Parliament of Poland

Parliament of Poland Parlament Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej
Type
Type	Bicameralism
Houses	Senate (upper) Sejm (lower)
Term limits	4 years
Leadership
Marshal of the Senate	Stanisław Karczewski, PiS Since 12 November 2015
Marshal of the Sejm	Marek Kuchciński, PiS Since 12 November 2015
Structure
Seats	560 consisting of 100 senators 460 deputies
Senate political groups	Government (64)[1]      PiS (64) Opposition[1]      PO (33)      Independents (not in any faction) (3)[1]
Sejm political groups	Government      PiS (234) Opposition      PO (133)      K'15 (36)      .N (30)      PSL (16)      Free and Solidary (3)      Independent (8)
Elections
Senate voting system	First-past-the-post voting
Sejm voting system	Proportional representationa
Senate last election	6 March 2016
Sejm last election	25 October 2015
Senate next election	No later than 25 October 2019
Sejm next election	No later than 25 October 2019
Meeting place
Sejm building, Warsaw
Footnotes
a Open-list proportional representation in 41 constituencies (5% national election threshold, 8% national election threshold for coalitions).

The parliament of Poland has an upper house, the Senate, and a lower house, the Sejm. Both houses are accommodated in the Sejm complex in Warsaw. The parliament itself is without an official name; the Constitution refers only to the Sejm and the Senate.

Members of both houses are elected by direct election, usually every four years. The Sejm has 460 members, while the Senate has 100 senators. To become law, a bill must first be approved by both houses, but the Sejm can override a Senate refusal to pass a bill.

On certain occasions, the Marshal of the Sejm summons the National Assembly, a joint session of the members of both houses. Its function is mostly ceremonial in nature, and it only convenes occasionally, such as to witness the inauguration of the President. Under exceptional circumstances, the constitution endows the National Assembly with significant responsibilities, such as the power to bring the President before the State Tribunal (impeachment).The current leading party is Law and Justice (PiS) with 234 out of 460 seats in Sejm and 61 out of 100 seats in Senate. The two debating halls have designated seats for the deputies, senators and the Marshals, equipped with voting devices, used by the deputies and senators to vote.

Poland
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The Senate debating hall

References