Polska świętuje / Poland celebrates 1989 elections

Chyba każda osoba w Polsce wie o co chodzi, wolne wybory 20 lat temu zmieniły nasz kraj, ale zmieniły też nasz świat. Byłam wtedy małą dziewczynką i niewiele pamiętam, dlatego warto dziś albo sobie przypomnieć albo poznać tę niedawną przecież historię :)/


Celebrations are being held all over Poland today to mark 20 years since the elections in Poland that swept the communists from power.

Today is the 20th anniversary of the first partly free parliamentary elections in Poland since World War 2.



Only one third of the seats in the lower house, the Sejm – but all the seats in the upper house, the Senate – were openly contested. Part of the Round Table agreements which ended the previous April had designated two thirds of the seats in the lower house to communists (PZPR) and their allies.



The election on June 4 was actually the first round of what became a two round system. The turnout that day saw 65 percent of the 27 million eligible voters cast votes. The Solidarity Civic Committee won around 60 percent of the votes cast, far more than was expected. In the second round on June 18 - which were contested mainly by party and party-allied candidates just 25 percent casted votes, adding to the sense of humiliation that the communists were feeling that summer.



Out of the freely contested seats in the Senate, Solidarity won a landslide, picking up 99 out of the 100 seats contested. Five hundred and fifty eight candidates stood for election in the Senate and around 1,800 candidates stood for seats in the Sejm.



The elections brought forth the so-called contract Parliament, which elected General Wojciech Jaruzelski as president with Tadeusz Mazowiecki later becoming prime minister and set the task of forming a government.



At the end of the year the constitution was amended, eliminating the phrase about the communist party having a leading role in social and political life. Communism in Poland was finally over.



The following year, Parliament voted to shorten the term of President Jaruzelski, replacing him with Lech Wałęsa. In March 1991 the contract Parliament decided to dissolve, opening the way for the first fully free and democratic elections in Poland. (ek/pg)


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