Celem artykułu jest określenie znaczenia wyborów prezydenckich i parlamentarnych 2015 r. dla procesu ewolucji polskiego systemu partyjnego. Autor weryfikuje trzy hipotezy – pierwszą, według której wybory nie przyniosły zmian w strukturze systemu partyjnego, drugą – wybory zapoczątkowały nowy etap w tym procesie – i trzecią, wskazującą, że wybory przyniosły nowe zjawiska w procesie ewolucji, które w przypadku potwierdzenia się i ugruntowania w przyszłości mogą wprowadzić system partyjny w nowy etap. Autor stwierdza, że trzecia hipoteza w prawidłowy sposób określa znaczenie elekcji 2015 r. Analiza bazuje na metodologii nauk o polityce i prowadzona jest zarówno w wymiarze ilościowym, jak i jakościowym.

Populist rhetoric in the parliamentary election campaign in the Czech Republic from 2017

The paper presents the history of the populist dimension. Populism is depicted in this article as a phenomenon with many planes of conceptualization. In order to combine the considerations of populism and the party system, Czech groups have been investigated, which can be included in the current commonly called modern populism in modern politics. The subject of the study was not marginal groups, including detached parties, and those which have been present on the Czech political scene since 1993: ČSSD, ODS, TOP09, KDU-ČSL, ANO 2011, KSČM.

Organization of elections in Spanish-speaking countries – selected issues

Elections and its organization is a very important issue in democratic countries. Legislative shall look for interesting models in other countries. In Spanish and South American laws we can find some inspiring solutions in the fields like: electoral administration, external voting, electoral campaign, the day of general election, counting of votes. For sure those solutions take into consideration the peculiarity of particular countries, but can be a good inspiration for Polish legislative.

Media and democracy in Poland

Nowadays, it is more and more often that the decisions of individuals are shaped by the media, and for the permanent dialogue of power and citizens it becomes necessary to apply new information and telecommunications techniques, including the Internet. For a society to be fully called civil society: citizens should be well informed, should be interested in politics, should have equal rights of expression and participation in decision making, all decisions should be subject to public debate. At first glance, it can be seen that virtually none of the points is implemented in practice, but rather are marginalized. And the media has become the leading discussion forum on public and state issues. The author reflects on the influence of democracy and mass media on the course of the election campaign and on the image of the candidate in the election. The media are also presented as so-called the fourth authority (after three forms of power: executive, legislative and judiciary), which controls other authorities and informs the public about possible failures. The role of the fourth power assigned to them seems to be insufficient for the media, more and more often we observe many cases in which the media interfere in the constitutional order. The author notes that it often happens that mass media activities do not serve the good of society and the democratic system. So instead of favorably influencing the development of democracy and social awareness, they limit and deform it.

Polish politicians of different political options, especially while proposing new reforms, declare that citizens should have a say in many issues under discussion. In reality, however, instruments of direct democracy stipulated by the Polish constitution (The Constitution of the Republic of Poland, 1997) and laws are not frequently applied (see: people’s initiative, social consultations), both due to Polish people’s low degree of public activity and because of the lack of parliamentary customs and the authorities’ accompanying lack of willingness to work out new solutions by way of serious debate and considering the society’s ambitions and expectations, also those representing positions others than those of the government majority.
The aim of this paper is to discuss the institution of a referendum in Poland and to present the approach of the Polish political class to the institution of a nationwide referendum using the example of the referendum of 6 September 2015. We also discuss the history of this institution in Poland and address the issue of its legal foundations, as well as present arguments of the followers and opponents of this form of direct democracy. It is also necessary to analyse the motives behind the initiating entity’s decision concerning the organisation of a nationwide referendum from a broader perspective and to evaluate its implications in the sphere of politics.

Amendments to the Election Code in 2018 in the area of election campaign and election agitation

The aim of the article is to analyze the changes introduced to the Polish electoral law in the scope of the election campaign and agitation campaign based on the act of 11 January 2018 amending the Election Code. The conducted analysis, apart from discussing the new regulations, also includes an attempt to assess them from the perspective of constitutional and international standards, as well as indicating some of those matters which the amendment did not cover and which should be regulated beacause of the problems of electoral practice in Poland. The detailed remarks concern three functionally related thematic areas separated for the purposes of the analysis, i.e. election campaign, agitation campaign and new regulations regarding the financing of election committees during the campaign. 

The fast-growing Latino community in the United States became one of the most influential voting groups of this decade. The article shows how President Obama used the endorsement of Hispanic celebrities through viral videos and fundraisers to win among this community, while acknowledging and comparing this case to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016, during which he could not count on the celebrities of Latin descent. The article tries to answer the question whether Hollywood can or cannot influence the ethnic voting groups and why this way of canvassing is only possible for the Democratic Party.

The problem of legal responsibility for electoral promises 

The responsibility for electoral promises is the fragment, segment, wider problems of responsibility for word in the public life. In democratic legal state, the state should assure citizens certainty to the statement of representatives of state organs ( the public power). The problem with “ electoral actions” is also that take part in them persons are not such representatives. Here also appears the question of the legal responsibility for words, the promises advoctae in course of electoral campaign. The subject of present study is current. The public debate focuses round meaning (and the sharpness) the words expressed by representatives of political scene. Recent tragical events in Poland (murder on political background) are proof on this, that statements policy has the larger power of dazzling than “usual” men. What is the possibility of accounts folding the electoral promises with lack their realization? The consequences are not only in civil law. This article is the attempt of multiplane analysis of problem.

Kampania wyborcza toczy się zwykle na wielu polach. Do najważniejszych należą oczywiście media, które stanowią jeden z głównych kanałów komunikacji kandydatów z wyborcami. Wśród wykorzystywanych do tego narzędzi znajdują się materiały emitowane w ramach obligatoryjnych radiowych audycji wyborczych. Autor sprawdza, jakie materiały zaprezentowały dwa główne komitety startujące w kampanii parlamentarnej w 2015 roku – Prawo i Sprawiedliwość oraz Platforma Obywatelska. Analizuje ich przekaz, rekonstruuje ich główne przesłania oraz wykorzystane środki retoryczne.

Medialny obraz polityka to, w dobie dzisiejszych kampanii wyborczych, istotne zagadnienie warte dokładnej analizy. Prezentowane w mediach wizerunki polityczne są często przedstawiane w sposób stronniczy, nierzadko subiektywny, powodując tym samym przekłamanie rzeczywistości. W artykule dokonano analizy tekstów publicystycznych zamieszczonych w tygodniku opinii „Newsweek” w czasie trwania kampanii prezydenckiej w 2015 r. Celem badania było ukazanie prezentowanych medialnych obrazów polityków oraz wskazanie na ich charakter, przy założeniu stronniczości przekazu medialnego.

The article discusses the proposals for changing the constitution, which were officially presented during the presidential election campaign in Poland in 2020. The article consists of two main parts. The first part focuses on the presented proposals of laws concerning the regulation in question, while the second focuses on the postulates resulting from the activity of candidates running for the office of President in Poland in 2020.

The presidential election campaign in Poland in 2020 was unique due to the epidemic caused by SARS-CoV-2. A high level of attendance during the presidential election, influenced by the pro-turnout initiatives, was achieved. The article analyzes selected activities aimed at achieving a high level of attendance, the beneficiaries of which were local governments.

Competitive advantage of political parties financed by the state budget in Poland

The article concerns the principles of financing of political parties in Poland. The thesis about creating a competitive advantage of the parties financed from the state budget over other parties was verified. An analysis of the amount of subsidies and other funds paid to eligible political parties was carried out. Particular attention was paid to the domination of funds from the budget over other sources of finance of the largest political parties. In conclusion, it was proposed to significantly limit the statutory subsidy and, as a consequence, replace it with voluntary taxation of citizens.

Przedmiotem niniejszego artykułu są wybory parlamentarne w Republice Litewskiej. Podjęto się analizy przebiegu i uwarunkowań instytucjonalnych wyborów, które odbyły się na Litwie w październiku 2020 roku w czasie trwającej pandemii Covid-19. W artykule przeanalizowano takie elementy, jak: wyniki wyborów na Litwie w 2020 r., nowe regulacje wyborcze, a także zaimplementowane nowe techniki głosowania w czasie pandemii. Oprócz tego poruszono także zagadnienia przebiegu kampanii wyborczej, która prowadzona była w warunkach obostrzeń i ograniczeń, które miały zwiększyć bezpieczeństwo wyborców oraz zmniejszyć transmisję koronawirusa SARS-CoV-2.

Instytucja ciszy wyborczej w preferencjach politycznych

Cisza wyborcza to czas, w którym zakazana jest jakakolwiek forma agitacji politycznej. Jest to czas, który ma służyć spokojnej refleksji, zastanowieniu, pozwalający na podjęcie świadomej i przemyślanej decyzji wyborczej. Celem niniejszego artykułu jest próba udzielenia odpowiedzi na pytanie, czy zdaniem polskich wyborców w dobie rozwoju nowoczesnych technologii informacyjnych i komunikacyjnych racjonalne jest utrzymanie takiego elementu systemu wyborczego jak instytucja ciszy wyborczej. W artykule przedstawiono wyniki badania przeprowadzonego w ramach ogólnopolskiego projektu Political Preferences. Badanie przeprowadzono jesienią 2019 r. w wykorzystaniem metody ankietowej na liczącej 1072 osób reprezentatywnej próbie losowej dorosłych mieszkańców Polski.

Politics as a strategic game: framing of 2019 Polish election campaigns in television news

The research on the information media coverage of elections deals with a concept of strategic game framing. Despite the major importance of the media in elections, there are few systematic research on the media framing in Poland. Using a content analysis of two television news programmes, the goal of the study was to evaluate the frequency of strategic game framing in comparison with issue framing and to test the hypothesis about the relationship between application of the frames and different ownership types in the media (public vs private). The findings show a key role of strategic game framing in the news programmes covering European Parliamentary elections and Parliamentary elections of 2019 in Poland and refute the hypothesis that ownership type of media predicts the frequency of analysed frames.