Polish legislative election, 1922
Encyclopedia
The Polish legislative election, 1922 lasted from 2 to 12 November and was the second election in the Second Polish Republic
. The elections were won by Polish Right party, National Populist Association (Związek Ludowo-Narodowy), however it did not obtain a majority - it got only 98 out of 444 seats (22% of total). One of the dominant forces over the next few years would be the Chjeno-Piast
coalition. The resulting coalitions were unstable, and the situation - difficult from the start, with assassination
of Polish president Gabriel Narutowicz
in December shortly after the elections - culminated in 1926 with the May Coup.
The elections were governed by the March Constitution of Poland
.
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
. The elections were won by Polish Right party, National Populist Association (Związek Ludowo-Narodowy), however it did not obtain a majority - it got only 98 out of 444 seats (22% of total). One of the dominant forces over the next few years would be the Chjeno-Piast
Chjeno-Piast
Chjeno-Piast was an unofficial name of a coalition of Polish political parties formed in 1923. It included the Polish Peasant Party "Piast" and an older coalition 1922 Christian Association of National Unity . The merger was passed during a meeting in the manor of senator L...
coalition. The resulting coalitions were unstable, and the situation - difficult from the start, with assassination
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
of Polish president Gabriel Narutowicz
Gabriel Narutowicz
Gabriel Narutowicz was a Lithuanian-born professor of hydroelectric engineering at Switzerland's Zurich Polytechnic, and Poland's Minister of Public Works , Minister of Foreign Affairs , and the first president of the Second Polish Republic....
in December shortly after the elections - culminated in 1926 with the May Coup.
The elections were governed by the March Constitution of Poland
March Constitution of Poland
The Second Polish Republic adopted the March Constitution on 17 March 1921, after ousting the occupation of the German/Prussian forces in the 1918 Greater Poland Uprising, and avoiding conquest by the Soviets in the 1920 Polish-Soviet War. The Constitution, based on the French one, was regarded as...
.
Results
| Party | Sejm seats | Senate seats | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Związek Ludowo-Narodowy | 98 | 29 | |
| Bloc of National Minorities Bloc of National Minorities Blok Mniejszości Narodowych , was a political party in the Second Polish Republic, representing a coalition of various ethnic minorities in Poland, primarily Ukrainians, Belarusians, Jews and Germans. The Bloc was co-founded by Yitzhak Gruenbaum, a Polish-Jewish politician... |
87 | 25 | |
| Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe Piast | 70 | 17 | |
| Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe Wyzwolenie | 48 | 8 | |
| Chrześcijańska Demokracja | 43 | 7 | |
| Polska Partia Socjalistyczna | 41 | 7 | |
| Stronnictwo Chrześcijańsko-Narodowe | 28 | 11 | |
| Narodowa Partia Robotnicza | 18 | 3 | |
| Chłopskie Stronnictwo Radykalne | 4 | 0 | |
| Others | 5 | 4 | |
| Total | 444 | 111 | |
Further reading
- A. J. Groth, Polish Elections 1919-1928, Slavic Review, Vol. 24, No. 4 (Dec., 1965), pp. 653-665 JSTOR