Polish parliamentary election of 1991

E638183

The Polish parliamentary election of 1991 was the first fully free and competitive legislative election in post-communist Poland, resulting in a highly fragmented Sejm and marking a key step in the country’s democratic transition.

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Observed surface forms (2)

Statements (46)

Predicate Object
instanceOf parliamentary election
abolishedOrReplacedSystem remnants of the communist-era electoral framework
characterizedBy high party fragmentation
large number of small parties and electoral committees
weak party institutionalization
context post-communist political transformation in Central and Eastern Europe
country Poland
electoralBody Sejm NERFINISHED
Senate of Poland NERFINISHED
electoralSystemForSejm proportional representation
electoralSystemForSenate majoritarian system
followedBy Polish parliamentary election of 1993 NERFINISHED
governmentFormedBy coalition including Centre Agreement
coalition including Christian National Union
coalition including Party of Christian Democrats
isFirst first fully free and competitive legislative election in post-communist Poland
keyEventIn democratic transition of Poland
languageOfCampaign Polish
largestPartyInSejm Democratic Union (Poland) NERFINISHED
largestPartyInSejmSeatCount 62
ledTo formation of a coalition government
legalBasis 1991 electoral law for the Sejm and Senate
location territory of the Republic of Poland
mainIssue post-communist political and economic reforms
numberOfElectoralCommitteesWinningSejmSeats 29
numberOfSeatsContestedInSejm 460
numberOfSeatsContestedInSenate 100
otherSignificantParty Centre Agreement NERFINISHED
Christian National Union NERFINISHED
Confederation of Independent Poland NERFINISHED
Liberal Democratic Congress NERFINISHED
Solidarity trade union electoral committees NERFINISHED
partOf Polish Third Republic NERFINISHED
precededBy Polish parliamentary election of 1989 NERFINISHED
primeMinisterAfterElection Jan Olszewski NERFINISHED
resultedIn highly fragmented Sejm
no single party winning a majority
secondLargestPartyInSejm SLD (Democratic Left Alliance) NERFINISHED
secondLargestPartyInSejmSeatCount 60
significance consolidation of democratic institutions in Poland
thirdLargestPartyInSejm Polish People’s Party NERFINISHED
thirdLargestPartyInSejmSeatCount 48
tookPlaceDuring presidency of Lech Wałęsa NERFINISHED
tookPlaceOn 1991-10-27
usedElectoralThreshold false
voterTurnoutPercentage 43.2

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Leszek Miller electedIn Polish parliamentary election of 1991
this entity surface form: Polish parliamentary election, 1991
Polish legislative election of 1989 followedBy Polish parliamentary election of 1991
1993 Polish parliamentary election previousElection Polish parliamentary election of 1991
this entity surface form: 1991 Polish parliamentary election