The creation of a special body whose sole purpose is to rule on violations of the constitution or statutes by senior state officials, including the president, is relatively rare. Only Greece and Poland have implemented such a solution and until recently also the French law provided such a possibility but the amendment of the Constitution in 2007 changed the legislation within that scope. The subject of the study is the analysis of Polish regulations concerning the State Tribunal in the context when the National Assembly adopts a resolution to put the President in charge of committing a constitutional delinquency.

The current political-military situation enforces verification of existing structural and procedural arrangements relating to the functioning of Polish defense system. According to a number of conceptual documents (including National Security Strategy of 2014) the system consists of two kinds of subsystems: the controlling and the executive. The latter kind of subsystems includes operational and supporting sorts. The Polish Armed Forces (PAF) are the key element of the national defence system and are subject to civilian supervision of the democratic authorities. With regard to this kind of supervision there are two primary (fundamental) notions that deserve particular attention: headship and control. Both forms of supervision are reserved for civilian authorities during peacetime, respectively for the President of Poland and the Minister of National Defence. During the war time, the Council of Ministers gains greater importance in controlling the state defence. In this context, the category that invariably remains in the PAF domain is command understood as a specific form of control. Noteworthy, however, is the fact that the war-time PAF command structure, considering existing legal regulations, does not seem fully optimized. Therefore the reform of PAF control and command system, initiated in 2014, requires continuation and completion.

This paper aims to present a case study analysis of the condition of the electoral system in the Republic of Belarus after more than a quarter of a century of independence. The main purpose of the paper is to explain the discrepancies between legislation and practice. The author intended to note a real situation that dominates the country’s political scene in comparison to theoretical establishments. A Constitution of the Republic (created in 1994, with minor changes in 1996 and 2004) is the legal ground of the electoral system, however, procedural details were drawn up in the Electoral Code. The principles of Belarusian electoral code consist of some statements known from democratic models, such as universal suffrage, direct suffrage, secret ballot and equality. There are different types of elections in Belarus but the most important ones are presidential and parliamentary elections. Despite the detailed legal rules for conducting these elections, in fact, the principles of democracy, as well as the internal rules in Belarus, are not respected. Both presidential and parliamentary elections have shown this in recent years. Independent observers for a long time have been alarming about worrying electoral practices in Belarus. It is also worth emphasizing that since 1994, one man has been in power uninterruptedly, and Parliament has in fact a symbolic function. In the source materials, the author used Belarusian legal acts, analyses and reports, press notes as well as scientific papers.

In this paper I focus on the creation powers of the President in view of the current problems. I also attempt to find answers to some of the questions related to the issue whether, provided the Constitution of the Slovak Republic concedes the President of the Slovak Republic the power to appoint a constitutional official on the proposal of a collective body or a specific person, the President may refuse to appoint a public official, and what the position of the President is in this kind of appointment, thus what function he performs.

The rights of the President of the Republic of Poland  in the scope of supreme authority over the Armed Forces  during the term of Constitution of 17th March 1921

The article concerns the rights and activities of the president as a superior of the armed forces while the Constitution of 17th March 1921 was in force. The first part of the article is dedicated to a short description of the relation between the legislature and the executive, and the position of the armed forces in the Constitution of 17th March 1921. The second part of the article relates to detailed analysis of the constitutional and the statutory responsibilities of the President as a Superior of the Armed Forces. It was difficult to determine the character of the supreme authority of the President because there was no regulation defining the organization of general military authorities in the country. Formally, in a time of peace, the armed forces were subordinate to the President through the Minister of National Defense, who was liable to Sejm. The third part of the article constitutes the analysis of discussed powers after the constitutional amendment of 2nd August 1926. According to the provisions of the amendment, the President received the rights to issue a regulation with force of statute. His systemic position has strengthened, and as a consequence, it has a major impact on the extension of his rights as far as his authority over the Armed Forces is concerned. Furthermore, the author conducts dogmatic analysis of the regulations and constitu- tional practice concerning the supreme authority.

The article concerns the constitutional position and political role of the President of the Republic of Poland. Though the Author concentrates on the current constitution of Poland, that entered info force in 1997, he also reviews all the constitutions (and important amendments to these constitutions) that were adopted over the last century, so after Poland had restored its sovereignty in 1918.
The analysis is concentrated not only on the constitutional position and political role of the Polish president, but also on the way he was (and is) elected. The Author tries to prove a thesis that the actual political position of the head in the state in Poland depended and still depends not only on constitutional provisions, but also on specific political circumstances, and even the character and personality of the people holding this office.

In the article, the authors compare the institutions of the Senate of the Second Polish Republic on the basis of the Constitutional Act of March 17, 1921 and the Constitutional Act of April 23, 1935. In the first part, the article presents the the way of functioning and selecting the senators in accordance with the provisions of the Constitutional Act of March 17, 1921. The second part of the article is a description of the regulations contained in the constitutional Act of 23 April 1935, on the basis of which then Senate of the Republic of Poland functioned. At the end of this article, the authors indicate similarities, but above all differences, in the functioning of the first chamber of the parliament of the Second Polish Republic.

The aim of the article was to present the means of political communication in the 1997 referendum campaign in Poland, and to find answers for the following questions: 1) who was the creator of political messages?; 2) what was the ideological structure of communication?; 3) what channels did the authors of political message make use of?; 4) in what way did the recipients decode the message?; 5) what was the effect of the political messages?; 6) did the referendum campaign influence the result of parliamentary elections – and if so, to what degree? The answers acquired in that way will contribute to exposing full perspective of political communication.

Th is study aims to determine whether the decision of the V Lustration Department of the Court of Appeal in Warsaw issued in 2000, that Lech Wałęsa was not a secret collaborate of the former Security Service of the Polish People’s Republic (PPR), was a correct one. Marek Aft yka’s “briefi ng memo” and Proceedings of Regional Court in Gdańsk I Civil Department in 2010 in a case brought by Lech Wałęsa against Krzysztof Wyszkowski were researched in this article.
It is stated that individual decisions of judges in 2000 were wrong in this case, which was confi rmed on February 16, 2016 by fi nding the personal and working fi les of the secret collaborate codename “Bolek”. Analysis of the sources demonstrated that Wałęsa he did not consider the cooperation with the prosecution and security institutions, as well as with the state of real socialism as something wrong. At the same time, former Polish president, as a well-trained agent, will never admit to the cooperation.

The purpose of this paper is to present a government crisis in Moldova that took place in 2019 from the point of view of its constitutional basis. Based on a legal dogmatic-analysis, supported with the comparative and historical methods, the paper verifies whether the blame for the situation could be placed solely on the Moldovan political fractions or on the unfortunate distribution of the voters’ preferences, or rather on the legislator who passed ill-advised laws without foreseeing the possibility of a conflict, including the emerging dual power system in Moldova at the time in question.

The subject of the article is an analysis of the possibility of holding the function of a commune head (mayor, city president) in the light of the generally applicable law in Poland by a person convicted of public prosecution with a fine.

Is Polish Constitution adjusted to the times of crisis? Selected problems and de lege ferenda propositions

The subject of this article is the question whether the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 1997 provides sufficient guarantees for the continuity of government and cooperation of public authorities in the event of sudden threats such as war, rebellion, natural disaster or terrorist attack. The analysis shows that the Constitution of the Republic of Poland is prepared for standard emergency situations, but does not contain procedures in the event of the worst-case scenarios: necessity of state of emergency during electoral campaign; failure to gather a minimum quorum of 230 deputies for the needs of a session of the parliament; the death of top politicians in the state.

The political position of the chairman on the example of the houses of the Congress of the United States of America

This article is devoted entirely to the institution of the President on the example of the Congress of the United States of America. The office of the chairman, whose competence is to conduct deliberations, is characteristic of bodies with a collegial structure. This applies especially to those of them whose composition consists of more than a few persons. The author of the article focus on all aspects concerning this office. In the first part there is a brief characterization of the models of the institution of the speaker of parliament, as well as a historical outline of this institution. In the next part an author present the systemic position of the presiding officers of the chambers of the American Parliament.

Shortening the term of the Polish Sejm in 2007

The purpose of this paper was to analyze the regulations contained in the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 2 April 1997 (The Constitution of the Republic of Poland) concerning the shortening of the term of parliament. The paper discusses the political reasons for which such a decision was made during the 5th term of the Polish Sejm (2005–2007) and the effects it had on the Polish political scene in later years.

The Political Position of the President in the Parliamentary and Semi-presidential Systems in the Light of the Lithuanian Constitutions of 1922 and 1992

This article aims to analyze the political position of the president in the parliamentary systems of interwar Lithuania and the semi-presidential system of modern Lithuania. The analysis covers the regulations of Lithuanian constitutions of 1922 and 1992. The article assesses the most important legal provisions concerning the political position of the head of state. The subject of the analysis is still relevant, as Lithuania, like during the first independence period, adopted the same political system, restoring its pre-war solutions (including reactivating the institution of the head of state). Identifying the differences and similarities in the systemic position of the institution of the head of state in the light of the Lithuanian basic laws seems to be an issue worth scientific research.

Legislative Veto of the President of the Republic of Poland in Political Practice

The aim of the article is to analyze the legislative veto of the President of the Republic of Poland and his relationship with the Sejm. The study indicates the constitutional regulation concerning the presidential veto and the legislative process. The author’s intention was to show that the President’s veto may affect the fate of the act, but also the government’s policy. Such a situation takes place if the President’s veto concerns a bill submitted to the Sejm on the initiative of the Council of Ministers. The institution of the President’s legislative veto was analyzed in terms of theory and its practical functioning in political practice, as well as how the veto is used by a person holding the office of the President. In order to better illustrate the title issue, the activities of the presidents of the Republic of Poland since passed of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland have been briefly presented.

Procedure of Nominating Candidates in Elections for the Office of the President of the Republic of Poland

The article analyzes the procedure of nominating candidates for the office of the President of the Republic of Poland. The provisions of the Constitution and the Electoral Code were assessed. The analysis of the elections to the office of the President in Poland indicates that the requirement to collect 100,000 signatures of citizens who have the right to vote for the Sejm is not difficult to reach. As a result, candidates with low public support, who receive less than 100,000 votes, participate in the election of the President. At the same time, election practice shows that there is a lot of irregularities during collecting the signatures. This problem was repeatedly pointed out by the National Electoral Commission The article ends with proposals to amend the Electoral Code aimed at clarifying the rules for collecting signatures of support and introducing an election deposit.

The main priorities of President Andrzej Duda’s foreign policy

In the present state of the political system, the powers of the Polish president to conduct an independent foreign policy are quite limited. But, in the case of the Andrzej Duda presidency, there are certain areas in which his activities between 2015–2021 were dominant, however. It mainly concerned the Three Seas Initiative, the aim of which is to integrate the economy and infrastructure of Central European countries. The Polish president was and still is the main architect of this project. Moreover, he plays an important role in shaping Poland’s relations with Ukraine, and above all with the United States. It should be noted that in the latter cases, they were closely related to another scope partly within the remit of the Polish president – security policy.

Preventive Control of the Compliance of Laws with the Constitution – the Effectiveness of the Instrument in the Light of Legal Assumptions and Practice

The author analyzes competence of the President to initiate a preventive constitutional review and the legislative veto. The Constitution does not exclude the use of a veto if President has doubts as to the constitutionality of the act. He describes the Polish systemic practice preventive control more specifically indicates the specific actions of the current President, the subject of initiatives and judgments of the Tribunal. In conclusion author recognizes disadvantage of regulating the preventive constitutional review of statutes: there are no temporal rigors for proceedings before the Constitutional Tribunal. Practical preventive initiatives of the President concerned important issues and usually had a positive effect although the Tribunal sometimes adjudicated in these cases with considerable delay or groundlessly discontinued the proceedings. In systemic practice, the President’s legislative veto is a more effective instrument. A choice of measure of eliminating a “constitutionally suspicious” act, depends only on the President’s decision.

This article systematises procedures for dismissing a Head of State in the countries of South America. We look at the genesis of introducing impeachment to the constitutions of countries in this part of the world, paying close attention to the specific historical background of the Western Hemisphere, then focusing on the categorization and systematisation of the procedure itself. We present three models of the presidential impeachment in South America: Judicial, Bicameral and Unicameral. Using a contextual approach, doctrinal research, comparative method and theory-building strategy, we discuss the general features of these models and the specificities of use in each country of the continent.