Sejm
This article is about the lower chamber of the Polish parliament. See Seimas for the parliament of Lithuania, Saeima for the parliament of Latvia, and Sejm River for the river of that name in Russia and Ukraine.The
Sejm (pronounced:
[]) is the
lower house of the
Polish parliament.
Before the
20th century, the term "Sejm" referred to the entire three-
chamber Polish parliament, comprising the lower house (Chamber of Deputies;
Polish:
Izba Poselska), the
upper house (
Senate; Polish:
Senat) and the
King. It was commonly termed a three-estate parliament. Since the
Second Polish Republic (
1918-
1939), the term "Sejm" has referred only to the lower house of the parliament; the upper house is called the
"Senat".
The power of early sejms grew during the times of
Poland's fragmentation (1146-1295), when the power of individual rulers waned and various councils and
wiece grew stronger. The history of the Sejm dates back to
1182 and the first Sejm at
Łęczyca. From
1493 forward, the indirect elections were repeated every two years. With the development of the unique Polish
Golden Liberty the Sejm's powers increased.
The term "sejm" comes from an old
Polish expression denoting a meeting of the populace. Since the
14th century irregular sejms (described in various sources as
latin contentio generalis, conventio magna, conventio solemna, parlamentum, parlamentum generale, dieta or Polish
sejm walny) have been called by Polish kings. Since
1374 (
przywilej koszycki), the king had to receive sejm permission to raise
taxes. The General Sejm (Polish
Sejm Generalny or
Sejm Walny), first convoked by the king
John I Olbracht in
1493 near
Piotrków, evolved from earlier regional and provincial meetings (
sejmiks. It followed most closely the
sejmik generally), which arose from the
1454 Nieszawa Statutes, granted to the
szlachta by King
Casimir IV the Jagiellonian. Since 1493 Sejm Walny has been meeting irregulary, on average once a year.
The first Sejm was composed of two chambers:
* A
Senate of 81
bishops and
other dignitaries* A lower house, Sejm proper, of 54
deputies (Polish
poseł, representing and elected by the local
sejmiki)The number of deputies in the
lower chamber grew in number and power as they pressured the king for more privileges. The spur toward action increased when landowners were drafted into military service (
pospolite ruszenie). After
1569 Union of Lublin, the
Kingdom of Poland was transformed into the
federation of the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Sejms number was increased with the inclusion of the deputies from Lithuanian Sejmiks.
Sejms severely limited the king's powers. They had the final decision in
legislation,
taxation,
budget, and
treasury matters (including military funding),
foreign affairs and
ennoblement. In 1573 Sejm guaranteed
religious tolerance in the Commonwealth territory, making it a refuge from the ongoing
reformation and
counter-reformation wars.
Until The Union of Lublin, Sejms were held near Piotrkow in the Warsaw Royal Castle. Since 1673 each third Sejm was to take place in
Grodno in Lithuania. It began with a ceremonial
mass, the
Kanclerz (Chancellor) decreed the king's intentions, and then the senators had a voice. Afterwards, the king and Senate debated on the most important matters (usually foreign affairs), while deputies debated separately under the leadership of the
marshal of the sejm. In matters deemed very important, both senat and the sejm debated together in the chamber of the senate. The legislation was drafted in the
lower chamber (Sejm). Members of the Sejm presented its proposed
legislation to the gathered deputies of the Sejm, where they were discussed at length. The legislation was commonly negotiated by a deputation from the lower house (Sejm) with the
upper chamber (Senate) and the reigning monarch (considered to be a third, separate Sejm chamber on his own).
The king could not pass the laws himself without the approval of the Sejm, this being forbidden by szlachta privileges like
nihil novi from
1505. According to the "Nihil Novi" constitution a law passed by the Sejm had to be agreed by the three estates (the king, the Senate and deputies from the Sejm).
King Henry's Articles, signed by each king since
1573, required the king to call a general sejm (lasting six weeks) every two years, and provisions for the extraordinary sejm (Polish:
sejm ekstraordynaryjny, nadzwyczajny) were also set down in this act. Extraordinary sejms could be called in times of national emergency and last shorter, for example, a sejm deciding whether to call
pospolite ruszenie should not last longer than two weeks.
The
Marshal (or Speaker) of the Sejm concluded the debates, but he was required to ask the members whether his understanding of the chamber's views was correct and unanimously accepted. If anyone declared his opposition (Latin
contradictio), the debate would be reopened and would continue until the opponents of the measure abandoned their opposition.
Until the end of
16th century,
unanimity, was not required and
majority voting was most common. Later, with the rise of the
magnates power, unanimity principle was reinforced with the szlachta right of
liberum veto (from Latin, meaning: I don't allow). The pro-majority voting party almost disappeared in the 17th century, and majority voting was preserved only at the
confederated sejms (
sejm rokoszowy, konny, konfederacyjny). To increase the chance of unanimity agreement voting was delayed until an agreement has been reached (often through lengthy discussions). It was enough if no formal exception was taken by anyone " even if some opposition did exist, it would not necessarily be upheld. If, however, the deputies could not attain even such passive unanimity, or if the chamber's negotiations with the king proved futile, then after six weeks (the upper time limit of its sittings) had elapsed, the deliberations as a whole were declared null and void. Rarely, a deputy from a local sejmik could object to the agreement and be granted an exception from this law, allowing it to pass. From the mid-
17th century onwards, any objection to a Sejm resolution from either a deputy or a senator automatically caused other, previously approved resolutions to be rejected. This was because all resolutions passed by a given Sejm formed a whole and were published as constitutions of the Sejm e.g. Anno Domini 1667.
In the
16th century no single person or small group dared to hold up proceedings, but from second half of
17th century the
liberum veto was used to paralyze the Sejm and brought the Commonwealth to the brink of collapse. The
liberum veto was finally abolished by the
Constitution of 3rd May in
1791.
The early
statutes passed by the Sejm were called "
constitution" (Polish
konstytucja or
konstytucja sejmowa) and should not be confused with modern meaning of this word. The konstytucja passed by the Sejm had denoted all the legislation, of whatever character, that had been passed at a Sejm. Only with the May 3rd Constitution in
1791 did
"konstytucja" assume its modern sense of a fundamental document of governance.
The final version of approved acts (which from the late
15th century until the early
16th century were divided into perpetual and temporary constitutions ('constitutiones perpetuae' and 'constitutiones temporales')) were drawn up at the
sealing sessions, held after the close of the Sejm debate. These sessions were attended by the
chancellor, the
Speaker of the Sejm and members from the Sejm and the Senate. From the end of the
16th century, the constitutions they signed were
printed, stamped with the
royal seal, and sent to the
chancelleries of the
municipal councils of all
voivodships of the
Crown and also to the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania. After 1543 the resolutions were written in Polish rather than Latin. Those resolutions were presented soon after the Sejm to local meetings, known as sejmiki relacyjne. In accordance with the act of 1613, immediately after the close of Sejm debates, the constitutions it had passed were published by entering them in the registers where the Sejm had met. Copies still had to be sent to municipal councils (
urzędy grodzkie) throughout the country, where they were added to the municipal registers (
księgi grodzkie).
It is estimated that since 1493 and 1793 sejms were held 240 times, and total debate time was 44 years.
It can be noted that the expression 'Polish parliament' (in
Swedish:
Polsk riksdag) is commonly used in modern Scandinavian languages to denote organizational anarchy and disorder, a wording that connotates the veto right in the Polish Sejm.
Sejm of the People's Republic of Poland
The
Sejm in the People's Republic of Poland had 460 deputies over most of its history. At first this number was declared to represent 1 deputy per 60,000 citizens (425 were elected in 1952), but later as the population grew that connection was dropped from the constitution (in 1960). The constitution stated that the deputies were responsible before the people and could be recalled by the people, but this article was never used. Instead of the
Five-point electoral law, a four-point version was used (not proportional). Legislation was passed with
majority voting.
The Sejm would vote on the
budget as well as on the periodic "
national plans" that were a fixture of communist economies. The Sejm would deliberate in sessions, which were called forth by the
State Council.
The Sejm would also chose a "presiding" body (
Prezydium) from its members, with
marshal of the Sejm always being a member of the
Zjednoczone Stronnictwo Ludowe party. In its first sitting the Sejm would also nominate the
Prime Minister together with other ministers (the
Council of Ministers of Poland) and members of the State Council. It would also chose many other government officials, including the head of
The Supreme Chamber of Control (
Najwyższa Izba Kotroli, NIK), members of
The State Tribunal (
Trybunał Stanu) and
Constitutional Tribunal (
Trybunał Konstytucjny) as well as the
Ombudsman (
Rzecznik Praw Obywatelskich). The latter three institutions were created in the 1980s.
The
Senate of Poland was abolished by the
Polish people's referendum, 1946 and after this the Sejm became the sole legislative body in Poland.
Sejm of modern Poland
After the
fall of communism in
1989, the Senate was reinstated as the upper house of a
bicameral National Assembly, while the Sejm became the lower house. The Sejm now comprises 460 deputies elected by
proportional representation every four years.
From 7 to 19 deputies are elected from each electorate using the
d'Hondt method, their number being proportional to the electorate's population. Additionally, a threshold is used, so that only candidates from parties which gained at least 5% (8% for registered coalitions) of the nationwide vote can be chosen. Candidates from ethinic minority parties are exempt from this threshold. Finally, the
2001 elections differed slightly from those in previous and subsequent years in that the
Sainte-Laguë method, rather than the d'Hondt, was used.
*
Administration and Internal Affairs Committee*
Agriculture and Rural Development Committee*
Committee on Liaison with Poles Abroad*
Constitutional Accountability Committee*
Culture and Media Committee*
Deputies' Ethics Committee*
Economic Committee*
Education, Science and Youth Committee*
Enterprise Development Committee*
Environment Protection, Natural Resources and Forestry Committee*
European Union Affairs Committee*
Family and Women Rights Committee*
Foreign Affairs Committee*
Health Committee*
Infrastructure Committee*
Justice and Human Rights Committee*
Legislative Committee*
Local Self-Government and Regional Policy Committee*
National and Ethnic Minorities Committee*
National Defence Committee*
Physical Education and Sport Committee*
Public Finances Committee*
Rules and Deputies' Affairs Committee*
Social Policy Committee*
Special Services Committee*
State Control Committee*
State Treasury Committee*
Work Committee*
Confederated sejm (
Sejm skonfederowany)
*
Contract Sejm (
Sejm Kontraktowy)
*
Convocation Sejm (
Sejm konwokacyjny)
*
Coronation Sejm (
Sejm koronacyjny)
*
Election Sejm (
Sejm elekcyjny)
*
Great Sejm (
Sejm Wielki)
*
Grodno Sejm (
Sejm grodzieński)
*
National Assembly of Poland (
Zgromadzenie Narodowe)
*
Partition Sejm (
Sejm rozbiorowy)
*
Politics of Poland*
Repnin Sejm (
Sejm Repninowski)
*
Silent Sejm (
Sejm Niemy)
*
Silesian Sejm*
Voivodship sejmik (
Sejmik wojewódzki)
*
official website*
Description of the modern Sejm's role in the Polish political system*
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