2015 Polish referendum
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A three-part referendum was held in Poland on 6 September 2015.[1] Voters were asked whether they approved of introducing single-member constituencies for Sejm elections, maintaining state financing of political parties and introducing a presumption in favour of the taxpayer in disputes over the tax law.[2]
The voter turnout of 7.80 percent was well below the 50-percent threshold required for the referendum results to be legally binding.[3]
Background
The referendums were ordered by President Bronisław Komorowski, who had promised to hold a referendum on the electoral system after the first round of the presidential elections,[4] Although he had been leading in the polls, Komorowski received fewer votes (33.77%) than his main opponent Andrzej Duda (34.76%) in the first round. However third-placed candidate Paweł Kukiz received 20.8% of the vote, campaigning on introducing single-member constituencies for Sejm elections.[5] A day after the May elections, Komorowski made an instantaneous decision to hold the referendum. Justifying his initiative, he explained that he saw high support for Kukiz as a signal that voters wanted changes.
Questions
The referendum asked voters the following three yes-or-no questions:
- Are you in favour of introducing single-member constituencies in elections to the Sejm of the Republic of Poland?[a]
- Are you in favour of maintaining the current method of financing of political parties from the national budget?[b]
- Are you in favour of introducing a general rule of resolving doubts regarding the interpretation of taxation law in favour of the tax-payer?[c][2]
Results
| Question | For | Against | Invalid/ blank |
Total | Registered voters |
Turnout | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | |||||||||
| Single-member constituencies | 1,829,995 | 78.75 | 493,935 | 21.25 | 60,850 | 2,384,780 | 30,565,826 | 7.80 | ||||
| Financing of political parties | 404,515 | 17.37 | 1,923,994 | 82.63 | 56,271 | |||||||
| Tax law interpretation | 2,194,689 | 94.51 | 127,395 | 5.49 | 62,696 | |||||||
| Source: PKW | ||||||||||||
Notes
- ^ In Polish: Czy jest Pani/Pan za wprowadzeniem jednomandatowych okręgów wyborczych w wyborach do Sejmu Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej?
- ^ In Polish: Czy jest Pani/Pan za utrzymaniem dotychczasowego sposobu finansowania partii politycznych z budżetu państwa?
- ^ In Polish: Czy jest Pani/Pan za wprowadzeniem zasady ogólnej rozstrzygania wątpliwości co do wykładni przepisów prawa podatkowego na korzyść podatnika?
References
- ^ Referendum set for 6 September Radio Poland, 18 June 2015
- ^ a b Postanowienie Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej z dnia 17 czerwca 2015 r. o zarządzeniu ogólnokrajowego referendum [Decision of the President of the Republic of Poland of 17 June 2015 ordering a nationwide referendum], Dz. U. z 2015 r. poz. 852 (2015-06-17)
- ^ Obwieszczenie Państwowej Komisji Wyborczej z dnia 7 września 2015 r. o wynikach głosowania i wyniku referendum przeprowadzonego w dniu 6 września 2015 r. (Announcement of the National Electoral Commission of 7 September 2015 on the results of the vote and the result of the referendum held on 6 September 2015)
- ^ Poland president will back referendum to change political system to be like Westminster The Telegraph, 10 May 2015
- ^ Hartliński, Maciej (2015). "The 2015 Referendum in Poland" (PDF). East European Quarterly.
