Electoral system in the 1991 Polish parliamentary election
The 1991 elections to the Polish Sejm were the first free and democratic elections to the Sejm after the Second World War.
The 1991 elections were conducted using the electoral system set out in the constitutional provisions and in the Act Electoral Ordinance to the Sejm of the Republic of Poland. The electoral system for the Sejm was radically changed compared to the one applied in 1989, which was necessary for the elections to be democratic. The structure of electoral districts was completely changed, and the electoral formula was also altered. The changes also concerned the national list.
The electoral system (in its narrower sense) consists of the following elements:
- The structure of the electoral districts (their number, boundaries and the number of seats to be distributed in each district),
- The manner in which the election results are determined (this is determined by the electoral formula and the elements contained therein such as the electoral method or the statutory electoral thresholds),
- The method of voting (in other words, the powers of the voter when voting - how many votes he or she has, whether he or she can accumulate them, etc.).
Structure of electoral districts
In the 1991 Sejm elections, the country's territory was divided into 37 multi-mandate constituencies in which (a total of) 391 seats were distributed. The remaining 69 seats were distributed at the level of the whole country (one nationwide constituency) on the basis of the number of votes obtained by all the constituency lists of the groupings concerned (national lists were not voted on separately).
The division into districts was based on the division of the country into provinces (of which there were 49 at the time). A district could correspond to a province, several provinces or part of a province.
The smallest constituency was District No. 5 (Piotrków Voivodeship), District No. 15 (Kalisz Voivodeship), District No. 27 (Zamość and Chełm Voivodeships), District No. 31 (Tarnów Voivodeship), District No. 32 (Nowy Sącz Voivodeship), in which 7 MPs were elected each, and the largest was District No. 1 (City of Warsaw), in which 17 MPs were elected. The average number of seats in the districts was 10.57. 391 The seats were distributed in each constituency on the basis of the number of votes obtained by the lists of individual committees in the constituency. The remaining 69 seats were distributed at the national level (nationwide constituency) among the national lists submitted.
The votes of Polish citizens voting outside Poland were counted in Ward 1 (City of Warsaw).
The detailed list of districts with the number of seats is shown in the table.
Electoral formula
The 1991 elections to the Sejm of the Republic of Poland were conducted using a proportional representation formula using the Hare-Niemeyer method and the modified Sainte-Laguë electoral method with a first divisor of 1.4. The distribution of seats took place separately in each of the 37 constituencies and separately at the national level.
At constituency level, the Hare-Niemeyer method applied, resulting in an overrepresentation of groupings with relatively low support. Moreover, political groupings in each constituency (separately) could decide to form a block of lists. The blocked lists were treated as a single list for the purposes of seat allocation. The distribution of seats within the block was also done using the Hare-Niemeyer method. Importantly, lists could be blocked in each district independently. This meant that lists from the same party could belong to different (or even opposing) blocs in different constituencies.
At the national level, the modified Sainte-Laguë method with a first divisor of 1.4 applied.
A statutory threshold relating to validly cast votes nationwide was applied in these elections, but it only applied to the distribution of seats among national lists. In order to participate in the distribution of seats at the national level, the electoral lists of a given committee (in aggregate) had to exceed the 5% threshold or win seats in at least 5 districts. Significantly, there was no requirement to exceed the threshold in order to take part in the distribution of seats at the level of 37 constituencies.
Method of voting
Each voter had one vote, which he or she cast for the electoral list of his or her choice submitted by the electoral committee in the district, together with an indication of the specific candidate on that list to whom he or she was giving his or her support. Open lists were therefore used at district level. Candidates on a given ward committee list took their seats in order of the number of votes obtained. If a seat became vacant, priority was given to the next candidate on the same list according to the number of votes obtained. The situation was different with regard to national lists. The voter did not cast a separate vote for them and a vote for the district list automatically implied support for the national list as well. The seats allocated to the individual national lists were allocated to candidates in the order of their placement on the list (excluding those candidates who obtained seats in the constituencies). Closed lists were therefore used.
Maciej Onasz, based on Onasz Maciej, Inżynieria wyborcza w Polsce od roku 1989, Łódź 2017.
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