Acting President of Poland

Maciej Rataj twice served as Acting President of Poland

The Acting President of the Republic of Poland (Polish: Pełniący Obowiązki Prezydenta Rzeczpospolitej Polskiej, shorter P.O. Prezydenta RP) is a temporary post provided for by the Polish Constitution.

The constitution states that the President is the Head of state. If the President dies, resigns, is removed from office or unable to execute his/her powers and duties, a predetermined person will assume the powers and duties as Acting President.

In the incapacity scenario, the Acting President is just a temporary deputy. In the case of a vacancy, however, he becomes the head of state until the next election, albeit without the title of President, and retaining his previous office. In either case, all the powers of the President devolve to the Acting President, with the exception of the right to dissolve the Parliament.

The first person in line to become Acting President is the Marshal of the Sejm. Should he be unable to serve, the next is the Marshal of the Senate. This order of precedence has been in effect since the creation of the Office of President, with the exception of the period 1935-1939, when the order was reversed.

To date four people have served as Acting President: Maciej Rataj who did so twice, Bronisław Komorowski, Bogdan Borusewicz and Grzegorz Schetyna. Rataj, Komorowski and Schetyna were Marshals of the Sejm, and Borusewicz the Speaker of the Senate. Rataj's first term was between the assassination of President Gabriel Narutowicz and the election of Stanisław Wojciechowski, December 16–22, 1922, the second between the resignation of President Wojciechowski and the election of Ignacy Mościcki, May 15–June 4, 1926. Both times he appointed a new cabinet. Komorowski became Acting President on April 10, 2010, following the death of President Lech Kaczyński in a plane crash.. On July 8, 2010 Poland had three different Acting Presidents. Komorowski (having won the new presidential elections) resigned as Speaker of the Sejm in the morning, and Borusewicz, who served as the speaker of the Senate took over as acting president for several hours, until Schetyna was confirmed as new Speaker of the Sejm and the new acting president.

During the period of communist rule, two Sejm Marshals served very briefly as Presidents pro tempore of the State National Council:

• Franciszek Trąbalski (February 4, 1947 - Sejm Marshal pro tempore due to seniority)
• Władysław Kowalski (February 4–5, 1947 - elected Sejm Marshal)

Constitutional provisions on Acting Presidency

Article 131, Chapter 5:

1. If the President of the Republic is temporarily unable to discharge the duties of his office, he shall communicate this fact to the Marshal of the Sejm, who shall temporarily assume the duties of the President of the Republic. If the President of the Republic is not in a position to inform the Marshal of the Sejm of his incapacity to discharge the duties of the office, then the Constitutional Tribunal shall, on request of the Marshal of the Sejm, determine whether or not there exists an impediment to the exercise of the office by the President of the Republic. If the Constitutional Tribunal so finds, it shall require the Marshal of the Sejm to temporarily perform the duties of the President of the Republic.

2. The Marshal of the Sejm shall, until the time of election of a new President of the Republic, temporarily discharge the duties of the President of the Republic in the following instances:

- the death of the President of the Republic

- the President's resignation from office;

- judicial declaration of the invalidity of the election to the Presidency or other reasons for not assuming office following the election

- a declaration by the National Assembly of the President's permanent incapacity to exercise his duties due to the state of his health; such declaration shall require a resolution adopted by a majority vote of at least two-thirds of the statutory number of members of the National Assembly

- dismissal of the President of the Republic from office by a judgment of the Tribunal of State.

3. If the Marshal of the Sejm is unable to discharge the duties of the President of the Republic, such duties shall be discharged by the Marshal of the Senate.

4. A person discharging the duties of the President of the Republic shall not shorten the term of office of the Sejm

Historical line of succession

Second Republic

Period	Head of state	First in line
November 14, 1918 – December 11, 1922	Józef Piłsudski	none designated
December 11, 1922 – December 16, 1922	Gabriel Narutowicz	Sejm Marshal Maciej Rataj
December 16, 1922 – December 22, 1922	Maciej Rataj (Acting)	none designated
December 22, 1922 – May 14, 1926	Stanisław Wojciechowski	Sejm Marshal Maciej Rataj
May 15, 1926 – June 4, 1926	Sejm Marshal Maciej Rataj (Acting)	none designated
June 4, 1926 – March 26, 1928	Ignacy Mościcki	Sejm Marshal Maciej Rataj
March 26, 1928 – December 8, 1930	Ignacy Mościcki	Sejm Marshal Ignacy Daszyński
December 9, 1930 – April 24, 1935	Ignacy Mościcki	Sejm Marshal Kazimierz Świtalski
April 24, 1935 – October 3, 1935	Ignacy Mościcki	Senate Marshal Władysław Raczkiewicz
October 4, 1935 – November 28, 1938	Ignacy Mościcki	Senate Marshal Aleksander Prystor
November 28, 1938 – September 1, 1939	Ignacy Mościcki	Senate Marshal Bogusław Miedziński

Government in exile

Period	Head of state	Designated successor
September 1, 1939 – September 17, 1939	Ignacy Mościcki	Edward Śmigły-Rydz
September 17, 1939	Ignacy Mościcki	Bolesław Wieniawa-Długoszowski
September 17, 1939 – September 30, 1939	Ignacy Mościcki	Władysław Raczkiewicz
September 30, 1939 – October 16, 1939	Władysław Raczkiewicz	none designated
October 16, 1939 – August 7, 1944	Władysław Raczkiewicz	Kazimierz Sosnkowski
August 7, 1944 – April 26, 1947	Władysław Raczkiewicz	Tomasz Arciszewski
April 26, 1947 – June 6, 1947	Władysław Raczkiewicz	August Zaleski
June 9, 1947 – August 10, 1950	August Zaleski	Tadeusz Tomaszewski
August 10, 1950 – September 3, 1954	August Zaleski	Władysław Anders
September 3, 1954 – August 21, 1959	August Zaleski	Eustachy Sapieha
August 21, 1959 – February 24, 1971	August Zaleski	Aleksander Zawisza
February 24, 1971 – April 7, 1972	August Zaleski	Stanisław Ostrowski
April 7, 1972 – December 18, 1972	Stanisław Ostrowski	none designated
December 18, 1972 – April 8, 1979	Stanisław Ostrowski	Edward Raczyński
April 8, 1979 – February 5, 1980	Edward Raczyński	none designated
February 5, 1980 – April 8, 1986	Edward Raczyński	Kazimierz Sabbat
April 8, 1986 – January 25, 1988	Kazimierz Sabbat	None designated
January 25, 1988 – July 19, 1989	Kazimierz Sabbat	Ryszard Kaczorowski
July 19, 1989 – December 22, 1990	Ryszard Kaczorowski	Never revealed

Communist Poland (1944-1952)

Period	Head of state	First in line
November 20, 1944 – February 4, 1947	Bolesław Bierut	none designated
February 5, 1947 – November 20, 1952	Bolesław Bierut	Sejm Marshal Władysław Kowalski
November 20, 1952	Bolesław Bierut	Sejm Marshal Jan Dembowski

People's Republic of Poland

Period	Head of state	First in line
July 19, 1989 – December 30, 1989	Wojciech Jaruzelski	Sejm Marshal Mikołaj Kozakiewicz

Third Republic

Period	Head of state	First in line	Second in line
December 31, 1989 – December 22, 1990	Wojciech Jaruzelski	Sejm Marshal Mikołaj Kozakiewicz	none designated
December 22, 1990 – November 24, 1991	Lech Wałęsa	Sejm Marshal Mikołaj Kozakiewicz	none designated
November 25, 1991 – December 7, 1992	Lech Wałęsa	Sejm Marshal Wiesław Chrzanowski	none designated
December 8, 1992 – October 14, 1993	Lech Wałęsa	Sejm Marshal Wiesław Chrzanowski	Senate Marshal August Chełkowski
October 14, 1993 – October 15, 1993	Lech Wałęsa	Sejm Marshal Józef Oleksy	Senate Marshal August Chełkowski
October 15, 1993 – October 26, 1993	Lech Wałęsa	Sejm Marshal Józef Oleksy	vacant
October 26, 1993 – March 3, 1995	Lech Wałęsa	Sejm Marshal Józef Oleksy	Senate Marshal Adam Struzik
March 3, 1995 – December 22, 1995	Lech Wałęsa	Sejm Marshal Józef Zych	Senate Marshal Adam Struzik
December 23, 1995 – October 19, 1997	Aleksander Kwaśniewski	Sejm Marshal Józef Zych	Senate Marshal Adam Struzik
October 20, 1997	Aleksander Kwaśniewski	Sejm Marshal Maciej Płażyński	vacant
October 21, 1997 – October 18, 2001	Aleksander Kwaśniewski	Sejm Marshal Maciej Płażyński	Senate Marshal Alicja Grześkowiak
October 19, 2001	Aleksander Kwaśniewski	Sejm MarshalMarek Borowski	vacant
October 20, 2001 – April 20, 2004	Aleksander Kwaśniewski	Sejm Marshal Marek Borowski	Senate Marshal Longin Pastusiak
April 21, 2004 – January 5, 2005	Aleksander Kwaśniewski	Sejm Marshal Józef Oleksy	Senate Marshal Longin Pastusiak
January 5, 2005 – October 18, 2005	Aleksander Kwaśniewski	Sejm Marshal Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz	Senate Marshal Longin Pastusiak
October 19, 2005 – October 20, 2005	Aleksander Kwaśniewski	vacant	vacant
October 20, 2005 – October 26, 2005	Aleksander Kwaśniewski	vacant	Senate Marshal Bogdan Borusewicz
October 26, 2005 – December 23, 2005	Aleksander Kwaśniewski	Sejm Marshal Marek Jurek	Senate MarshalBogdan Borusewicz
December 23, 2005 – April 27, 2007	Lech Kaczyński	Sejm Marshal Marek Jurek	Senate Marshal Bogdan Borusewicz
April 27, 2007 – November 4, 2007	Lech Kaczyński	Sejm Marshal Ludwik Dorn	Senate Marshal Bogdan Borusewicz
November 5, 2007	Lech Kaczyński	vacant	vacant
November 5, 2007 – April 10, 2010	Lech Kaczyński	Sejm Marshal Bronisław Komorowski	Senate Marshal Bogdan Borusewicz
April 10, 2010 - July 8, 2010	Sejm Marshal Bronisław Komorowski (Acting)	Senate Marshal Bogdan Borusewicz	none designated
July 8, 2010	Senate Marshal Bogdan Borusewicz (Acting)	none designated	none designated
July 8, 2010 - August 6, 2010	Sejm Marshal Grzegorz Schetyna (Acting)	Senate Marshal Bogdan Borusewicz	none designated
August 6, 2010 - November 8, 2011	Bronisław Komorowski	Sejm Marshal Grzegorz Schetyna	Senate Marshal Bogdan Borusewicz
since November 8, 2011	Bronisław Komorowski	Sejm Marshal Ewa Kopacz	Senate Marshal Bogdan Borusewicz

See also

• List of Polish heads of state (1918-present)
• Acting president
• Acting President of the United States
• Acting President of Malta