2007 Polish parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 21 October 2007,[2] after the Sejm voted for its own dissolution on 7 September. The election took place two years before the maximum tenure of four years, with the previous elections having been in September 2005. The early elections were a result of serious allegations of massive corruption on the part of Andrzej Lepper, leader of the Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland, whose party served as a junior coalition partner to the government of Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński.[3] All 460 seats in the Sejm and all 100 seats in the Senate were up for election.

2007 Polish parliamentary election

21 October 2007

All 460 seats to the Sejm
231 seats were needed for a majority in the Sejm
All 100 seats to the Senate of Poland
Opinion polls
Turnout18,678,457 (53.82%) (Sejm)
16,475,672 (53.81%) (Senate)
53.88% 13.31%
  First party Second party
 
Leader Donald Tusk Jarosław Kaczyński
Party PO PiS
Leader since 1 June 2003 18 January 2003
Leader's seat 19 – Warsaw I 19 – Warsaw I
Last election 133 seats, 24.1% 155 seats, 27%
Seats before 131[1] 151[1]
Seats won 209 166
Seat change 78 15
Popular vote 6,701,010 5,183,477
Percentage 41.5% 32.1%
Swing 17.4% 5.1%

  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader Aleksander Kwaśniewski Waldemar Pawlak
Party LiD PSL
Leader since 9 September 2007 29 January 2005
Leader's seat Did not stand 16 – Płock
Last election 55 seats, 17.6%* 25 seats, 7%
Seats before 55[1] 27[1]
Seats won 53 31
Seat change 2 4
Popular vote 2,122,981 1,437,638
Percentage 13.2% 8.9%
Swing 4.4%* 1.9%

Seats won by Sejm District

Prime Minister before election

Jarosław Kaczyński
PiS

Elected Prime Minister

Donald Tusk
PO

The election was won by the largest opposition group, Civic Platform (PO), which soundly defeated the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party and its allies. Throughout the campaign, polls showed conflicting results as to which of the two parties had the greater support, yet by the closing week the polls had swung in favour of Civic Platform. Three other political groups won election into the Sejm, the centre-left Left and Democrats coalition, the agrarian Polish People's Party, and the tiny German Minority group. Both of Law and Justice's former minor coalition partners, the League of Polish Families and the Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland suffered an enormous voter backlash, failing to cross the 5% electoral threshold in order to enter the Sejm. Consequently, both parties lost all of their seats.

Prime Minister and PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński stepped down from office on 15 November, with Civic Platform leader Donald Tusk sworn in as Poland's Prime Minister on the following day. Civic Platform consequently formed a coalition majority government with the Polish People's Party.

The turnout for the elections was 53.8%, an increase of 13.2% from the 2005 elections, seeing the highest voter turnout in a Polish parliamentary election since the semi-free elections of 1989.

Contesting parties

Only seven parties contested all 41 electoral districts for the Sejm nationwide. They included:

Three other parties managed to register in at least one district:

On 26 September 2007, the leader of the National Party of Retirees and Pensioners, Tomasz Mamiński announced his party's withdrawal from the campaign, stating that Polish electoral law and media bias discriminate against smaller parties.[4]

Although only the ten parties mentioned above openly contested elections to the lower house Sejm, there were other groups which entered the race for the Sejm. It is common practice in Polish elections for many smaller parties to register their candidates on the electoral committee lists of the larger parties contesting the election. These included:

29 political groupings and independents contested the elections to the Senate.

The Greens registered in one district to the Senate (Katowice), receiving 4.55% of votes.

Opinion polls

Results

Powiats won by
– Civic Platform
– Law and Justice
– Polish People's Party
– Left and Democrats

Sejm

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Civic Platform6,701,01041.5120976
Law and Justice5,183,47732.1116611
Left and Democrats2,122,98113.1553–2
Polish People's Party1,437,6388.91316
Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland247,3351.530–56
League of Polish Families209,1711.300–34
Polish Labour Party160,4760.9900
Women's Party45,1210.280New
German Minority Electoral Committee32,4620.201–1
Patriotic Self-Defense2,5310.020New
Total16,142,202100.004600
Valid votes16,142,20297.96
Invalid/blank votes335,5322.04
Total votes16,477,734100.00
Registered voters/turnout30,615,47153.82
Source: Nohlen & Stöver
Popular vote (Sejm)
PO
41.51%
PiS
32.11%
LiD
13.15%
PSL
8.91%
Others
4.32%
Parliament seats (Sejm)
PO
45.43%
PiS
36.09%
LiD
11.52%
PSL
6.74%
MN
0.22%

By constituency

Constituency Turnout PO PiS LiD PSL SRP LPR PPP MN Others Lead
1 – Legnica 51.32 42.97 28.96 17.89 6.60 1.49 1.12 0.97 - 0.00 14.01
2 – Wałbrzych 48.91 46.39 26.23 15.73 7.76 1.59 1.04 1.25 - 0.00 20.16
3 – Wrocław 58.18 53.20 28.40 10.39 4.84 1.12 1.20 0.84 - 0.00 24.80
4 – Bydgoszcz 53.26 44.09 24.21 19.01 8.71 1.71 1.07 1.20 - 0.00 19.88
5 – Toruń 48.13 39.27 26.75 18.34 11.36 2.34 0.88 1.07 - 0.00 12.52
6 – Lublin 53.05 29.47 41.52 10.59 12.55 1.76 1.91 0.78 - 1.42 12.05
7 – Chełm 46.23 24.09 39.51 10.50 19.38 3.30 2.10 1.12 - 0.00 15.42
8 – Zielona Góra 50.35 47.06 22.47 17.64 8.39 1.69 1.44 1.32 - 0.00 24.59
9 – Łódź 61.98 45.68 27.85 17.77 3.64 1.45 1.13 0.76 - 1.72 17.83
10 – Piotrków Trybunalski 50.66 27.92 41.42 12.35 13.66 2.27 1.26 1.11 - 0.00 13.50
11 – Sieradz 49.46 30.46 35.14 14.03 14.05 2.71 1.22 0.92 - 1.47 4.68
12 – Chrzanów 54.73 36.43 40.40 10.70 9.01 0.97 1.52 0.98 - 0.00 3.97
13 – Kraków 61.38 47.35 34.43 9.67 4.18 0.62 1.22 1.67 - 0.86 12.92
14 – Nowy Sącz 52.27 28.76 51.35 6.40 10.28 1.23 1.32 0.67 - 0.00 22.59
15 – Tarnów 52.26 32.22 45.64 7.33 11.23 1.15 1.56 0.87 - 0.00 13.42
16 – Płock 47.05 29.54 35.58 11.25 19.82 1.93 0.99 0.88 - 0.00 6.04
17 – Radom 50.56 28.24 42.72 8.94 15.02 2.66 1.49 0.93 - 0.00 14.48
18 – Siedlce 50.51 24.83 42.93 8.36 18.96 2.36 1.78 0.77 - 0.00 18.10
19 – Warsaw I 74.03 54.01 27.66 12.66 2.33 0.40 1.24 0.48 - 1.22 26.35
20 – Warsaw II 61.83 45.17 35.63 7.93 8.26 0.79 1.41 0.81 - 0.00 9.54
21 – Opole 45.53 46.58 22.87 11.19 6.62 1.74 1.28 0.91 8.81 0.00 23.71
22 – Krosno 41.10 29.30 44.19 9.21 12.96 1.81 1.49 1.05 - 0.00 14.89
23 – Rzeszów 44.24 27.81 48.43 8.78 11.16 1.09 1.84 0.89 - 0.00 20.62
24 – Białystok 49.50 32.36 38.81 14.72 9.14 2.02 1.44 0.61 - 0.90 6.45
25 – Gdańsk 58.34 54.62 27.08 10.59 4.38 1.19 1.34 0.81 - 0.00 27.54
26 – Gdynia 56.80 51.03 26.55 12.45 6.12 1.37 1.56 0.93 - 0.00 24.48
27 – Bielsko-Biała 58.84 41.76 35.41 12.81 6.62 0.91 1.14 1.34 - 0.00 6.35
28 – Częstochowa 52.94 40.12 30.88 14.76 9.79 1.53 1.55 1.36 - 0.00 9.24
29 – Gliwice 50.96 49.69 29.62 13.26 4.63 0.82 0.97 1.01 - 0.00 20.07
30 – Rybnik 53.01 44.55 36.23 11.99 3.98 0.95 1.01 1.29 - 0.00 8.32
31 – Katowice 57.45 49.74 31.52 12.26 3.31 0.59 0.97 1.62 - 0.00 18.22
32 – Sosnowiec 49.73 44.75 24.98 21.61 5.03 0.93 1.16 1.56 - 0.00 19.77
33 – Kielce 47.45 27.94 39.07 13.81 14.72 1.63 0.98 0.94 - 0.91 11.13
34 – Elbląg 46.89 43.34 24.26 15.43 11.42 3.00 1.40 1.14 - 0.00 19.08
35 – Olsztyn 48.90 45.25 24.15 14.07 12.61 1.70 1.30 0.92 - 0.00 21.10
36 – Kalisz 50.91 38.59 26.48 16.89 13.40 2.19 1.25 1.20 - 0.00 12.11
37 – Konin 50.78 34.18 29.24 17.44 13.83 2.36 1.38 1.58 - 0.00 4.94
38 – Piła 51.78 41.88 21.73 19.75 12.63 2.13 0.97 0.92 - 0.00 20.15
39 – Poznań 66.68 58.60 21.04 12.63 5.45 0.60 0.99 0.68 - 0.00 37.56
40 – Koszalin 49.15 45.88 21.57 17.58 8.58 4.24 1.04 1.12 - 0.00 24.31
41 – Szczecin 53.53 48.96 24.05 17.00 6.12 1.63 1.33 0.92 - 0.00 24.91
Poland 53.88 41.51 32.11 13.15 8.91 1.53 1.30 0.99 0.20 0.30 9.40

Seat distribution by constituency

Constituency PO PiS LiD PSL MN Sum
1 – Legnica 6 4 2 - - 12
2 – Wałbrzych 5 2 1 - - 8
3 – Wrocław 9 4 1 - - 14
4 – Bydgoszcz 6 3 2 1 - 12
5 – Toruń 6 4 2 1 - 13
6 – Lublin 5 7 1 2 - 15
7 – Chełm 3 6 1 2 - 12
8 – Zielona Góra 6 3 2 1 - 12
9 – Łódź 5 3 2 - - 10
10 – Piotrków Trybunalski 3 4 1 1 - 9
11 – Sieradz 4 5 1 2 - 12
12 – Chrzanów 3 4 1 - - 8
13 – Kraków 7 5 1 - - 13
14 – Nowy Sącz 3 5 - 1 - 9
15 – Tarnów 3 5 - 1 - 9
16 – Płock 3 4 1 2 - 10
17 – Radom 3 4 1 1 - 9
18 – Siedlce 3 6 1 2 - 12
19 – Warsaw I 11 6 2 - - 19
20 – Warsaw II 5 4 1 1 - 11
21 – Opole 7 3 1 1 1 13
22 – Krosno 3 6 1 1 - 11
23 – Rzeszów 4 8 1 2 - 15
24 – Białystok 5 7 2 1 - 15
25 – Gdańsk 8 3 1 - - 12
26 – Gdynia 8 4 2 - - 14
27 – Bielsko-Biała 4 4 1 - - 9
28 – Częstochowa 3 3 1 - - 7
29 – Gliwice 6 3 1 - - 10
30 – Rybnik 4 4 1 - - 9
31 – Katowice 7 4 1 - - 12
32 – Sosnowiec 5 2 2 - - 9
33 – Kielce 5 7 2 2 - 16
34 – Elbląg 4 2 1 1 - 8
35 – Olsztyn 5 3 1 1 - 10
36 – Kalisz 5 3 2 2 - 11
37 – Konin 3 3 2 1 - 9
38 – Piła 4 2 2 1 - 9
39 – Poznań 7 2 1 - 10
40 – Koszalin 5 2 1 - - 8
41 – Szczecin 8 3 2 - - 13
Total 209 166 53 31 1 460

Senate

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Civic Platform12,734,74239.146026
Law and Justice10,208,41231.3839–10
Left and Democrats4,751,28114.6000
Polish People's Party2,863,8838.800–2
Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland345,4271.060–3
League of Polish Families293,2890.900–7
German Minority Electoral Committee104,5330.3200
Patriotic Self-Defense48,6890.150New
Local lists and independents1,185,4003.641–4
Total32,535,656100.001000
Valid votes16,190,80498.27
Invalid/blank votes284,8681.73
Total votes16,475,672100.00
Registered voters/turnout30,615,47153.81
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Aftermath

Consecutive postponements of the electoral silence's termination (initially planned for 8 PM) by the National Electoral Committee was widely criticized. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Election Assessment Mission stated that the elections demonstrate a democratic and pluralistic process, but challenges remain in oversight of the public media.[6]

Prime Minister and PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński stepped down from office on 15 November, and PO leader, Donald Tusk, was sworn in as Poland's Prime Minister the following day. The Civic Platform formed a coalition majority government with the agrarian centrist Polish People's Party.

References

  1. "Sejm parliamentary groups". Sejm.gov.pl. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  2. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1491 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  3. "Polish MPs choose early election". BBC News. 2007-09-07. Retrieved 2012-05-17.
  4. 21.06.2010. "Krajowa Partia Emerytów i Rencistów nie startuje w wyborach - Informacje - TVN24.pl - Portal informacyjny - 26.09.2007". TVN24.pl. Retrieved 2010-06-21.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. "Elections 2007". Wybory2007.pkw.gov.pl. Retrieved 2010-06-21.
  6. "Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights - Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights - Elections - Polish elections demonstrate a democratic and pluralistic process, but challenges remain in oversight of the public media, OSCE finds". Osce.org. Archived from the original on 2007-08-08. Retrieved 2010-06-21.
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