Analyzes of individual election campaigns in which the Solidarna Polska party took part showed the dominant position of Law and Justice on the right side of the political scene. Jarosław Kaczyński’s party, receiving 37.58% of votes in the parliamentary elections in 2015, as the first after 1989, independently took over the governments. Zbigniew Ziobro’s party undertook program activities and initiatives that would distinguish it from the PiS and contribute to the fact that it would become an alternative to right-wing voters. Unfortunately, she did it without much success. Solidarna Polska managed to win a small electorate, and support not exceeding 5% did not make it a strong party dominating the right and threatening Law and Justice.

11 stycznia 2018 r. Sejm RP uchwalił ustawę wprowadzającą wiele zmian do Kodeksu wyborczego. Najważniejsze zmiany dotyczyły administracji wyborczej, komisji wyborczych oraz praw wyborczych. Artykuł analizuje szczegółowe konsekwencje polityczne najważniejszych z tych reform. Autor dowodzi, że część z tych zmian, w szczególności dotyczących struktury Państwowej Komisji Wyborczej i administracji wyborczej jako takiej, może doprowadzić do kryzysu organizacyjnego i politycznego podczas wyborów samorządowych w 2018 r. Nie oznacza to jednak, że zmiany w obszarze prawa wyborczego nie są konieczne. Modyfikacje są potrzebą, ale wcześniej powinny być bardzo dokładnie przemyślane. System wyborczy jest bowiem jednym z najbardziej podanych na manipulacje instrumentów politycznych. Tymczasem uczciwa rywalizacja partyjna wymaga, aby reguły wyborcze nie były zmieniane zbyt pochopnie i często, zwłaszcza bezpośrednio przed wyborami.

Implementation of the quota system in the context of women’s places on electoral lists. Elections to the Regional Council of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship

The article discusses the problem of implementing a quota system in placing gender representatives on electoral lists in local government elections. The research covers elections to the Regional Council (Sejmik) of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in years 2010, 2014 and 2018. The following research questions were posed: Was the number of women on the lists of individual committees greater than the statutory requirements? What places did women take on these lists? Which places on the lists allowed women to win tickets? The research focus concerns electoral committees that participated in the distribution of seats. After the introduction of quotas, the number of women on electoral lists has increased. The percentage of women on the lists was higher than the assumed amount. The representation of women was delivered in accordance with the requirements of the ordinance, but no attempt was made to provide such representation within particular places. The percentage of women taking the first places on the lists was actually smaller than the accepted amount. The increase in number and proportion of women present on electoral lists has not contributed to the increase of representation of women in the Regional Council. In the elections using the quota system, the number of elected women has been lower than expected.

Threads of Memory in Local Government Election Campaigns. Poland 2018

The use of threads of memory during election campaigns has a great political potential. Recalling the history of the community may contribute to the success of campaign activities, thanks to which the issues of remembrance of the past appear in the strategies of many election committees. And although the problem of the use of threads of memory before elections could be discussed through the prism of the various levels of elections, this article proposes a narrower perspective. The purpose of this text is to present the issue of recalling memory – using the narratives of memory and commemoration – in local government elections. What is important, the main discussed problem is based on the case of local government elections in Poland in 2018, and is presented through the analysis of three examples of the use of threads of memory during election campaigns (the content analysis of media reports). These examples came from Katowice, Warsaw and Bialystok, and its discussion contributed to the formulation of final conclusions.

Guilty – innocent? Candidating in local government elections and prosecutor’s charges and court verdict. Case study by Hanna Zdanowska

The article analyses the possibility of standing as a candidate and performing public functions by persons sentenced to a fine by a final court judgment. The second part of the paper concerns issues related to ethical aspects of candidacy and exercising power by convicted persons.

Parliamentary proposals for the implementation of direct starosts and province marshals elections

Out of the executive bodies of a local self-government, only the voits (mayors, presidents of cities) are elected in direct elections, whereas on the poviat and voivodeship level, we are dealing with collective management boards, the members of which are chosen indirectly by the council of the poviat, and by the voivodeship sejmik (a regional assembly). However, this issue is not discussedparticularly frequently, in parliamentary practice there have been attempts at introducing direct elections of starosts andvoivodeship marshals, which are justified by the need of strengthening the degree of social legitimization for such offices, as well as forharmonizing the regulations which are applicable on all local government levels. The goal of this article was to proceed with a critical analysis of the projects which have been submitted within this scope, as well as to answer the question: which conditions should be met so that the introduction of a fundamental change in the starost and voivodeship martial election procedure could be assessed positively.

On the Concept of the Electoral Treshold in Elections to Municipal Councils

The barrier clause is an institution of special importance in the context of the proportional system. The aim of this article is to present and evaluate the course of parliamentary work accompanying the transformation of the concept of the prohibition clause in the elections to municipal councils in 1990–2018. The research carried out on the basis of the formal-dogmatic method allows us to assume that the position of the dominant political forces on the application and level of the election threshold in local elections was characterized by considerable variability, showing connections with the lack of a clearly crystallized view on the shape of the electoral system in the strict sense of the organs constituting the basic level of local government.

On the Volatility of the Concept of Demographic Norm in Elections to Municipal Councils

The demographic norm is an institution of high importance from the point of view of the final election results and the detailed rules for conducting the electoral procedure. As an instrument separating majority and proportional electoral systems, it affects the procedure for submitting candidates, the structure of constituencies and the methods of mandates distribution. The aim of the study was to present and evaluate legislative projects regarding the demographic norm in 1990–2018 period. The conducted analysis leads to the conclusion that no unified concept of the demographic norm has been developed, and the cyclical changes within discussed institution are a consequence of the current interests of political parties.