terms), and a lower house, the
Sejm (460 seats; members are elected under a complex system of
proportional representation to serve four-year terms); the
designation of National Assembly or Zgromadzenie Narodowe is only
used on those rare occasions when the two houses meet jointly
elections: Senate - last held 21 October 2007 (next to be held by
October 2011); Sejm elections last held 21 October 2007 (next to be
held by October 2011)
election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by
party - PO 60, PiS 39, independents 1; Sejm - percent of vote by
party - PO 41.5%, PiS 32.1%, LiD 13.2%, PSL 8.9%, other 4.3%; seats
by party - PO 209, PiS 166, LiD 53, PSL 31, German minorities 1;
note - seats by party as of February 2008 - PO 209, PiS 159, LiD 53,
PSL 31, German minorities 1, nonaffiliated 7
note: one seat is assigned to ethnic minority parties in the Sejm
only

Judicial branch:

Supreme Court (judges are appointed by the president on the
recommendation of the National Council of the Judiciary for an
indefinite period); Constitutional Tribunal (judges are chosen by
the Sejm for nine-year terms)

Political parties and leaders:

Civic Platform or PO [Donald TUSK]; Democratic Left Alliance or SLD
[Grzegorz NAPIERALSKI]; Democratic Party or PD [Janusz
ONYSZKIEWICZ]; German Minority of Lower Silesia or MNSO [Henryk
KROLL]; Law and Justice or PiS [Jaroslaw KACZYNSKI]; League of
Polish Families or LPR [Sylwester CHRUSZCZ]; Left and Democrats or
LiD [Wojciech OLEJNICZAK] (a coalition formed by the SLD, PD, SDPL,
and UP); Polish People's Party or PSL [Waldemar PAWLAK]; Samoobrona
or SO [Andrzej LEPPER]; Social Democratic Party of Poland or SDPL
[Bartosz DOMINIK, acting]; Union of Labor or UP [Andrzej SPYCHALSKI]

Political pressure groups and leaders:

All Poland Trade Union Alliance or OPZZ (trade union) [Jan GUZ];
Roman Catholic Church [Cardinal Stanislaw DZIWISZ, Archbishop Jozef
MICHALIK]; Solidarity Trade Union [Janusz SNIADEK]

International organization participation:

Arctic Council (observer), Australia Group, BIS, BSEC (observer),
CBSS, CE, CEI, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, EIB, ESA (cooperating state), EU,
FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFC, IFRCS, IHO,
ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC,
MIGA, MINURCAT, MINURSO, MONUC, NAM (guest), NATO, NSG, OAS
(observer), OECD, OIF (observer), OPCW, OSCE, PCA, Schengen
Convention, SECI (observer), UN, UNCTAD