Electoral Issues as the Subject of Petitions Submitted to the Sejm of the Republic of Poland of the Eight Term

• Main Authors: Anna Rytel-Warzocha, Andrzej Szmyt
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek 2018-09-01
• Series: Polish Political Science Yearbook
• Subjects: COMMITTEE ON PETITIONS; MANDATORY VOTING; PETITION; ELECTORAL LAW
• Online Access: https://czasopisma.marszalek.com.pl/images/pliki/ppsy/47-3/ppsy2018302.pdf

Art. 63 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 2 April 1997 provides everyone with the right to submit petitions to state authorities. The procedure for considering petitions is specified by the Act on Petitions of 11 July 2014. According to the law, petitions can, in particular, take the form of a request to amend the law. The aim of the article is to focus on petitions concerning the amendment of electoral law against the background general information on the legal regulations in this regard. In the 8th term of office of the Sejm, which began on 12 November 2015, there were five petitions submitted to the parliament which concerned electoral issues. The petitioners proposed amendments in regard to the manner of electing senators to the Senate of the Republic of Poland and councilors in the communities of up to 100,000 residents, strengthening mechanisms that would counteract “electoral frauds”, electoral thresholds in the elections to the Sejm and mandatory voting.