Legal system: mixture of Continental (Napoleonic) civil law and holdover communist legal theory; changes being gradually introduced as part of broader democratization process; limited judicial review of legislative acts although under the new constitution, the Constitutional Tribunal ruling will become final as of October 1999; court decisions can be appealed to the European Court of Justice in Strasbourg
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
Executive branch:
chief of state: President Aleksander KWASNIEWSKI (since 23 December
1995)
head of government: Prime Minister Jerzy BUZEK (since NA October
1997), Deputy Prime Ministers Leszek BALCEROWICZ (since 31 October
1997), Janusz TOMASZEWSKI (since 31 October 1997)
cabinet: Council of Ministers responsible to the prime minister and
the Sejm; the prime minister proposes, the president appoints, and
the Sejm approves the Council of Ministers
elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term;
election first round held 5 November 1995, second round held 19
November 1995 (next to be held NA November 2000); prime minister and
deputy prime ministers appointed by the president and confirmed by
the Sejm
election results: Aleksander KWASNIEWSKI elected president in 1995;
percent of popular vote, second round—Aleksander KWASNIEWSKI 51.7%,
Lech WALESA 48.3%; Jerzy BUZEK selected prime minister in 1997
Legislative branch: bicameral National Assembly or Zgromadzenie Narodowe consists of the Sejm (460 seats; members are elected under a complex system of proportional representation to serve four-year terms) and the Senate or Senat (100 seats; members are elected by a majority vote on a provincial basis to serve four-year terms) elections: Sejm elections last held 21 September 1997 (next to be held by NA September 2001); Senate—last held 21 September 1997 (next to be held by NA September 2001) election results: Sejm—percent of vote by party—AWS 33.8%, SLD 27.1%, UW 13.4%, PSL 7.3%, ROP 5.6%, MN 0.4%, other 12.4%; seats by party—AWS 201, SLD 164, UW 60, PSL 27, ROP 6, MN 2; Senate—percent of vote by party—NA; seats by party—AWS 51, SLD 28, UW 8, ROP 5, PSL 3, independents 5; note—seats by party in the Sejm as of December 1997: AWS 200, SLD 164, UW 60, PSL 26, ROP 4, MN 2, other 4 note: four seats are constitutionally assigned to ethnic German parties
Judicial branch: Supreme Court, judges are appointed by the president on the recommendation of the National Council of the Judiciary for an indefinite period; Constitutional Tribunal, judges are chosen by the Sejm for nine-year terms
Political parties and leaders:
post-Communist: Democratic Left Alliance or SLD (Social Democracy of
KALINOWSKI]
post-Solidarity parties: Freedom Union or UW; note—Democratic Union
non-Communist, non-Solidarity: Movement for the Reconstruction of
Political pressure groups and leaders: powerful Roman Catholic
Church; Solidarity (trade union); All Poland Trade Union Alliance or
OPZZ (trade union)
International organization participation: Australia Group, BIS, BSEC (observer), CBSS, CCC, CE, CEI, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, EU (applicant), FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA (observer), IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, MINURSO, MONUA, NAM (guest), NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNDOF, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNIKOM, UNMIBH, UNMOP, UNMOT, UNOMIG, UNPREDEP, UPU, WCL, WEU (associate partner), WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, ZC
Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Jerzy KOZMINSKI chancery: 2640 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009 consulate(s) general: Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York
Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Daniel FRIED embassy: Aleje Ujazdowskie 29/31 00-054, Warsaw P1 mailing address: American Embassy Warsaw, US Department of State, Washington, DC 20521-5010 (pouch) consulate(s) general: Krakow