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1989 Polish presidential election

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1989 Polish presidential election

← 1947 19 July 1989 1990 →

269 votes needed to win
  Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski 13 grudnia 1981.JPG
Nominee Wojciech Jaruzelski
Party PZPR
Alliance PRON
Electoral vote 270
Percentage 53.68%
Nominators PZPR, ZSL, SD, PAX, UChS [pl], PZKS [pl]


President before election

Wojciech Jaruzelski as Chairman of the Council of State
PZPR

Elected President

Wojciech Jaruzelski
PZPR

Indirect presidential elections were held in Poland on 19 July 1989. The elections were the first after the office of President of the Republic of Poland had been re-established after a period of Communist rule and were the last in which the President was elected by Parliament (joint houses of the Sejm and Senate). Despite adoption of the democratic system there was only one candidate.

After the Round Table Agreement, which resulted in a semi-free parliamentary election, marked by effective Solidarity victory and de facto loss of the Polish United Workers' Party, on July 4, 1989, Adam Michnik proposed a power-sharing deal between communist and the democratic opposition (Your President, our Prime Minister), according to which Chairman of the Council of State and Communist leader Wojciech Jaruzelski would become president and a solidarity representative Prime Minister (this position indeed went to Tadeusz Mazowiecki in August, albeit after an attempt by Jaruzelski to impose fellow PZPR member Czesław Kiszczak as Prime Minister). After much debate within both camps this conception won.

Jaruzelski ran unopposed, but won by just a one-vote majority needed, as many Solidarity MPs, while supporting the agreement, felt just unable to cast their votes or, to not disturb the process, cast abstain or invalid votes.

Electoral system

The President was elected by the National Assembly, a joint sitting of the Sejm and the Senate, by open ballot. The members of the Assembly were elected in the 1989 Polish parliamentary election; although 460 deputies and 100 senators (making 560 electors) had been elected, senator Grzegorz Białkowski [pl; de] died before the presidential election and his replacement was yet to be chosen.

The composition of the National Assembly was as follows:

Party Sejm Senate Totals
Solidarity Citizens' Committee 161 98 259
Polish United Workers' Party 173 173
United People's Party 76 76
Alliance of Democrats 27 27
PAX Association 10 10
Christian-Social Union 8 8
Polish Catholic-Social Association 5 5
PRON-aligned nonpartisan 1 1
Vacant seat 1 1
Total 460 100 (99) 560 (559)

Results

CandidatePartyVotes%
Wojciech JaruzelskiPolish United Workers' Party27050.28
Against23343.39
Abstention346.33
Total537100.00
Valid votes53798.71
Invalid/blank votes71.29
Total votes544100.00
Registered voters/turnout55997.32
Source: New York Times, Sejm Stenogram

By party

Candidate Total votes Votes by party
PZPR KO "S" ZSL SD PAX UChS PZKS PRON
Wojciech Jaruzelski 270 171 1 54 20 10 8 5 1
Against 233 1 222 6 4
Abstention 34 18 13 3
Invalid votes 7 7
Not present 15 1 11 3
Total Yes/No 503 172 233 60 24 10 8 5 1
Total valid 537 172 241 73 27 10 8 5 1
Total votes 544 172 248 73 27 10 8 5 1
Source: Sejm Stenogram

Notes

  1. Stanisław Bernatowicz [pl]
  2. Marian Czerwiński [pl]
  3. Czesław Janicki, Teresa Liszcz [pl], Jacek Soska [pl], Stanisław Wiąckowski [pl], Józef Wlekliński [pl], and Władysław Żabiński [pl]
  4. Tadeusz Bień [pl], Krzysztof Czereyski [pl], Kazimierz Czerwiński [pl], and Kazimierz Ujazdowski [pl]
  5. Andrzej Arendarski [pl], Włodzimierz Bojarski [pl], Ryszard Bugaj, Andrzej Celiński, Zbigniew Drela [pl], Władysław Findeisen, Mieczysław Gil, Henryk Grządzielski [pl], Jan Król, Andrzej Machalski [pl], Adam Mitura [pl], Walerian Pańko, Bohdan Pilarski [pl], Walerian Piotrowski [pl], Andrzej Rozmarynowicz [pl], Andrzej Sikora [pl], Wiesław Zajączkowski [pl], and Andrzej Zawiślak [pl]
  6. Edward Baścik [pl], Andrzej Borowski [pl], Janusz Dobrosz, Zdzisław Domański [pl], Michał Górski, Stanisław Jasiński, Franciszek Kieć [pl], Janusz Maćkowiak [pl], Zbigniew Mierzwa [pl], Wojciech Mojzesowicz, Grażyna Sołtyk [pl], Jan Warjan [pl], and Józef Zych
  7. Tadeusz Dziuba [pl], Bohdan Osiński [pl] and Jan Świtka [pl]
  8. Witysław Dys-Kulerski [pl], Andrzej Miłkowski [pl], Aleksander Paszyński [pl], Andrzej Stelmachowski, Stanisław Stomma, Witold Trzeciakowski [pl], and Andrzej Wielowieyski [pl]
  9. Jerzy Rozwandowicz [pl]
  10. Paweł Chrupek [pl], Adela Dankowska, Marek Jurek, Lech Kozaczko [pl], Zdzisław Nowicki [pl], Krzysztof Pawłowski [pl], Andrzej Piesiak [pl], Maria Stępniak [pl], Andrzej Szczepkowski, Mieczysław Ustasiak [pl], and Henryk Wujec
  11. Alicja Kornasiewicz, Józef Łochowski [pl], and Teresa Malczewska [pl]
Poland Polish presidential elections
Indirect elections
Direct elections
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