w and
holdover communist legal theory; changes being gradually introduced as
part of broader democratization process; limited judicial 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)
head of government: Prime Minister Jerzy BUZEK (since 31 October
1997), Deputy Prime Ministers Leszek BALCEROWICZ (since 31 October
1997), Longin KOMOLOWSKI (since 19 October 1999)
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
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; percent of
popular vote, second round - Aleksander KWASNIEWSKI 51.7%, Lech WALESA
48.3%

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 - RS-AWS 33.8%, SLD
27.1%, UW 13.4%, PSL 7.3%, ROP 5.6%, MNSO 0.4%, other 12.4%; seats by
party - AWS 201, SLD 164, UW 60, PSL 27, ROP 6, MNSO 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
January 2000: AWS 186, SLD 159, UW 60, PSL 26, PP 7, ROP 4, MNSO 2,
KPN-O 5, PPS-RLP 3, other 8
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