2005 Polish presidential election

2005 Polish presidential election
Turnout	49.6% (first round); 51.0% (second round)
	Results of the second round
President before election; Aleksander Kwaśniewski; Independent	President ; Lech Kaczyński; PiS

The 2005 Presidential elections were held in Poland on October 9 and October 23, 2005. The outgoing President of Poland, Aleksander Kwaśniewski, had served two five-year terms and was unable to stand for a third term. Lech Kaczyński defeated Donald Tusk to become President of Poland.

Background

Two center-right candidates, Donald Tusk, chairman of the Civic Platform (PO) and Deputy Marshal of the Sejm, and Lech Kaczyński, honorary chairman of Law and Justice (PiS) and mayor of Warsaw, led the poll in the first round, as was widely expected. As neither received 50 percent of the vote, a second round was held on 23 October. In this round, Kaczyński defeated Tusk, polling 54.04 percent of the vote.

Although both leading candidates came from the center-right, and their two parties had planned to form a coalition government following the legislative elections on 25 September, there were important differences between Tusk and Kaczyński. Tusk wanted to enforce separation of church and state, favored rapid European integration and supported a free-market economy. Kaczyński was very socially conservative, a soft Eurosceptic, and supported state interventionism. Such differences led to the failure of PiS-PO coalition talks in late October.

Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz, the candidate of the Alliance of the Democratic Left, which was the governing party before the legislative election withdrew from the race on September 14. At the time he withdrew he was third in the polls, still having the most chances to get to the second round (besides Kaczyński and Tusk).

Other candidates, who withdrew from the elections, but initially have signed to, were Zbigniew Religa and Maciej Giertych. Daniel Tomasz Podrzycki, who had also signed, died in an accident before the elections.

Ten people had registered themselves in election procedure, but failed to gather 100,000 support signatures: Arnold Buzdygan, Stanisław Ceberek, Gabriel Janowski, Jan Antoni Kiełb, Waldemar Janusz Kossakowski, Marian Romuald Rembelski, Zbigniew Roliński, Sławomir Salomon, Maria Szyszkowska, Bolesław Tejkowski.

The figure of Józef Tusk, grandfather of current Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, was in the center of the "Wehrmacht affair" over his brief period of service after being drafted into the German army during the late stages of World War II, which was the biggest controversy of the election.^[1]^[2]^[3]

First Round Candidates

Former Minister of Industry and Trade Henryka Bochniarz (Independent), 57
Former Marshall of the Sejm Marek Borowski (SDPL),59
Former Member of the Sejm Leszek Bubel (Polish National Party), 48
Lawyer Liwiusz Ilasz (Independent), 43
Mayor of Warsaw Lech Kaczyński (Law and Justice), 56
Former Deputy Prime Minister Jarosław Kalinowski (PSL), 43
Former Member of the Sejm Janusz Korwin-Mikke (Real Politics Union), 63
Former Deputy Marshal of the Sejm Andrzej Lepper (Self-Defense), 51
Former Member of the Sejm Adam Słomka (Polish Confederation), 41
Deputy Marshal of the Sejm Donald Tusk (Civic Platform), 48
Businessman Stanisław Tymiński (Independent), 57

Physician Jan Pyszko (Polish League), 75

Withdrawn

Senator Zbigniew Religa (Centre Party), 66
Marshal of the Sejm Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz (Democratic Left Alliance), 55

MEP Maciej Giertych (League of Polish Families), 69

Dead

Journalist Daniel Podrzycki (Polish Labour Party), 42

Second Round Candidates

style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:Template:Law and Justice/meta/color; width:200px;"\|Lech Kaczyński	style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:Template:Civic Platform/meta/color; width:200px;"\|Donald Tusk
President of Poland Candidates in the second round
Law and Justice	Civic Platform

Mayor of Warsaw (2002–2005)	Deputy Marshal of the Sejm (2001–2005)

Opinion polls

Polling Firm	Date of polling	Others/Undecided
			style="background:Template:Law and Justice/meta/color;"\|	style="background:Template:Civic Platform/meta/color;"\|	style="background:Template:Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland/meta/color;"\|	style="background:Template:Social Democracy of Poland/meta/color;"\|	style="background:Template:Polish People's Party/meta/color;"\|	style="background:Template:Real Politics Union/meta/color;"\|	style="background:Template:Democratic Party – demokraci.pl/meta/color;"\|		style="background:Template:Democratic Left Alliance/meta/color;"\|	style="background:Template:League of Polish Families/meta/color;"\|
			Kaczyński PiS	Tusk PO	Lepper SRP	Borowski SDPL	Kalinowski PSL	Korwin-Mikke UPR	Bochniarz PD	Religa Centrum	Cimoszewicz SLD	Giertych LPR
Election Results	9 October 2005	0.7	style="background:Template:Law and Justice/meta/color; color:white;" \| 33.1	style="background:Template:Civic Platform/meta/color; color:black;" \| 36.3	15.1	10.3	1.8	1.4	1.3	-	-	-
PGB	30 September 2005	0	style="background:Template:Law and Justice/meta/color; color:white;" \| 31	style="background:Template:Civic Platform/meta/color; color:black;" \| 35	17	11	2	1	1	-	-	2
Rzeczpospolita	17 September 2005	2	29	style="background:Template:Civic Platform/meta/color; color:black;" \| 51	7	7	2			-	-	2
PBS	15 September 2005	2	style="background:Template:Law and Justice/meta/color; color:white;" \| 22	style="background:Template:Civic Platform/meta/color; color:black;" \| 49	9	8	3	2	2	-	-	3
Polityka	13 September 2005	8	style="background:Template:Law and Justice/meta/color; color:white;" \| 22	style="background:Template:Civic Platform/meta/color; color:black;" \| 43	10					-	17
Ipsos	9 August 2005	2	style="background:Template:Law and Justice/meta/color; color:white;" \| 24	style="background:Template:Civic Platform/meta/color; color:black;" \| 24	12	5	3	2	0	7	19	2
OBOP	8 August 2005	4	21	style="background:Template:Civic Platform/meta/color; color:black;" \| 23	9	5	2			7	style="background:Template:Democratic Left Alliance/meta/color; color:white;" \| 26	3
PBS	8 August 2005	8	style="background:Template:Law and Justice/meta/color; color:white;" \| 20	19	14	3				9	style="background:Template:Democratic Left Alliance/meta/color; color:white;" \| 23	4
PGB	13 July 2005	4	style="background:Template:Law and Justice/meta/color; color:white;" \| 22	11	15	6	3		1	9	style="background:Template:Democratic Left Alliance/meta/color; color:white;" \| 23	6
OBOP	11 July 2005	4.3	style="background:Template:Law and Justice/meta/color; color:white;" \| 19	12	11	2.4	1.9			12	style="background:Template:Democratic Left Alliance/meta/color; color:white;" \| 35	2.4
CBOS	8 July 2005	4	style="background:Template:Law and Justice/meta/color; color:white;" \| 20	9	12	5	3			13	style="background:Template:Democratic Left Alliance/meta/color; color:white;" \| 31	3
Gazeta Wyborcza	6 July 2005	6	style="background:Template:Law and Justice/meta/color; color:white;" \| 18	12	10	5	3			14	style="background:Template:Democratic Left Alliance/meta/color; color:white;" \| 29	3
CBOS	10 June 2005	8	style="background:Template:Law and Justice/meta/color; color:white;" \| 25	11	12	14	3			23		4
CBOS	17 May 2005	10	style="background:Template:Law and Justice/meta/color; color:white;" \| 22	13	14	10				15	14	2
PBS	13 May 2005	19	style="background:Template:Law and Justice/meta/color; color:white;" \| 27	14		9				16	15
PGB	2 May 2005	22	style="background:Template:Law and Justice/meta/color; color:white;" \| 23	style="background:Template:Civic Platform/meta/color; color:black;" \| 13		style="background:Template:Social Democracy of Poland/meta/color; color:white;" \| 13				10	9	10
Pentor	25 April 2005	9	style="background:Template:Law and Justice/meta/color; color:white;" \| 21	9	13	9				22	15	2
PBS	22 April 2005	6	style="background:Template:Law and Justice/meta/color; color:white;" \| 26	11	11	12				16	14	4
PGB	20 April 2005	12	style="background:Template:Law and Justice/meta/color; color:white;" \| 24	13	13	style="background:Template:Social Democracy of Poland/meta/color; color:white;" \| 14				7	8	9

Results

Voters turnout in the first round was quite low with only 49.7 percent of all eligible voters casting their votes.

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
Candidate		Party	Votes	%	Votes	%
bgcolor=Template:Law and Justice/meta/color\|	Lech Kaczyński	Law and Justice	4,947,927	33.1	8,257,468	54.04
bgcolor=Template:Civic Platform/meta/color\|	Donald Tusk	Civic Platform	5,429,666	36.3	7,022,319	45.96
bgcolor=Template:Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland/meta/color\|	Andrzej Lepper	Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland	2,259,094	15.1
bgcolor=Template:Social Democracy of Poland/meta/color\|	Marek Borowski	Social Democracy of Poland	1,544,642	10.3
bgcolor=Template:Polish People's Party/meta/color\|	Jarosław Kalinowski	Polish People's Party	269,316	1.8
	Janusz Korwin-Mikke	Real Politics Union	214,116	1.4
bgcolor=Template:Democratic Party – demokraci.pl/meta/color\|	Henryka Bochniarz	Democratic Party	188,598	1.3
	Liwiusz Ilasz	Independent	31,691	0.2
	Stanisław Tymiński	All-Polish Citizens Coalition	23,545	0.2
	Leszek Bubel	Polish National Party	18,828	0.1
	Jan Pyszko	Organization of the Polish Nation - Polish League	10,371	0.1
	Adam Słomka	The Polish Confederation-Freedom and Work	8,895	0.1
Invalid/blank votes			99,661	–	155,233	–
Total			15,046,350	100	15,435,020	100
Registered voters/turnout			30,260,027	49.74	30,279,209	50.98
Source: PKW, PKW

References

^ (in Polish) Barbara Szczepuła , Józef Tusk i inni, Dziennik Bałtycki, 2006-08-04
^ "Europe | Profile: Donald Tusk". BBC News. 2007-10-22. Retrieved 2010-03-14.
^ (in Polish) Raport o dziadku z Wehrmachtu, Wprost, 2006-08-17

External links

[w24-2-1] (in Polish) Barbara Szczepuła , Józef Tusk i inni, Dziennik Bałtycki, 2006-08-04

[bbc-2] "Europe | Profile: Donald Tusk". BBC News. 2007-10-22. Retrieved 2010-03-14.

[AutoPS-1-3] (in Polish) Raport o dziadku z Wehrmachtu, Wprost, 2006-08-17

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e Polish presidential elections
Indirect elections	1922 1926 1933 1947 1989
Direct elections	1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025

v t e Elections and referendums in Poland
Presidential elections	1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025
Parliamentary elections	1919 1922 1928 1930 1935 1938 1947 1952 1957 1961 1965 1969 1972 1976 1980 1985 1989 1991 1993 1997 2001 2005 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023 Next
Local elections	1916–17 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1929 1933–34 1936 1938–39 1954 1958 1961 1965 1969 1973 1976 1980 1984 1988 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2024
European elections	2004 2009 2014 2019 2024
Referendums	1946 1987 1996 1997 2003 2015 2023
Silesian Sejm elections	1922 1930 (May) 1930 (Nov) 1935
See also: Elections in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth

v t e History of the Third Polish Republic
1990–1995 Wałęsa Presidency	Round Table Agreement 1990 presidential election 1991 parliamentary election 1993 parliamentary election
1995–2005 Kwaśniewski Presidency	1995 presidential election 1996 enfranchisement and privatisation referendums 1997 Constitution 1997 parliamentary election 2000 presidential election 2001 parliamentary election Rywin affair 2003 invasion of Iraq EU membership referendum Accession to the EU
2005–2010 Kaczyński Presidency	2005 parliamentary election 2005 presidential election 2007 parliamentary election Smolensk air disaster
2010–2015 Komorowski Presidency	2010 presidential election 2011 parliamentary election Euro 2012 2015 presidential election
2015-present Duda Presidency	2015 parliamentary election 2015 referendum 2015 constitutional crisis 2019 parliamentary election COVID-19 pandemic in Poland 2020 presidential election 2021 border crisis 2023 parliamentary election