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Contract Sejm (Polish: Sejm kontraktowy) is a term commonly applied to the Sejm ("parliament") elected in the Polish parliamentary elections of 1989. The contract refers to an agreement reached by the Polish United Workers' Party and the Solidarność ("solidarity") movement during the Polish Round Table Agreement. The final agreement was signed on April 5, 1989. As a result, real political power was vested in a newly created bicameral legislature and in a president who would be the chief executive. Solidarność became a legitimate and legal political party.
Perhaps the most important decision reached during the talks was to allow for partially free elections to be held in Poland. All seats to the newly created Senate of Poland were to be elected democratically, as were 161 seats (35 percent of the total) in Sejm. The remaining 65% of the seats were reserved for the Communist Party and its satellite parties. In addition, all 35 seats elected via the national electoral list were reserved for the Party's candidates provided they gained a certain quota of support. This was to ensure that the most notable leaders of the Party were elected.
The outcome of the election was largely unpredictable. After all, Poland had not had a free and fair election since 1928, so there was little precedent to go by. It was clear that the Communists were unpopular, but there were no hard numbers as to how low support for them would actually fall. The Communist government still had control over most major media outlets and employed sports and television celebrities for candidates, as well as successful local personalities and businesspeople. Some members of the opposition were worried that such tactics would gain enough votes from the less educated segment of the population to give the Communists the legitimacy that they craved.
The election of June 4, 1989 (and the second round of June 18) brought a landslide victory to Solidarność: 99% of all the seats in the Senate and all of the possible seats in the Sejm. Out of 100 seats in the Senate, 99 were won by Solidarity and 1 by an independent candidate. Out of 35 seats of the country-wide list, only one was gained by the Party candidate (Adam Zieliński) and one by a United People's Party satellite party candidate, while the remainder were taken by the Solidarity in the second run. Altogether, out of 161 seats eligible, Solidarity took 160.
The turnout was surprisingly low: only 62.7% in the first round and 25% in the second. The outcome was a major surprise to both the Party and Solidarity. Only a few days before June 4 the party Central Committee was discussing the possible reaction of the Western world should Solidarity not win a single seat. At the same time the Solidarity leaders were trying to prepare some set of rules for the non-party MPs in a Communist-dominated parliament, as it was expected that the Solidarity would win not more than 20 seats.
Although the elections were not entirely democratic, they paved the way for the creation of Tadeusz Mazowiecki's cabinet and a peaceful transition to democracy, which was confirmed after the Polish parliamentary elections of 1991.
The Contract Sejm's opening session took place on 5 July 1989.
Party breakdown
| Clubs | Deputies (Sejm) | Senators (Senate) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Results of the 1989 election |
As of 26 October 1991 |
Results of the 1989 election |
As of 26 October 1991 |
Change | Results of the 1989 election |
As of 26 October 1991 |
Change | ||
| Polish United Workers' Party | Parliamentary Club of the Democratic Left | 173 | 102 |  71 |
— | — | — | ||
| Civic Parliamentary Club | 161 | 105 | 56 |
99 | 67 | 32
| |||
| United People's Party | Polish People's Party | 76 | 65 | 11 |
— | — | — | ||
| — | Democratic Union | — | 49 |  49 |
— | 29 | 29
| ||
| — | Deputies' Labour Club | — | 39 | 39 |
— | — | — | ||
| Democratic Party | 27 | 21 | 6 |
— | — | — | |||
| PAX Association | 10 | 10 |  |
— | — | — | |||
| Christian-Social Union [pl] | 8 | 8 | |
— | — | — | |||
| — | Christian People's Club [pl] | — | 8 | 8 |
— | — | — | ||
| — | Club of Independent Deputies (former PZPR) | — | 7 | 7 |
— | — | — | ||
| — | Club of Military Deputies (former PZPR) | — | 7 | 7 |
— | — | — | ||
| — | Labour Solidarity | — | 5 | 5 |
— | — | — | ||
| — | Polish People's Party (Mikołajczykowskie) [pl] | — | 4 | 4 |
— | — | — | ||
| Polish Catholic Social Association [pl] | 5 | 4 | 1 |
— | — | — | |||
| — | Parliamentary Ecological Club | — | 3 | 3 |
— | — | — | ||
| Non-attached members | — | 20 | 20 |
1 | 2 | 1
|
|||
| Total members | 460 | 457 | 3 |
100 | 98 | 2
| |||
| Vacant | — | 3 | 3 |
— | 2 | 2
| |||
| Total seats | 460 | 100 | |||||||
Governments
| Portrait | Name Sejm District (Birth–Death) |
Tenure | Ministerial offices held as prime minister | Party | Government | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Took office | Left office | Duration | ||||||
|
Czesław Kiszczak None (1925–2015) |
2 August 1989 | 24 August 1989 (no confidence vote) |
22 days | Interior Minister (1981–1990) | Polish United Workers' Party | Kiszczak(PZPR–ZSL–SD) | |
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|
Tadeusz Mazowiecki None (1927–2013) |
24 August 1989 | 4 January 1991 | 1 year, 134 days | – | Solidarity Citizens' Committee | Mazowiecki B: (KO‘S'–ZSL–PZPR–SD)E: (KO‘S'–UD–PSL–SD–ROAD–FPD) | |
| Democratic Union | ||||||||
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|
Jan Krzysztof Bielecki Gdańsk - 21 (born 1951) |
4 January 1991 | 6 December 1991 | 337 days | – | Liberal Democratic Congress | Bielecki [pl] (KLD–ZChN–PC–SD) | |
References
- "Solidarity Takes Its Elected Place In The Parliament - New York Times". The New York Times. 1989-07-05. Archived from the original on 2016-03-06. Retrieved 2011-11-12.
- Mikołaj Kozakiewicz (1991). Byłem marszałkiem kontraktowego. Warsaw, BGW. p. 255. ISBN 83-7066-180-7.
- Marek Chmaj (1996). Sejm "Kontraktowy" w transformacji systemu politycznego Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. Lublin, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University Press. p. 214. ISBN 83-227-0906-4.
- Janusz Słodczyk, ed. (2001). The course and effects of the transformation process in Poland in different fields of social and economic life. Opole, Opole University. p. 272. ISSN 1642-2597.
| Sejms of Poland | |||
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 Elections and referendums in Poland | |
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| Presidential elections | |
| Parliamentary elections | |
| Local elections | |
| European elections | |
| Referendums | |
| Silesian Sejm elections | |