elections: Senate - last held on 21 October 2007 (next to be held by October 2011); Sejm - last held on 21 October 2007 (next to be held by October 2011)
election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - PO 60, PiS 39, independents 1; Sejm - percent of vote by party - PO 41.5%, PiS 32.1%, LiD 13.2%, PSL 8.9%, other 4.3%; seats by party - PO 209, PiS 166, LiD 53, PSL 31, German minorities 1; note - seats by party as of December 2010 - PO 203, PiS 147, SLD 44, PSL 31, PJN 17, SPDL 4, DKP_SD 3, German minorities 1, Independents 9, Vacant 1
note: one seat is assigned to ethnic minority parties in the Sejm only
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:
Civic Platform or PO [Donald TUSK, chairman; Tomasz TOMCZYKIEWICZ, parliamentary caucus leader]; Democratic Caucus of the Democratic Party (SD) or DKP SD [Bogdan LIS, parliamentary caucus leader]; Democratic Left Alliance or SLD [Grzegorz NAPIERALSKI, chairman, parlimentary caucus leader]; Democratic Party or PD [Brygida KUZNIAK, chairwoman]; Democratic Party or SD [Pawel PISKORSKI, chairman]; German Minority of Lower Silesia or MNSO [Richard GALL, representative]; Law and Justice or PiS [Jaroslaw KACZYNSKI, chairman; Mariusz BLASZCZAK, parliamentary caucus leader]; League of Polish Families or LPR [Witold BALAZAK, chairman]; Poland is the most important or PJN [Joanna KLUZIK-ROSTKOWSKA, president]; Polish People's Party or PSL [Waldemar PAWLAK, chairman; Stanislaw ZELICHOWSKI, parliamentary caucus leader]; Samoobrona or SO [Andrzej LEPPER, chairman]; Social Democratic Party of Poland or SDPL [Wojciech FILEMONOWICZ, chairman; Marek BOROWSKI, parliamentary caucus leader]; Union of Labor or UP [Waldemar WITKOWSKI, chairman]
Political pressure groups and leaders:
All Poland Trade Union Alliance or OPZZ (trade union) [Jan GUZ];
Roman Catholic Church [Cardinal Stanislaw DZIWISZ, Archbishop Jozef
MICHALIK]; Solidarity Trade Union [Piotr DUDA]
International organization participation: