2006 Polish local elections

The 2006 Polish local elections were held in two parts. with its first round on November 12 and the second on November 26, 2006. In the election's first round, voters chose 39,944 gmina councillors, 6,284 powiat councillors and 561 deputies to provincial voivodeship sejmiks. Additionally, 2,460 city and town mayors, borough leaders and other officials were decided by direct or runoff elections in the second round. The elections were seen as a test to the government of Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński, whose coalition between his own Law and Justice party and its junior coalition partners, the Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland and the League of Polish Families, had undergone a severe crisis two months prior.[1]

2006 Polish regional assembly election

12 November 2006
561 seats to regional assemblies
Turnout	45.99%
Leader Donald Tusk Jarosław Kaczyński Waldemar Pawlak Party PO PiS PSL Leader since 1 June 2003 18 January 2003 29 January 2005 Last election part of POPiS part of POPiS 58 seats, 10.81% Seats before 91 96 58 Seats won 186 170 83 Seat change 79 74 25 Percentage 27.18% 25.08% 13.24% Swing 15.07% 12.97% 2.43%   Leader Wojciech Olejniczak Andrzej Lepper Roman Giertych Party LiD SRP LPR Leader since 29 May 2005 10 January 1992 11 March 2006 Last election 189 seats, 24.65% 101 seats, 15.98% 92 seats, 14.36% Seats before 189 101 92 Seats won 66 37 11 Seat change 123 64 81 Percentage 14.25% 5.64% 4.74% Swing 10.40% 10.34% 9.62%

Lech and Maria Kaczyński

Background

Following the appointment of Jarosław Kaczyński as Prime Minister following the resignation of Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, the coalition between Kaczyński's own rightist Law and Justice, the agrarian Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland and the Christian right League of Polish Families parties experienced deep conflict. In September 2006, Self-Defense's leader Andrzej Lepper increasingly sparred with Kaczyński over the national budget, criticizing the prime minister's stance on rural infrastructure spending and sending extra troops to assist the War in Afghanistan.[1] Kaczyński responded by asking for Lepper's dismissal from the government. In light of the political crisis, Kaczyński sought a new coalition partner in order to avoid early elections.[1] One month later in October, Kaczyński and Lepper reconciled, returning Self-Defense to the coalition government and reappointing Lepper as both his deputy and as Minister for Agriculture.[2] However, the coalition crisis dented the government's popularity in opinion polls.[2]

In the midst of the crisis, Kaczyński aide Adam Lipinski was secretly filmed trying to coax Self-Defense Sejm MP Renata Beger to rejoin the coalition government with financial and legal assistance.[3] Beger later handed the film to television networks. The opposition Civic Platform party seized on the scandal, organizing street demonstrations in Warsaw to demand early elections.[4] The government countered the protests by drawing its supporters for demonstrations of its own, claiming the film demonstrated normal political bargaining.

Results

In the aftermath of the local elections' first round on November 12, Kaczyński's Law and Justice saw intermediate gains across voivodeship sejmiks and moderate results of powiat and gmina councillor seats. Law and Justice held provincial voivodeship sejmiks in Łódź, Podkarpacie, Małopolska, Lublin, and Podlasie.[5] In major municipalities, the party significantly lost its majority of councillor seats in Warsaw to Civic Platform, as well as suffered setbacks in Łódź, Poznań and Kraków.[6] The party's candidate for the Warsaw mayoralty, former Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, finished next to the strong showing of Civic Platform candidate Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz. However, in the second round of polls held two weeks later on November 26, Gronkiewicz-Waltz defeated Marcinkiewicz. The defeat in Warsaw served as a blow to Kaczyński, whose brother Lech previously served as Warsaw's mayor until his election to the presidency in 2005.

The government's major opposition party, Civic Platform, emerged as the winner during the election, increasing its share of representation across seats in voivodeship, county and municipal administrations. In the election results, Civic Platform gained majorities in 10 voivodeships (Warmia-Masuria, Pomerania, West Pomerania, Lubuskie, Lower Silesia, Opole, Silesia, Wielkopolska, Kujawy-Pomerania, and Masovia).[5]

The elections demonstrated a clear defeat for the Left and Democrats, the upstart coalition between the Democratic Left Alliance, Social Democracy of Poland, the Labour Union and the Democratic Party. Still suffering from the fallout of the Rywin affair and Orlengate, the Democratic Left Alliance and its leftist coalition partners lost all majorities in previously held voivodeship sejmiks and a vote decline in local races. However, the party elected candidates Jacek Majchrowski as Mayor of Krakow and Tadeusz Ferenc as Mayor of Rzeszów, though Majchrowski later suspended his party membership to become an independent.

The Polish People's Party fared well during the elections. Managing to increase its share of nearly 14 percent of all powiat councillor seats and 10 percent for all gmina seats, the party was the most elected partisan organization to receive seats in municipal councils.[7]

Law and Justice's coalition partner, the League of Polish Families, suffered during the local elections. The government's coalition party mustered two percent of the vote in the voivodeship sejmiks, a little more than one percent in county councils, and nearly half a percentage point in gmina councils.[8]

Independent politicians or local political activists enjoyed strong results in municipal councils and in city mayoralties.

Turnout

	12 November	26 November
voting districts	33,362	11,385
electors	29,877,983	14,643,543
ballots	13,742,032	5,812,667
turnout	45.99%	39.69%

Voivodship councils

	Electoral committee	% of seats	Seats
	Civic Platform (PO)	33.16%	186
	Law and Justice (PiS)	30.30%	170
	Polish People's Party (PSL)	14.80%	83
	Left and Democrats (LiD)	11.76%	66
	Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland (SRP)	6.60%	37
	League of Polish Families (LPR)	1.96%	11
	German Minority (MN)	1.25%	7
	Regional committees	.18%	1
	Total	100.00%	561

County councils

	Electoral committee	% of seats	Seats
	Local committees	42.12%	2,647
	Law and Justice (PiS)	19.76%	1,242
	Polish People's Party (PSL)	13.80%	867
	Civic Platform (PO)	12.40%	779
	Left and Democrats (LiD)	7.45%	468
	Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland (SRP)	3.37%	212
	League of Polish Families (LPR)	1.07%	67
	National Party of Retirees and Pensioners	0.03%	2
	Total	100.00%	6,284

Municipal councils

	Electoral committee	% of seats	Seats
	Local committees	71.92%	28,726
	Polish People's Party (PSL)	9.74%	3,890
	Law and Justice (PiS)	7.71%	3,079
	Civic Platform (PO)	4.47%	1,784
	Left and Democrats (LiD)	3.40%	1,357
	Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland (SRP)	2.17%	867
	League of Polish Families (LPR)	0.59%	236
	National Party of Retirees and Pensioners	0.01%	5
	Total	100.00%	39,944

Mayors

	Electoral committee	% of mayors	Mayors
	Local committees	81.87%	2,014
	Polish People's Party (PSL)	10.28%	253
	Law and Justice (PiS)	3.13%	77
	Civic Platform (PO)	1.87%	46
	Left and Democrats (LiD)	1.71%	42
	Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland (SRP)	1.02%	25
	League of Polish Families (LPR)	0.12%	3
	Total	100.00%	2,460

Post election controversies

Following the election, controversy erupted regarding a 2005 law, obliging the mayors of municipalities to publicly disclose their own, as well as their spouse's, financial circumstances. The law required the successful candidate's disclosure statement to be provided within 30 days after their inauguration, whereas the statement regarding the candidate's spouse was to be submitted within 30 days after the actual election. Due to the law, several elected officials resigned, while others refused. The highest profile figure affected newly elected Warsaw mayor of Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, refused to offer her resignation. Waltz submitted her and her husband's statements on January 2, 2007, exactly 30 days after her inauguration. On January 20, the newspaper Dziennik reported that Waltz's documents proceeded past the deadline by two days. Based on this, Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński maintained that Gronkiewicz-Waltz's mandate had expired on December 28, 2006, calling for new municipal elections within her jurisdiction. Gronkiewicz-Waltz and Civic Platform argued that the prime minister does not carry authority to make a decision in this matter, and that the case instead be examined by a court. Legal experts maintained that by submitting their statements on the same day, Gronkiewicz-Waltz observed the spirit, if not the letter of the law. Also, having two different deadlines for the statements could be considered as an unconstitutional legal trap. In the meantime, the opposition Civic Platform party announced that it would renominate Gronkiewicz-Waltz should the elections be repeated. On March 13, 2007, the Constitutional Tribunal of Poland ruled against the government, striking down the law. However, those officials who previously resigned were not allowed to return to their posts.

References

1. "Polish ruling coalition collapses". BBC News. 2006-09-22. Retrieved 2011-02-13.
2. "Polish PM revives ruling alliance". BBC News. 2006-10-16. Retrieved 2011-02-13.
3. "Secret film sparks Polish scandal". BBC News. 2006-09-27. Retrieved 2011-02-13.
4. "Polish rivals hold street rallies". BBC News. 2006-07-10. Retrieved 2011-02-13.
5. "PO odebrała trzy województwa PiS. Jak było w poprzednich wyborach?". Gazeta.pl. 2010-11-22. Retrieved 2011-02-13.
6. "Polish PM faces local poll blow". BBC News. 2006-10-16. Retrieved 2011-02-13.
7. "Najwięcej radnych w skali kraju ma PSL". Gazeta.pl. 2006-11-15. Archived from the original on 2011-05-22. Retrieved 2011-02-13.
8. "Polish government survives local elections". Euronews. 2010-11-13. Retrieved 2011-02-13.

External links

• National Electoral Commission - official results
• 2006 Polish local election - wp.pl