ial review of legislative
acts although under the new constitution, the Constitutional Tribunal
ruling will become final as of October 1999; court decisions can be
appealed to the European Court of Justice in Strasbourg

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch: chief of state: President Aleksander KWASNIEWSKI
(since 23 December 1995) elections: president elected by popular vote
for a five-year term; election last held 8 October 2000 (next to be held
NA October 2005); prime minister and deputy prime ministers appointed
by the president and confirmed by the Sejm head of government: Prime
Minister Leszek MILLER (SLD) (since 19 October 2001), Deputy Prime
Ministers Marek POL (since 19 October 2001), Jaroslaw KALINOWSKI (since
19 October 2001), Grzegorz KOLODKO (since 8 July 2002) cabinet: Council
of Ministers responsible to the prime minister and the Sejm; the prime
minister proposes, the president appoints, and the Sejm approves the
Council of Ministers election results: Aleksander KWASNIEWSKI reelected
president; percent of popular vote - Aleksander KWASNIEWSKI 53.9%,
Andrzj OLECHOWSKI 17.3%, Marian KRZAKLEWSKI 15.6%, Lech WALESA 1%

Legislative branch: bicameral National Assembly or Zgromadzenie
Narodowe consists of the Sejm (460 seats; members are elected under a
complex system of proportional representation to serve four-year terms)
and the Senate or Senat (100 seats; members are elected by a majority
vote on a provincial basis to serve four-year terms) elections: Sejm
elections last held 23 September 2001 (next to be held by September 2005);
Senate - last held 23 September 2001 (next to be held by September 2005)
election results: Sejm - percent of vote by party - SLD-UP 41%, PO 12.7%,
Samoobrona 10.2%, PiS 9.5%, PSL 9%, LPR 7.9%, AWSP 5.6% UW 3.1%, other
1%; seats by party - SLD-UP 216, PO 65, Samoobrona 53, PiS 44, PSL 42,
LPR 38, German minorities 2; note - SLD-UP has split: SLD has 200 deputies
and UP has 16; Senate - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party -
SLD-UP 75, AWSP (an electoral alliance of some 36 parties) 15, PSL 4,
Samoobrona 2, LPR 2, independents 2 note: two seats are assigned to
ethnic minority parties

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: