Senate of Poland
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The Senate (Senat) is the upper house of the Polish parliament. It consists of 100 senators elected by universal ballot and is headed by the speaker of Senate (Marszałek Senatu).
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[edit] History
The Senate can be traced back to a council of royal advisors. In the Nobles' Democracy, the Senate was the upper chamber of the Sejm, and consisted of members of the royal cabinet and the royal court, together with voivods, prefects and castellans (all appointed by the king), and Catholic bishops (see Senatorial offices for details).
In the so-called Second Polish Republic, senators were elected by universal ballot. After a referendum organized in 1946 by the Communist regime, the Senate was abolished in the post-Second World War People's Republic of Poland. It was only re-established after the fall of communism in 1989.
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[edit] The Senate of Poland Today
The term of office of a senator is four years. The Senate may reject or amend the bills passed by the Sejm but any rejection or amendment may still be overruled by an absolute majority vote in the Sejm. A joint session of the Senate and the Sejm is known as a National Assembly. Traditionally, the Senate takes particular care of Polonia, Polish communities outside Poland.
Senators are elected by a plurality bloc voting method (rare internationally), where several candidates with the highest support are elected from each electorate, and each voter selects their whole preferred set. The exact number of senators from each electorate is dependent on its population and varies from two to four.
[edit] 2005 election
Parties | Votes | % | Seats Sejm | +/- | Seats Senat |
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Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, PiS) | 3,185,714 | 27.0 | 155 | +111 | 49 |
Civic Platform (Platforma Obywatelska, PO) | 2,849,259 | 24.1 | 133 | +68 | 34 |
Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland (Samoobrona RP) | 1,347,355 | 11.4 | 56 | +3 | 3 |
Democratic Left Alliance (Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej, SLD) | 1,335,257 | 11.3 | 55 | -161 | - |
League of Polish Families (Liga Polskich Rodzin, LPR) | 940,726 | 8.0 | 34 | -4 | 7 |
Polish Peasant Party (Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe, PSL) | 821,656 | 7.0 | 25 | -17 | 2 |
Social Democracy of Poland (Socjaldemokracja Polska, SDPL) | 3.9 | - | - | ||
Democratic Party (Partia Demokratyczna) | 2.5 | - | - | ||
Janusz Korwin-Mikke Platform (Platforma Janusza Korwin-Mikke, PJKM) | 1.6 | - | - | ||
Patriotic Movement (Ruch Patriotyczny) | 1.1 | - | - | ||
Polish Labour Party (Polska Partia Pracy, PPP) | 0.8 | - | - | ||
German Minority Electoral Committee (Komitet Wyborczy Mniejszość Niemiecka) | 34,469 | 0.3 | 2 | ||
Independents | 5 | ||||
Total (turnout 40.6 %) | 11,804,676 | 460 | 100 | ||
*Registered voters: 30,338,316
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Republic of Poland (1918–1939) | Wojciech Trąmpczyński · Julian Szymański · Władysław Raczkiewicz · Aleksander Prystor · Bogusław Miedziński |
Republic of Poland (1989–present) | Andrzej Stelmachowski · August Chełkowski · Adam Struzik · Alicja Grześkowiak · Longin Pastusiak · Bogdan Borusewicz |
[edit] Polish Senators (2001-2005 term)
- Jerzy Adamski
- Andrzej Anulewicz
- Franciszek Bachleda-Księdzularz
- Marek Balicki
- Janusz Lucjan Bargieł
- Tadeusz Bartos
- Maria Berny
- Adam Biela
- Janusz Stefan Bielawski
- January Bronisław Bień
- Franciszek Bogdan Bobrowski
- Krystyna Maria Bochenek (since September 2004)
- Krzysztof Wawrzyniec Borkowski
- Władysław Bułka
- Czesława Christowa
- Andrzej Chronowski
- Zygmunt Alojzy Cybulski
- Gerard Czaja
- Jolanta Ryszarda Danielak
- Krystyna Doktorowicz
- Kazimierz Drożdż
- Bernard Drzęźla
- Henryk Dzido
- Józef Dziemdziela
- Genowefa Maria Ferenc
- Witold Feliks Gładkowski
- Zbigniew Gołąbek
- Stanisław Huskowski (since April 2004)
- Sławomir Izdebski
- Andrzej Jaeschke
- Zdzisława Janowska
- Zdzisław Jarmużek
- Ryszard Jarzembowski
- Kazimierz Jaworski (since 29 September 2004)
- Krzysztof Jurgiel (since 22 October 2003)
- Dorota Maria Kempka
- Apolonia Klepacz
- Janusz Konieczny
- Aleksandra Koszada
- Marian Kozłowski
- Zbigniew Kruszewski
- Olga Teresa Krzyżanowska
- Zbigniew Jerzy Kulak
- Anna Maria Kurska
- Irena Kurzępa
- Kazimierz Kutz
- Grzegorz Lato
- Marian Piotr Lewicki
- Grzegorz Marek Lipowski
- Teresa Liszcz
- Bogusław Litwiniec
- Janusz Józef Lorenz
- Mirosław Lubiński (since 7 May 2003)
- Włodzimierz Łęcki
- Władysław Mańkut
- Jerzy Markowski
- Ryszard Matusiak (since 28 July 2004)
- Grzegorz Jan Matuszak
- Bogusław Mąsior
- Mieczysław Mietła
- Stanisław Nicieja
- Grzegorz Andrzej Niski
- Longin Hieronim Pastusiak
- Kazimierz Pawełek
- Wojciech Jerzy Pawłowski
- Jerzy Pieniążek
- Krzysztof Marek Piesiewicz
- Wiesław Michał Pietrzak
- Zbyszko Piwoński
- Sergiusz Plewa
- Bogdan Leszek Podgórski
- Lesław Paweł Podkański
- Jolanta Popiołek
- Zbigniew Religa
- Zbigniew Romaszewski
- Tadeusz Rzemykowski
- Wiesława Regina Sadowska
- Janina Sagatowska
- Wojciech Paweł Saługa (since 29 September 2004)
- Ewa Aleksandra Serocka
- Krystyna Helena Sienkiewicz
- Dorota Simonides
- Zofia Maria Skrzypek-Mrowiec (since29 September 2004)
- Ryszard Józef Sławiński
- Robert Maciej Smoktunowicz
- Jerzy Kazimierz Smorawiński
- Andrzej Kazimierz Spychalski
- Henryk Tadeusz Stokłosa
- Alicja Stradomska
- Jerzy Zdzisław Suchański
- Jan Szafraniec
- Józef Sztorc
- Krzysztof Szydłowski
- Maria Szyszkowska
- Andrzej Jan Wielowieyski
- Edmund Kazimierz Wittbrodt
- Tadeusz Wnuk
- Zbigniew Stanisław Zychowicz
- Marian Żenkiewicz
[edit] Former senators
- Jerzy Edmund Cieślak (died 25.04.2004 r.)
- Henryk Gołębiewski (till 31 January 2003)
- Genowefa Grabowska - elected MEP on 13.06.2004
- Adam Graczyński (died 26.08.2004)
- Adam Gierek - elected MEP on 13.06.2004
- Adam Jamróz (till 10 July 2003)
- Mieczysław Janowski - elected MEP on 13.06.2004 r.
- Jan Józef Lipski (died 10. 09. 1991)
- Marian Noga (till 14 January 2004 )
- Grażyna Ewa Staniszewska - elected MEP on 13.06.2004