1989 Polish parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 4 June 1989 to elect members of the Sejm and the recreated Senate, with a second round on 18 June. They were the first elections in the country since the communist government abandoned its monopoly of power in April 1989 and the first elections in the Eastern Bloc that resulted in the communist government losing power.
All 460 seats in the Sejm161 seats up for free election
231 seats needed for a majority
62.7% (first round)
25% (second round)
Not all seats in the Sejm were allowed to be contested, but the resounding victory of the Solidarity opposition in the freely contested races (the rest of the Sejm seats and all of the Senate) paved the way to the end of communist rule in Poland. Solidarity won all of the freely contested seats in the Sejm, and all but one seat in the Senate, which was scored by a government-aligned nonpartisan candidate.[1] Most crucially, the election served as a litmus test showing how extremely anti-government the attitude of the nation was. In the aftermath of the election, Poland became the first country of the Eastern Bloc in which democratically elected representatives gained real power.[2] Although the elections were not entirely democratic, they led to the formation of a government led by Tadeusz Mazowiecki and a peaceful transition to democracy in Poland and elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe.[3][4][5]
Electoral System[edit]
The Sejm was elected using a two-round multiple non-transferable vote system.[17][16] The Council of State was responsible for drawing out constituencies, which would have between two and five seats.[18][16] Each voter had multiple votes, one for each seat in the constituency, and each seat was elected on its own separate ballot.[19][20] In addition, up to 10% of the seats in the Sejm would be reserved to the national list;[21] the final settled number of national list seats was 35.[16]
In the constituencies, only the PZPR and its satellite parties were allowed to nominate candidates in their own name; Solidarity candidates had to formally run as independents.[22][16] The seats in each constituency would be reserved to candidates of one of the PRON member parties or to independent candidates (a category which de facto also included Solidarity candidates), based on an allocation predetermined by the Council of State "pursuant to the concluded roundtable agreement".[23][24][25][16] The constituencies, as well as the seats within each constituency, were numbered in a single consecutive series.[24][25] At least one seat in each constituency was guaranteed for independent candidates.[23] Within each seat, the elections were multi-candidate, but only between candidates of the category to which the seat was reserved (for example, only PZPR candidates could run in the PZPR-reserved seats). Rather than making a mark next to the name of the candidate which he desired to vote for, a voter had to strike out the names of all other candidates; leaving two or more names unstruck would have spoiled the ballot.[26]
The National list was elected in a similar format to previous Polish elections; voters were presented with a single slate of candidates, all belonging to the PZPR and its satellite parties;[27] Solidarity was invited to submit candidates to the national list, but declined this invitation.[16] However, unlike previous elections, voters could vote against individual candidates on this slate by striking out their name from the ballot, rather than having to reject the slate in its entirety. If a candidate's name was not struck out, a vote was presumed to be cast for him.[28] To be elected, a candidate on the national list had to be supported by at least 50% of the vote.[29] During the campaign, it was also ruled that writing an X over all the names in the National list ballot would count as a vote against all of them.[14] The electoral law made no provision about what would happen in case a candidate is rejected; for that reason, in the second round of the election, new seats, having the same party reservations as the rejected national list candidates, were allocated to the constituencies.[16][30]
Aftermath[edit]
The magnitude of the Communist coalition's defeat was so great that there were initially fears that either the PZPR or the Kremlin would annul the results. However, PZPR general secretary Wojciech Jaruzelski allowed the results to stand.[41] He and his colleagues felt secure with the 65% of the seats it was guaranteed for itself and its traditional allies.[34] On 19 July the Sejm elected Jaruzelski as president by only one vote. In turn, he nominated General Czesław Kiszczak for prime minister; they intended for Solidarity to be given a few token positions for appearances.[34] However, this was undone when Solidarity's leaders convinced the PZPR's longtime satellite parties, the ZSL and SD (some of whose members already owed a debt to Solidarity for endorsing them during the second round)[35] to switch sides and support a Solidarity-led coalition government.[34] The PZPR, which had 37.6% of the seats, suddenly found itself in a minority. Abandoned by Moscow, Kiszczak resigned on 14 August. With no choice but to appoint a Solidarity member as prime minister, on 24 August Jaruzelski appointed Solidarity activist Tadeusz Mazowiecki as head of a Solidarity-led coalition, ushering a brief period described as "Your president, our prime minister".[2][10][34][35]
The elected parliament was known as the Contract Sejm,[34] from the "contract" between the Solidarity and the communist government which made it possible in the first place.
Although the elections were not entirely democratic they paved the way for the Sejm's approval of Mazowiecki's cabinet on 13 September and a peaceful transition to democracy, which was confirmed after the presidential election of 1990 (in which Lech Wałęsa replaced Jaruzelski as president) and the parliamentary elections of 1991.
On the international level, this election is seen as one of the major milestones in the fall of communism ("Autumn of Nations") in Central and Eastern Europe.[2][3][4][5]
However, Solidarity did not stay in power long, and quickly fractured, resulting in it being replaced by other parties. In this context, the 1989 elections are often seen as the vote against communism, rather than for Solidarity.[42]