Government type:
republic
Capital:
Warsaw
Administrative divisions:
16 provinces (wojewodztwa, singular - wojewodztwo); Dolnoslaskie,
Kujawsko-Pomorskie, Lodzkie, Lubelskie, Lubuskie, Malopolskie,
Mazowieckie, Opolskie, Podkarpackie, Podlaskie, Pomorskie, Slaskie,
Swietokrzyskie, Warminsko-Mazurskie, Wielkopolskie,
Zachodniopomorskie
Independence:
11 November 1918 (independent republic proclaimed)
National holiday:
Constitution Day, 3 May (1791)
Constitution:
16 October 1997; adopted by the National Assembly 2 April 1997;
passed by national referendum 23 May 1997
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, but rulings of the Constitutional Tribunal are
final; 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)
elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term;
election last held 8 October 2000 (next to be held NA October 2005);
prime minister and deputy prime ministers appointed by the president
and confirmed by the Sejm
head of government: Prime Minister Leszek MILLER (SLD) (since 19
October 2001), Deputy Prime Ministers Marek POL (since 19 October
2001), Jerzy HAUSNER (since 11 June 2003)
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
election results: Aleksander KWASNIEWSKI reelected president;
percent of popular vote - Aleksander KWASNIEWSKI 53.9%, Andrzej
OLECHOWSKI 17.3%, Marian KRZAKLEWSKI 15.6%, Lech WALESA 1%
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 23 September 2001 (next to be
held by September 2005); Senate - last held 23 September 2001 (next
to be held by September 2005)
election results: Sejm - percent of vote by party - SLD-UP 41%, PO
12.7%, Samoobrona 10.2%, PiS 9.5%, PSL 9%, LPR 7.9%, AWSP 5.6% UW
3.1%, other 1%; seats by party (as of 25 April 2003) - SLD 193, PO
57, Samoobrona 39, PiS 43, PSL 39, LPR 28, UP 16, SKL 8, PLD 6, PBL
5, RKN 5, PP 3, ROP 3, German minorities 2, independents 13; note -
SLD and UP ran together on electoral lists in the 2001 elections,
but constitute separate parliamentary clubs in the Sejm; several
other deputies have left their parties and set up other
parliamentary factions; Senate - percent of vote by party - NA%;
seats by party - SLD-UP 75, AWSP (an electoral alliance of some 36
parties) 15, PSL 4, Samoobrona 2, LPR 2, independents 2
note: two seats are assigned to ethnic minority parties