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[edit] History
[edit] Sejm of the Kingdom of Poland and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
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For more details on this topic, see Sejm walny.
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The power of early various councils and wiece grew stronger during the times of Poland's fragmentation (1146-1295), but it was only in late 15th century that the Sejm became established as a regularly convened body. From 1493 forward, the indirect elections were repeated every two years. With the development of the unique Polish Golden Liberty the Sejm's powers increased.
The first Sejm was composed of two chambers:
- The Senat of 81 bishops and other dignitaries
- The Chamber of Envoys, of 54 Envoys (Polish poseł, sent by the landed nobility of the Commonwealth's various lands and elected by the local assemblies of landed nobility)
The number of Envoys in the lower chamber grew in number and power as they pressured the king for more privileges. The spur toward action increased when landed nobility was drafted into military service (pospolite ruszenie). After 1569 Union of Lublin, the Kingdom of Poland was transformed into the federation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Sejms number was increased with the inclusion of the Envoys of Lithuanian nobility.
Sejms severely limited the King's powers. They had the final decision in legislation, taxation, budget, and treasury matters (including military funding), foreign affairs and titles of nobility. In 1573 Sejm guaranteed religious tolerance for the nobility in the Commonwealth territory, making it a refuge from the ongoing reformation and counter-reformation wars (the act of Warsaw Confederation).
Until the end of 16th century, unanimity was not required and majority voting was most common. Later, with the rise of the magnates power, unanimity principle was reinforced with the nobility right of liberum veto (from Latin, meaning: I freely forbid). If the Envoys could not attain unanimity, then after six weeks (the upper time limit of its sittings) had elapsed, the deliberations as a whole were declared null and void. From the mid-17th century onwards, any objection to a Sejm resolution from either an Envoy or a Senator automatically caused other, previously approved resolutions to be rejected. This was because all resolutions passed by a given Sejm formed a whole and were published as constitutions of the Sejm e.g. Anno Domini 1667. In the 16th century no single person or small group dared to hold up proceedings, but from second half of 17th century the liberum veto was used to paralyze the Sejm and brought the Commonwealth to the brink of collapse. The liberum veto was finally abolished by the Constitution of 3rd May in 1791.
It is estimated that between 1493 and 1793 sejms were held 240 times, and total debate time was 44 years.
[edit] Sejm of the Congress Poland
Parliament of the Congress Poland was composed of the King, the upper house (Senate) and the lower house (Chamber of Envoys).
The Chamber of Envoys, despite its name, consisted not only of envoys of the landed nobility but also of deputies of the commons. There were 77 envoys sent by the local assemblies of hereditary nobility and 51 deputies elected by the commons. Deputies were chosen for 6 years, with ⅓ of them chosen every 2 years. They had legal immunity. Voting was open to all persons of 21 years or older. Candidates for deputy had to be able to read, write and have a certain amount of wealth. Military personnel had no right to vote.
Parliaments were to be called every 2 years for a period of 30 days. However after it became the scene of many clashes between liberal deputies and conservative government officials, it was in fact called only four times (1818, 1820, 1826, and 1830, with the last two sessions being secret).
Sejm had the right to vote on civil, administrative and legal issues. With permission from the king, it could vote on matters related to the fiscal system and the military. It had the right to control government officials and file petitions.
A Senate numbering 64 was composed of 9 bishops, voivodes and castellans and Russian 'princes of the blood'. It acted as the Parliament Court, had the right to control citizens' books, and similar legislative rights as the Chamber of Deputies.
[edit] Sejm of the Second Polish Republic
During the interwar period when Poland regained indpependence, the first Sejm in 1919 passed the Small Constitution of 1919 which introduced a parliamentary republican system. On 1921 the Sejm was strengthened by the March Constitution of Poland. In 1926 after Józef Piłsudski's May Coup, the Sejm was weakened, particularly by the Polish Constitution of 1935.
[edit] Sejm of the People's Republic of Poland
The Sejm in the People's Republic of Poland had 460 deputies over most of its history. At first this number was declared to represent 1 deputy per 60,000 citizens (425 were elected in 1952), but later as the population grew that connection was dropped from the constitution (in 1960). The constitution stated that the deputies were responsible before the people and could be recalled by the people, but this article was never used. Instead of the Five-point electoral law, a four-point version was used (not proportional). Legislation was passed with majority voting.
The Sejm would vote on the budget as well as on the periodic "national plans" that were a fixture of communist economies. The Sejm would deliberate in sessions, which were called forth by the State Council.
The Sejm would also chose a "presiding body" (Prezydium) from its members, with marshal of the Sejm always being a member of the United People's Party. In its first sitting the Sejm would also nominate the Prime Minister together with other ministers (the Council of Ministers of Poland) and members of the State Council. It would also chose many other government officials, including the head of The Supreme Chamber of Control (Najwyższa Izba Kotroli, NIK), members of The State Tribunal (Trybunał Stanu) and Constitutional Tribunal (Trybunał Konstytucjny) as well as the Ombudsman (Rzecznik Praw Obywatelskich). The latter three institutions were created in the 1980s.
The Senate of Poland was abolished by the Polish people's referendum, 1946 and after this the Sejm became the sole legislative body in Poland.
[edit] Sejm of the Republic of Poland
After the fall of communism in 1989, the Senate was reinstated as the upper house of a bicameral National Assembly, while the Sejm became the lower house. The Sejm now comprises 460 deputies elected by proportional representation every four years.
From 7 to 19 deputies are elected from each electorate using the d'Hondt method, their number being proportional to the electorate's population. Additionally, a threshold is used, so that only candidates from parties which gained at least 5% (8% for registered coalitions) of the nationwide vote can be chosen. Candidates from ethnic minority parties are exempt from this threshold. Finally, the 2001 elections differed slightly from those in previous and subsequent years in that the Sainte-Laguë method, rather than the d'Hondt, was used.
[edit] Standing committees
- Administration and Internal Affairs Committee
- Agriculture and Rural Development Committee
- Committee on Liaison with Poles Abroad
- Constitutional Accountability Committee
- Culture and Media Committee
- Deputies' Ethics Committee
- Economic Committee
- Education, Science and Youth Committee
- Enterprise Development Committee
- Environment Protection, Natural Resources and Forestry Committee
- European Union Affairs Committee
- Family and Women Rights Committee
- Foreign Affairs Committee
- Health Committee
- Infrastructure Committee
- Justice and Human Rights Committee
- Legislative Committee
- Local Self-Government and Regional Policy Committee
- National and Ethnic Minorities Committee
- National Defence Committee
- Physical Education and Sport Committee
- Public Finances Committee
- Rules and Deputies' Affairs Committee
- Social Policy Committee
- Special Services Committee
- State Control Committee
- State Treasury Committee
- Work Committee
[edit] Last election
| Parties | Sejm | Senat | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Seats | +/– | ||
| Civic Platform (Platforma Obywatelska, PO) | 6,701,010 | 41.51 | 209 | +76 | 60 | +26 | |
| Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, PiS) | 5,183,477 | 32.11 | 166 | +11 | 39 | –10 | |
| Left and Democrats (Lewica i Demokraci, LiD) | 2,122,981 | 13.15 | 53 | –2 | — | — | |
| Polish People's Party (Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe, PSL) | 1,437,638 | 8.91 | 31 | +6 | — | –2 | |
| Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland (Samoobrona RP, SRP) | 247,335 | 1.53 | — | –56 | — | –3 | |
| League of Polish Families (Liga Polskich Rodzin, LPR) | 209,171 | 1.30 | — | –34 | — | –7 | |
| Polish Labor Party (Polska Partia Pracy, PPP) | 160,476 | 0.99 | — | — | — | — | |
| Women's Party (Partia Kobiet, PK) | 45,121 | 0.28 | — | — | — | — | |
| German Minority (Mniejszość Niemiecka, MN) | 32,462 | 0.20 | 1 | –1 | — | — | |
| Patriotic Self-Defense (Samoobrona Patriotyczna) | 2,531 | 0.02 | — | — | — | — | |
| Independents (Niezależni) | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 1 | –4 | |
| Total | 16,142,202 | 460 | 100 | ||||
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[edit] See also
[edit] Types of Sejm
- Confederated sejm (Sejm skonfederowany)
- Convocation sejm (Sejm konwokacyjny)
- Coronation sejm (Sejm koronacyjny)
- Election sejm (Sejm elekcyjny)
- National Assembly of the Republic of Poland (Zgromadzenie Narodowe)
- Sejmik
- Voivodship sejmik (Sejmik wojewódzki)
[edit] Famous Sejms
- Convocation Sejm of 1764 (Sejm konwokacyjny)
- Contract Sejm (Sejm Kontraktowy; 1989)
- Great Sejm (Sejm Wielki; 1788-1792)
- Grodno Sejm (Sejm grodzieński; 1791)
- Partition Sejm (Sejm rozbiorowy; 1773-1776)
- Repnin Sejm (Sejm Repninowski; 1767-1768)
- Silent Sejm (Sejm Niemy; 1717)
- Silesian Sejm (Sejm Śląski; 1920-1939)
[edit] References
- official website
- Description of the modern Sejm's role in the Polish political system
- CNN Election Watch
