Legislative Sejm (Second Polish Republic)

The Legislative Sejm or Constituent Sejm (Polish: Sejm Ustawodawczy) was the first national parliament (Sejm), and simultaneously Constituent Assembly of the newly independent Poland, sitting from 1919 to 1922. It was elected in the 1919 Polish legislative election.

Background

The Legislative Sejm was formed in the aftermath of World War I on the territories of the newly independent Second Polish Republic.^[1] In late 1918 Polish state was governed by Józef Piłsudski, who quickly begun the work to organize election to the first Polish national parliament (Sejm) since the Grodno Sejm of 1793, held two years before partitions of Poland ended the independent existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.^[1]

History

The elections to the Sejm took place on January 26, 1919.^[1] At that time, Poland did not have fixed boundaries, and was involved in territorial conflicts and disputes.^[1] On the territories under the nascent Polish state's control, in the lands of former Congress Kingdom and Podlasie region, and western Lesser Poland, 42 electoral districts returned 302 deputies.^[2] In addition, 20 Polish deputies to the German Parliament, 26 Polish deputies to the Austro-Hungarian Parliament, and selected candidates from the Cieszyn region (where elections were disrupted due to hostilities) were added to the Sejm.^[3] In the coming months, as the Polish control grew over some disputed territories, more elections were held: on April 25, 1919, in Greater Poland and on June 15, 1919 in the Białystok and Podlasie regions.^[3] Some deputies who were provisional representatives yielded their seats to the newly elected ones.^[3] On March 24, 1922, the Sejm was joined by 20 deputies from the Republic of Central Lithuania (the dissolved Sejm of Central Lithuania).^[3] The Sejm thus had a changing number of deputies, starting at 348 and ending its term with 432 members.^[3] About 5 million votes were cast in the election.^[4]

Important legislation passed by the Sejm included laws on the military draft, land reform, and the development of a constitution, and the state-sponsored health insurance system.^[5][6] In 1921 the Sejm passed the March Constitution.^[6]

Composition

Due to the changing number of deputies, and the ongoing fragmentation and merger of various parties, there is a number of different composition listings for the Legislative Sejm.^[a]

The composition of the Legislative Sejm was as follows:^[4][7]

Party or group (Polish name)	Party or group (Jędruch)	Party or group (Nohlen and Stöver)	Votes (Nohlen and Stöver)	% (Nohlen and Stöver)	Seats (Nohlen and Stöver)	Seats (Jędruch)
Związek Ludowo-Narodowy	not listed	Popular National Union	1,616,157	29.0	140	?
?	National Democrats	not listed				72
Polska Partia Socjalistyczna	Socialist	Polish Socialist Party	515,062	9.2	35	34
Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe "Wyzwolenie"	Peasant Wyzwolenie	Polish People's Party "Wyzwolenie"	839,914	15.1	59	24
Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe "Piast"	Peasant Piast	Polish People's Party "Piast"	232,983	4.2	46	listed with no number
Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe Lewica	not listed	Polish People's Party "Left"	197,838	3.5	12
?	not listed	Polish United Peasants' Party	212,097	3.8	35
?	not listed	Peasants' Lists	234,399	4.2	0
?	Peasants' Total	not listed				90
?	Conservative	not listed				44
Stronnictwo Katolicko-Ludowe	not listed	Catholic People's Party	102,292	1.8	18
?	Christian Democrats	not listed				31
?	National Labor	not listed				25
?	Middle Class	not listed				63
?	Communist	not listed				2
?	Minority (German)	National Minorities	96,677	1.7	2	2
?	Minority (Jewish)	Jewish Group	602,927	10.8	11	16
Narodowa Partia Pracy	not listed	National Workers' Union	67,285	1.2	32
Bezpartyjni; bez przynależności klubowej	Small parties, independents	Local lists and independents	863,349	15.5	4	29
Total			5,580,980	100	394	432

Marshal of the Sejm was Wojciech Trąmpczyński.^[3]

In July 1922

Party	Seats	%
Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe "Piast" Polish Folk	96	22,3
Związek Ludowo-Narodowy	81	18,8
Narodowe Zjednoczenie Ludowe	45	3,9
Polska Partia Socjalistyczna	34	10,4
Narodowo-Chrześcijańskie Stronnictwo Ludowe	26	6,0
Narodowo-Chrześcijański Klub Robotniczy	26	6,0
Klub: Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe "Wyzwolenie"	24	5,6
Narodowa Partia Robotnicza	21	4,9
Klub Pracy Konstytucyjnej	16	3,7
Klub: Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe—Lewica	11	2,5
Zjednoczenie Mieszczańskie	11	2,5
Stronnictwo Katolicko-Ludowe	7	1,6
Narodowa Partia Pracy (II RP)	6	1,4
Rady Ludowe	5	1,1
Komunistyczna Frakcja Poselska	2	0,5
Wolne Zjednoczenie Posłów Narodowości Żydowskiej (Jews)	10	2,9
Niemieckie Stronnictwo Ludowe (Germans)	7	1,6
Independent	4	0,9
Totals	432	100

Notes

a. ^{^} Neither Nohlen and Stöver nor Jędruch did retain original for Polish parties and groups; they used their own translations. As such, identification with a particular entity was not always possible.

References

1. Jacek Jędruch (1998). Constitutions, elections, and legislatures of Poland, 1493–1977: a guide to their history. EJJ Books. p. 269. ISBN 978-0-7818-0637-4. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
2. Jacek Jędruch (1998). Constitutions, elections, and legislatures of Poland, 1493–1977: a guide to their history. EJJ Books. p. 270. ISBN 978-0-7818-0637-4. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
3. Jacek Jędruch (1998). Constitutions, elections, and legislatures of Poland, 1493–1977: a guide to their history. EJJ Books. p. 271. ISBN 978-0-7818-0637-4. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
4. Jacek Jędruch (1998). Constitutions, elections, and legislatures of Poland, 1493–1977: a guide to their history. EJJ Books. p. 289. ISBN 978-0-7818-0637-4. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
5. Jacek Jędruch (1998). Constitutions, elections, and legislatures of Poland, 1493–1977: a guide to their history. EJJ Books. p. 273. ISBN 978-0-7818-0637-4. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
6. Jacek Jędruch (1998). Constitutions, elections, and legislatures of Poland, 1493–1977: a guide to their history. EJJ Books. p. 272. ISBN 978-0-7818-0637-4. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
7. Dieter Nohlen; Philip Stöver (31 May 2010). Elections in Europe: A Data Handbook. Nomos. p. 1491. ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7. Retrieved 6 November 2012.

See also

• Small Constitution (1919)