Politics

The politics of Poland take place in the framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Poland is the head of government and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, the Sejm and the Senate. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.

The political system is defined in the Polish Constitution, which also guarantees a wide range of individual freedoms.

Executive Branch

Executive power is exercised by the government, which consists of a council of ministers led by the Prime Minister. Its members are typically chosen from a majority coalition in the lower house of parliament (the Sejm), although exceptions to this rule are not uncommon. The government is formally announced by the president, and must pass a motion of confidence in the Sejm within two weeks. The president, as the head of state, has the power to veto legislation passed by parliament, but otherwise has a mostly representative role.

The president is elected by popular vote for a five-year term, the prime minister and deputy prime ministers are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Sejm. The Council of Ministers is responsible to the prime minister and the Sejm; the prime minister proposes, the president appoints, and the Sejm approves the Council of Ministers.

Legislative Branch

Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, Sejm and Senate.

The lower chamber (Sejm) has 460 members, elected for a four year term by proportional representation in multi-seat constituencies using the d'Hondt method similar to that used in many parliamentary political systems, with a 5 % threshold (8% for coalitions, threshold waived for national minorities).

The Senate (Senat) has 100 members elected for a four year term in 40 multi-seat constituencies under a rare plurality bloc voting method where several candidates with the highest support are elected from each electorate.

When sitting in joint session, members of the Sejm and Senate form the National Assembly, (Polish Zgromadzenie Narodowe). The National Assembly is formed on three occasions: Taking the oath of office by a new president, bringing an indictment against the President of the Republic to the Tribunal of State, and declaration of a President's permanent incapacity to exercise their duties due to the state of their health. Only the first kind has occurred to date.

Since 1991, elections are supervised by the National Electoral Commission (Panstwowa Komisja Wyborcza), whose administrative division is called the National Electoral Office (Krajowe Biuro Wyborcze).

Judicial Branch

The judicial branch plays a minor role in politics, apart from the Constitutional Tribunal, which can annul laws that violate the freedoms guaranteed in the constitution.

Its major institutions include:

• the Supreme Court (Sad Najwyzszy)
• the Supreme Administrative Court (Naczelny Sad Administracyjny) (judges appointed by the president of the republic on the recommendation of the National Council of the Judiciary for an indefinite period)
• the Constitutional Tribunal (Trybunal Konstytucyjny) (judges chosen by the Sejm for nine-year terms)
• the Tribunal of State (Trybunal Stanu) (judges chosen by the Sejm for the current term of office of the Sejm, except for the position of chairperson which is held by the First President of the Supreme Court)

The Sejm (on approval of the Polish Senate) appoints the Ombudsman (Rzecznik Praw Obywatelskich, translates as Civil Rights Spokesman) for a five-year term. The Ombudsman's duty is guarding the observance and implementation of human and citizens' rights and liberties, as well as of the law, principles of community life and social justice.

Poland has a mixture of Continental (Napoleonic) civil law and holdover communist legal theory, although the latter is being gradually removed as part of a broader and ongoing reform process. The Constitutional Tribunal supervises the compliance of statutory law with the Constitution, and annuls laws which do not comply. Its rulings are final (since October 1999); court decisions can be appealed to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

National Security

Poland's top national security goal is to further integrate with NATO and other west European defence, economic, and political institutions via a modernisation and reorganization of its military. Polish military doctrine reflects the same defence nature as its NATO partners.

Poland maintains a sizable armed force recently counted at 175,343 troops divided among an army of 96,733, an air and defence force of 39,649, and a navy of 15,980. Poland relies on military conscription for the majority of its personnel strength. All males (with some exceptions) are subject to a 9-month term of military service.

The Polish military continues to restructure and to modernise its equipment. The Polish Defence Ministry General Staff and the Land Forces staff have recently reorganised the latter into a NATO-compatible J/G-1 through J/G-6 structure. Budget constraints hamper such priority defence acquisitions as a multi-role fighter, improved communications systems, and an attack helicopter.

Poland continues to be a regional leader in support and participation in the NATO Partnership for Peace Program and has actively engaged most of its neighbours and other regional actors to build stable foundations for future European security arrangements. Poland continues its long record of strong support for UN Peacekeeping Operations by maintaining a unit in Southern Lebanon, a battalion in NATO's Kosovo Force (KFOR), and by providing and actually deploying the KFOR strategic reserve to Kosovo. Poland is a strong ally of the US in Europe and leads the Multinational Division Central South in Iraq.