Government Poland
Country name:
conventional long form: Republic of Poland
conventional short form: Poland
local long form: Rzeczpospolita Polska
local short form: Polska
Government type:
republic
Capital:
name: Warsaw
geographic coordinates: 52 15 N, 21 00 E
time difference: UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC during
Standard Time)
daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last
Sunday in October
Administrative divisions:
16 provinces (wojewodztwa, singular - wojewodztwo); Dolnoslaskie
wojewodztwo, Kujawsko-Pomorskie wojewodztwo, Lodzkie wojewodztwo,
Lubelskie wojewodztwo, Lubuskie wojewodztwo, Malopolskie
wojewodztwo, Mazowieckie wojewodztwo, Opolskie wojewodztwo,
Podkarpackie wojewodztwo, Podlaskie wojewodztwo, Pomorskie
wojewodztwo, Slaskie wojewodztwo, Swietokrzyskie wojewodztwo,
Warminsko-Mazurskie wojewodztwo, Wielkopolskie wojewodztwo,
Zachodniopomorskie wojewodztwo
Independence:
11 November 1918 (independent republic proclaimed)
National holiday:
Constitution Day, 3 May (1791)
Constitution:
adopted by the National Assembly 2 April 1997, passed by national
referendum 25 May 1997, effective 17 October 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; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with
reservations
Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal