The president of Poland (Polish: Prezydent RP), officially the president of the Republic of Poland (Polish: Prezydent Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej), is the head of state of the Republic of Poland. Their rights and obligations are determined in the Constitution of Poland. The president heads the executive branch. In addition, the president has the right to dissolve parliament in certain cases, can vetolegislation, represents Poland in the international arena, and is the commander-in-chief.
Following the 1989 amendments to the constitution which restored the presidency,[7] general Wojciech Jaruzelski, the existing head of state, took office. In Poland's first directpresidential election, Lech Wałęsa won and was sworn in on 22 December 1990. The office of the president was preserved in the Constitution of Poland passed in 1997; the constitution now provides the requirements for, the duties of and the authority of the office.
The topic of creation the presidency role as a single-person position was meant to safeguard slow, gentle political change to keep the interests of the ruling party. By March 1989, a compromise regarding the creation of the institution of the presidency was reached between the government and the opposition. In return for a constitutionally defined presidency with various competences, the ruling party agreed to relinquish its position as managing organ within the state. The presidency would be created along with the restoration of a freely elected upper house, the Senate. The president would be elected by a joint session of the lower house (Sejm) and the Senate. By this way, representatives of the opposition, sitting in the Senate, would be involved in the political process of electing the president.[8]
The Small constitution of October 17, 1992 created a parliamentarisation of the political system and while the presidency remained in the active model, it was deprived of far-reaching governing powers.
In recent years, newly elected presidents have renounced formal ties with their political party before taking office.
Election
The president of Poland is elected directly by the people to serve for five years and can be reelected only once. Pursuant to the provisions of the Constitution, the president is elected by an absolute majority. If no candidate succeeds in passing this threshold, a second round of voting is held with the participation of the two candidates with the largest and second largest number of votes respectively.
In order to be registered as a candidate in the presidential election, one must be a Polish citizen, be at least 35 years old on the day of the first round of the election, and collect at least 100,000 signatures of registered voters.
Article 126 paragraph 1 states that the president is the supreme representative of the state, rather than the people, a privilege reserved for the deputies of the Sejm and senators of the Senate. The constitution confirms the president the role of securing the continuity of state authority. The position of the presidency has an arbiter function (while not directly mentioned, unlike France or Romania), with the president playing a major role in the political system, assisted by set of legal instruments with which they can exert influence on the organs of state authority and the political system.[9]
The president has a free choice in selecting the prime minister, yet in practice they usually give the task of forming a new government to a politician supported by the political party with the majority of seats in the Sejm (usually, though not always, it is the leader of that political party).
The president has the right to initiate the legislative process. They also have the opportunity to directly influence it by using their veto to stop a bill; however, a veto can be overruled by a three-fifths majority vote in the presence of at least half of the statutory number of members of the Sejm (230). Before signing a bill into law, the president can also ask the Constitutional Tribunal to verify its compliance with the Constitution, which in practice bears a decisive influence on the legislative process.
In their role as supreme representative of the Polish state, the president has the power to ratify and revoke international agreements, nominates and recalls ambassadors, and formally accepts the accreditations of representatives of other states. The president also makes decisions on award of highest academic titles, as well as state distinctions and orders. In addition, they have the right of clemency, viz. they can dismiss final court verdicts (in practice, the president consults such decisions with the minister of justice).
The president is also the supreme commander of the armed forces; they appoint the chief of the general staff and the commanders of all of the service branches; in wartime they nominate the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and can order a general mobilisation. The president performs their duties with the help of the following offices: the Chancellery of the President, the Office of National Security, and the Body of Advisors to the President.
Presidential residencies and properties
The Belweder Palace, often known simply as 'Belvedere', is the traditional (now secondary) official residence of the president.
Several properties are owned by the Office of the President and are used by the head of state as their official residence, private residence, residence for visiting foreign officials etc.
The Presidential Palace in Warsaw is the largest palace in Warsaw and the official seat of the president of the Republic of Poland since 1993. The first presidential tenant was Lech Wałęsa when he moved to the Palace from Belweder in 1994.
Belweder, in Warsaw, was the official seat of the president until 1993. It is currently owned by the Office of the President as the official residence of the President and is used by the president and the government for ceremonial purposes. The palace also serves as an official residence for heads of state on official visits to Poland and other important guests.
The Presidential Castle in Wisła in a château built for the Habsburgs as their hunting cottage. It was rebuilt 1929–1931 and used as recreational residence by Ignacy Mościcki, President 1916—1939. Since 2002 it is again a property of the president, restored and opened in 2005 by President Kwaśniewski. It is today a recreational and conference centre for the president and a hotel.
Residence of the President of the Republic of Poland in Lucień
Manor House of the President of the Republic of Poland in Ciechocinek
Presidential Residence "Jurata-Hel" in Hel, the president's Baltic coastal retreat
The constitution states that the president is an elected office, there is no directly elected presidential line of succession. If the president is unable to execute their powers and duties, the marshal of the Sejm will have the powers of a president for a maximum of 60 days until elections are called.
On 10 April 2010, a plane carrying Polish president Lech Kaczyński, his wife, and 94 others including many Polish officials crashed near Smolensk North Airport in Russia; there were no survivors.[10]Bronisław Komorowski took over acting presidential powers following the incident. On 8 July, Komorowski resigned from the office of Marshal of the Sejm after winning the presidential election. According to the constitution, the acting president then became the marshal of the Senate, Bogdan Borusewicz. In the afternoon Grzegorz Schetyna was elected as a new marshal of the Sejm and he became acting president. Schetyna served as the interim head of state until the swearing-in of Komorowski on 6 August.
Within Poland, former presidents are entitled to lifetime personal security protection by State Protection Service officers, in addition to receiving a substantial pension and a private office. On 10 April 2010, Lech Kaczyński, president at the time, along with Ryszard Kaczorowski, the last president-in-exile although not internationally recognised, died in the crash of a Polish Air Force Tu-154 en route to Russia.[11]
The president of the Council of Ministers, colloquially and commonly referred to as the prime minister, is the head of the cabinet and the head of government of Poland. The responsibilities and traditions of the office stem from the creation of the contemporary Polish state, and the office is defined in the Constitution of Poland. According to the Constitution, the president nominates and appoints the prime minister, who will then propose the composition of the Cabinet. Fourteen days following their appointment, the prime minister must submit a programme outlining the government's agenda to the Sejm, requiring a vote of confidence. Conflicts stemming from both interest and powers have arisen between the offices of President and Prime Minister in the past.
Stanisław Wojciechowski was a Polish politician and scholar who served as President of Poland between 1922 and 1926, during the Second Polish Republic.
From 1989 through 1991, Poland engaged in a democratic transition which put an end to the Polish People's Republic and led to the foundation of a democratic government, known as the Third Polish Republic, following the First and Second Polish Republic. After ten years of democratic consolidation, Poland joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union on 1 May 2004.
The Polish government-in-exile, officially known as the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile, was the government in exile of Poland formed in the aftermath of the Invasion of Poland of September 1939, and the subsequent occupation of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and the Slovak Republic, which brought to an end the Second Polish Republic.
Lech Aleksander Kaczyński was a Polish politician who served as the city mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 2005, and as President of Poland from 2005 until his death in 2010. Before his tenure as president, he previously served as President of the Supreme Audit Office from 1992 to 1995 and later Minister of Justice and Public Prosecutor General in Jerzy Buzek's cabinet from 2000 until his dismissal in July 2001.
Ignacy Mościcki was a Polish chemist and politician who was the country's president from 1926 to 1939. He was the longest serving president in Polish history. Mościcki was the President of Poland when Germany invaded the country on 1 September 1939 and started World War II.
Poland has a multi-party political system. On the national level, Poland elects the head of state – the president – and a legislature. There are also various local elections, referendums and elections to the European Parliament.
The May Coup was a coup d'état carried out in Poland by Marshal Józef Piłsudski from 12 to 14 May 1926. The attack of Piłsudski's supporters on government forces resulted in an overthrow of the democratically-elected government of President Stanisław Wojciechowski and Prime Minister Wincenty Witos and caused hundreds of fatalities. A new government was installed, headed by Kazimierz Bartel. Ignacy Mościcki became president. Piłsudski remained the dominant politician in Poland until his death in 1935.
Bronisław Maria Komorowski is a Polish politician and historian who served as President of Poland from 2010 to 2015.
Bogdan Michał Borusewicz is a Polish politician who served as the Marshal of the Polish Senate from 20 October 2005 to 11 November 2015. Borusewicz was a democratic opposition activist under the Communist regime, a member of the Polish parliament (Sejm) for three terms and first Senate Marshal to serve two terms in this office. He served as the Acting President of Poland for a few hours in 2010.
The Chief of State was the title of the head of state of Poland in the early years of the Second Polish Republic. This office was held only by Józef Piłsudski, from 1918 to 1922. Until 1919, the title was called the Provisional Chief of State. After 1922, the Polish head of state became the President of Poland.
Throughout most of the history of Poland, the banner of Poland was one of the main symbols of the Polish State, normally reserved for use by the head of state. Although its design changed with time, it was generally a heraldic banner, i.e., one based directly on the national coat of arms: a crowned White Eagle on a red field. The banner should not be confused with the flag of Poland, a white and red horizontal bicolor, officially adopted in 1919.
The acting president of the Republic of Poland is a temporary post provided for by the Polish Constitution.
Presidential elections were held in Poland on 20 June 2010. As no candidate received a majority of votes in the first round, a second round was held on 4 July 2010. Bronisław Komorowski, the acting President of Poland and vice-chairman of the Civic Platform, defeated Jarosław Kaczyński, twin brother of recently deceased President Lech Kaczyński and chairman of Law and Justice (PiS). The global financial crisis, flooding in Poland and the Smolensk disaster were the main themes in the last months of the election campaign.
The pennant of the president of the Republic of Poland, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland is a presidential standard (flag) used in the Polish Armed Forces to mark the presence and pay respect to the president of the Republic of Poland who is also ex officio the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. The pennant is raised on Polish Navy ships when the president is officially on board, as well as on land, if the president is present. The design of the pennant is based directly on the pre-war Banner of the Republic of Poland which used to be part of presidential insignia.
Two presidential elections were held in Poland in 1926. They followed the May Coup, which forced President Stanisław Wojciechowski and Prime Minister Wincenty Witos to resign and gave effective power to coup leader, Marshal Józef Piłsudski.
Two indirect presidential elections were held in Poland in December 1922. In the first election on 9 December Gabriel Narutowicz was elected president, but he was assassinated five days later. A second election on 22 December was won by Stanisław Wojciechowski.
↑ Garliński, Józef (1985). Poland in the Second World War. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, England: Macmillan. p.48. ISBN978-0-333-39258-4.
↑ Jędrzejewicz, Wacław, ed. (1946). Poland in the British Parliament 1939–1945 Volume I: British guarantees to Poland to the Atlantic Charter (March 1939 – August 1941). New York: Jósef Piłsudski Institute of America for Research in the Modern History of Poland. p.318. OCLC312889779.
↑ Simons, William B. (1980). "Constitution of the Polish People's Republic". In Simons, William B. (ed.). The Constitutions of the Communist World. Alphen ann den Rijn, the Netherlands: Sijthoff & Noordhoff. pp.288–310. ISBN978-90-286-0070-6.
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