Data code: PL
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); Independence Day, November 11 (1918)
Constitution: 16 October 1997; adopted by the National Assembly on 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 although under the new constitution, the Constitutional Tribunal ruling will become final as of October 1999; 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), currently partyless, former member of SLD
head of government:
Prime Minister Leszek Miller
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
elections:
president elected by popular vote for a five-year term; election first round held 5 November 1995, second round held 19 November 1995 (next to be held NA November 2000); prime minister and deputy prime ministers appointed by the president and confirmed by the Sejm
election results (only one turn):
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 21 September 1997 (next to be held by NA September 2001); Senate - last held 21 September 1997 (next to be held by NA September 2001)
election results:
Sejm - percent of vote by party - RS-AWS 33.8%, SLD 27.1%, UW 13.4%, PSL 7.3%, ROP 5.6%, MNSO 0.4%, other 12.4%; seats by party - AWS 201, SLD 164, UW 60, PSL 27, ROP 6, MNSO 2; Senate - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - AWS 51, SLD 28, UW 8, ROP 5, PSL 3, independents 5; note - seats by party in the Sejm as of January 2000: AWS 186, SLD 159, UW 60, PSL 26, PP 7, ROP 4, MNSO 2, KPN-O 5, PPS-RLP 3, other 8
(AWS doesn't exist any more and UW had splitted, so their members of parliament are in different parties, mostly PO, AWSP, PiS? and UW)
note:
two seats are assigned to ethnic minority parties
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:
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