Polish parliamentary election, 1991

Polish parliamentary election, 1991

1989 ← 27 October 1991 (1991-10-27) → 1993

All 460 seats in the Sejm 231 seats were needed for a majority in the Sejm All 100 seats in the Senate   First party Second party Third party   Leader Tadeusz Mazowiecki Aleksander Kwaśniewski Wiesław Chrzanowski Party Democratic Union Democratic Left Alliance Catholic Election Action Leader since May 1991 30 January 1990 1989 Leader's seat Poznań Warsaw Lublin Last election N/A 173 seats, 37.6% N/A Seats won 62 seats 60 49 Seat change +62 -113 +49 Popular vote 1,382,051 1,344,820 980,304 Percentage 12.3% 12% 8.7% Swing +12.3% +8.7%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Jarosław Kaczyński Waldemar Pawlak Leszek Moczulski Party Centre Alliance Polish People's Party Confederation for an Independent Poland Leader since 12 May 1990 29 June 1991 1 September 1979 Leader's seat Warsaw Płock Kraków Last election N/A 76 seats, 16.5% N/A Seats won 44 48 46 Seat change +44 -28 +46 Popular vote 977,344 972,952 841,738 Percentage 8.7% 8.7% 7.5% Swing +8.7%  % +7.5%

Prime Minister before election Jan Krzysztof Bielecki Liberal Democratic Congress New Primer Minister Jan Krzysztof Bielecki Liberal Democratic Congress

Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 27 October 1991. In the Sejm elections, 27,517,280 citizens were eligible to vote, 11,887,949 (43.2%) of them cast their votes, 11,218,602 (94.4%) of those were counted as valid. In the Senate elections, 43.2% of citizens cast their votes, 96.5% were valid. It was the first entirely free election held in Poland since 1922, and only the third free election in the country's history. No political party obtained a decisive majority and a coalition government had to be formed. 460 members of parliament (poseł) were elected; 391 from 6980 candidates from 37 regional lists of candidates and 69 from country-wide lists of candidates.

Elections were supervised by the National Electoral Commission (Państwowa Komisja Wyborcza). 37 regional (okręgowe) commissions were formed, and 22,341 district (obwodowe), staffed by 197,389 citizens.

A remarkable 111 parties competed and 29 parties (listed below) won Parliamentary seats. The success of the frivilous Polish Beer-Lovers' Party with 16 seats gained news coverage worldwide.

Results

Party	Sejm			Senate
	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
Democratic Union	1,382,051	12.3	62	3,764,156	32.8	21
Democratic Left Alliance	1,344,820	12.0	60	2,431,178	21.2	4
Catholic Election Action	980,304	8.7	49	1,995,866	17.4	9
Center Civic Alliance	977,344	8.7	44	2,071,045	18.0	9
Polish People's Party	972,952	8.7	48	1,691,566	14.7	7
Confederation of Independent Poland	841,738	7.5	46	1,071,364	9.3	4
Liberal Democratic Congress	839,978	7.5	37	1,497,718	13.1	6
Peasants' Agreement	613,626	5.5	28	719,778	6.3	5
Solidarity	566,553	5.1	27	2,219,160	19.3	11
Polish Beer-Lovers' Party	367,106	3.3	16	–	–	–
Christian Democracy	265,179	2.4	5	–	–	–
Real Politics Union	253,024	2.3	3	371,891	2.2	0
Labour Solidarity	230,975	2.1	4	–	–	–
Democratic Party	159,017	1.4	1	453,721	4.0	0
German Minority	132,059	1.2	7	–	–	–
Party of Christian Democrats	125,314	1.1	4	507,722	4.4	3
Party X	52,735	0.5	3	417,857	3.6	0
Ruch Demokratyczno-Społeczny	51,656	0.5	1	–	–	–
Ludowe Porozumienie Wyborcze "Piast"	42,031	0.4	1	–	–	–
Silesian Autonomy Movement	40,061	0.4	2	–	–	–
Solidarni z Prezydentem	27,586	0.2	1	–	–	–
Związek Podhalan	26,744	0.2	1	–	–	–
Polski Związek Zachodni	26,053	0.2	4	–	–	–
Wielkopolsce i Polsce	23,188	0.2	1	–	–	–
Jedności Ludowej	18,902	0.2	1	–	–	–
Prawosławnych	13,788	0.1	1	–	–	–
Solidarność 80	12,769	0.1	1	–	–	–
Unia Wielkopolan	9,019	0.0	1	–	–	–
Sojusz Kobiet	1,922	0.0	1	–	–	–
Local lists and independents	820,108	7.3	0	3,708,344	32.3	21
Invalid/blank votes	669,347	–	–	413,019	–	–
Total	11,887,949	100	460	11,887,865	100	100
Registered voters/turnout	27,517,280	43.2	–	25,517,280	43.2	–
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

References

• Obwieszczenie Państwowej Komisji Wyborczej z dn. 31 X 1991 r., Monitor Polski. Nr 41, poz. 288
• Obwieszczenie PKW z dn. 30 X 1991 r., M.P. Nr 41, poz. 287