Contract Sejm

History

The Contract Sejm grew out of the strike waves of 1988. In February 1988 Poland saw its highest price increases in six years; strikes began in Bydgoszcz on 25 April 1988 demanding lower prices, the legalization of Solidarity and the reinstatement of dismissed workers; and a further strike wave spread from the Silesian coal mines from 15 August. Under this pressure, talks ran from 6 February to 5 April 1989, and the Round Table Agreement was signed on 5 April 1989.

The legal implementation began on 7 April 1989, when the Sejm adopted the Act amending the Constitution of the Polish People's Republic, the so-called April Novel. It amended the 1952 constitution to provide for the Senate, the office of president, and electoral laws for both houses, and the Council of State set the election dates for 4 and 18 June 1989. Solidarity was legalized on 17 April 1989.

Relations

The seat allocation was 65 to 35. Sixty-five per cent of Sejm seats were guaranteed to the Polish United Workers' Party and its allied parties (the United People's Party, the Democratic Party and pro-government Christian parties); only the remaining 35 per cent, 161 seats, was open to non-party candidates. The 35 national-list seats were reserved for party candidates subject to a support quota, and the Senate elections were entirely free.

Examples

Solidarity won a landslide in the first round on 4 June 1989 and the second on 18 June. It took 99 of the 100 Senate seats (one went to an independent candidate) and 160 of the 161 freely contested Sejm seats. Turnout was about 62.7 per cent in the first round and about 25 per cent in the second. Both sides were also taken by surprise: shortly before 4 June the Party Central Committee discussed the possible Western reaction should Solidarity win no seats, while Solidarity leaders prepared rules for non-party MPs expecting to win no more than about 20 seats.

When the national electoral list collapsed, both sides agreed to fill the remaining 33 seats in the second round by creating additional mandates in constituencies. The Polish source describes that decision as not entirely lawful, though the Council of State issued a decree that was confirmed at the Sejm's first sitting.

The opening session of the Contract Sejm took place on 5 July 1989. On 4 July Mikołaj Kozakiewicz (United People's Party) was elected Marshal of the Sejm and Andrzej Stelmachowski (Citizens' Parliamentary Club) Marshal of the Senate, and on 19 July the National Assembly elected Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski President of the Polish People's Republic. Appointing prime ministers also fell to the Contract Sejm: Gen. Czesław Kiszczak on 2 August 1989, Tadeusz Mazowiecki on 24 August 1989 and Jan Krzysztof Bielecki on 4 January 1991. Mazowiecki's appointment as a non-party premier was made possible by the Citizens' Parliamentary Club–United People's Party–Democratic Party coalition formed on 17 August 1989.

Distinctions

The Contract Sejm is distinct from the Round Table Talks themselves. The talks were a series of negotiations between communists and the opposition in several Eastern Bloc countries, of which the Polish talks of February to April 1989 were one instance; the Contract Sejm denotes specifically the Polish parliament elected under that agreement. It is likewise distinct from the parliament elected in the fully free elections of 1991. The Polish native term is "Sejm kontraktowy", and the elections of the time were known as "contractual elections".