Contract Sejm

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.

Legislative bodyParliament of Poland

JurisdictionPoland

Meeting placeSejm building complex, Warsaw, Poland

Term18 June 1989 (1989-06-18) – 24 November 1991 (1991-11-24)

Quick facts Overview, Legislative body ...

Contract Sejm
← 9th term Sejm of the Polish People's Republic First Term Sejm →
Overview
Legislative body	Parliament of Poland
Jurisdiction	Poland
Meeting place	Sejm building complex, Warsaw, Poland
Term	18 June 1989 (1989-06-18) – 24 November 1991 (1991-11-24)
Election	4 and 18 June 1989
Government	Mazowiecki (12 September 1989 – 12 January 1991)   OKP   PZPR (until 1990)   ZSL   SDMazowiecki Bielecki [pl] (12 January – 23 December 1991)   OKP   KLD   PC   ZChN   UD   SDBielecki
Website	sejm.gov.pl senat.gov.pl
Sejm
Members	460 deputies
Marshal of the Sejm	Mikołaj Kozakiewicz, ZSL→PSL
Deputy Marshals of the Sejm	Teresa Dobielińska-Eliszewska [pl], SD Tadeusz Fiszbach [pl], PZPR→PUS Olga Krzyżanowska, KO "S"→UD
Party control	PRON (until 17 August 1989) Solidarity (KO "S")-backed coalition (from 17 August 1989)
Senate
Members	100 Senators
Marshal of the Senate	Andrzej Stelmachowski, KO "S"
Deputy Marshals of the Senate	Zofia Kuratowska, KO "S" Józef Ślisz [pl], KO "S" Andrzej Wielowieyski [pl], KO "S"
Party control	Solidarity Citizens' Committee supermajority

Close

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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]} Some members of the opposition were worried that such tactics would gain enough votes to give the Communists the legitimacy that they craved.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^[1]