rime minister and
the Sejm; the prime minister proposes, the president appoints, and
the Sejm approves the Council of Ministers
elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term;
election first round held 5 November 1995, second round held 19
November 1995 (next to be held NA November 2000); prime minister and
deputy prime ministers appointed by the president and confirmed by
the Sejm
election results: Aleksander KWASNIEWSKI elected president in 1995;
percent of popular vote, second round--Aleksander KWASNIEWSKI 51.7%,
Lech WALESA 48.3%; Jerzy BUZEK selected prime minister in 1997

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 21 September 1997 (next to be
held by NA September 2001); Senate--last held 21 September 1997 (next
to be held by NA September 2001)
election results: Sejm--percent of vote by party--AWS 33.8%, SLD
27.1%, UW 13.4%, PSL 7.3%, ROP 5.6%, MN 0.4%, other 12.4%; seats by
party--AWS 201, SLD 164, UW 60, PSL 27, ROP 6, MN 2; Senate--percent
of vote by party--NA; seats by party--AWS 51, SLD 28, UW 8, ROP 5, PSL
3, independents 5; note--seats by party in the Sejm as of December
1997: AWS 200, SLD 164, UW 60, PSL 26, ROP 4, MN 2, other 4
note: four seats are constitutionally assigned to ethnic German
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:
post-Communist: Democratic Left Alliance or SLD (Social Democracy of
KALINOWSKI]
post-Solidarity parties: Freedom Union or UW; note--Democratic Union
non-Communist, non-Solidarity: Movement for the Reconstruction of

Political pressure groups and leaders: powerful Roman Catholic
Church; Solidarity (trade union); All Poland Trade Union Alliance or
OPZZ (trade union)

International organization participation: Australia Group, BIS,
BSEC (observer), CBSS, CCC, CE, CEI, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, EU
(applicant), FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, I