Electoral system in the 2001 Polish parliamentary election
The 2001 elections to the Sejm of the Republic of Poland were conducted using the electoral system set out in the Constitution of the Republic of Poland and in the law Ordynacja wyborcza do Sejmu Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej i do Senatu Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. The electoral system for the Sejm underwent radical changes compared to the one applied 4 years earlier. The structure of electoral districts was completely changed, the second, nationwide level of distribution of seats (the so-called national lists) was abandoned, and the electoral method used was also changed.
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 way 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 2001 elections to the Polish Sejm, the country's territory was divided into 41 multi-mandate electoral districts with different numbers of seats. A district could be a voivodeship or part of a voivodeship. The boundaries of the districts could not intersect the boundaries of the poviats or cities with poviat rights.
The smallest constituencies were District No. 12 (Chrzanów) and District No. 29 (Częstochowa), where 7 MPs were elected, and the largest was District No. 19 (OKW Warszawa), where 19 MPs were elected. The average number of seats in the districts was 11.22. Seats were distributed in individual constituencies on the basis of the number of votes obtained by the lists of individual committees in the constituency.
The votes of Polish citizens voting outside Poland were counted in constituency 19 (OKW Warsaw).
A detailed list of the districts with the number of seats is presented in the table.
Electoral formula
The 2001 elections to the Polish Sejm were conducted using a proportional representation formula using the modified Sainte-Laguë electoral method with a first divisor of 1.4. Seats were divided separately in each of the 41 constituencies.
In this election, a statutory threshold was applied relating to validly cast votes nationwide. In order to take part in the distribution of seats, the electoral lists of a given committee (in total) had to exceed the threshold of 5% (in the case of a political party committee and an electoral committee of voters) or 8% (a committee of a coalition of political parties). Electoral committees of voters affiliated to national minority organisations were entitled to an exemption from exceeding the threshold.
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, the next candidate on the same list took precedence according to the number of votes obtained.
Maciej Onasz, based on: Onasz Maciej, Inżynieria wyborcza w Polsce od roku 1989, Łódź 2017.
photo by: Krzysztof Kurek
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