1952 Polish parliamentary election

1952 Polish parliamentary election
All 425 seats in the Sejm
Turnout	95.03%
Premier before election; Józef Cyrankiewicz; PZPR	Elected Premier ; Józef Cyrankiewicz; PZPR

Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 26 October 1952.^[1] They were the first elections to the Sejm, the parliament of the Polish People's Republic. The official rules for the elections were outlined in the new Constitution of the Polish People's Republic and lesser acts.

No opposition parties were allowed to contest the elections.^[2] As a result, only one Front of National Unity candidate contested each seat in the Sejm,^[2] which had been reduced from 444 to 425.^[2] The Front candidates received 99.8% of the vote and won every seat, a result that was to be repeated in parliamentary elections until 1989. The communist regime claimed that around 15.5 million people voted, 95% of the electorate.^[2]

Background

The communists had spent the five years since winning the rigged 1947 elections tightening their grip on the country. A little more than a year after the election, what remained of the Polish Socialist Party (PPS), nominally a partner in the communist-dominated "coalition," merged with the communist Polish Workers' Party (PPR) to form the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR).^[3]^[4] However, the merger was concluded almost entirely on PPR terms and by this time the PPS was largely subservient to the PPR.^[5]^[4] Despite this, former socialist Józef Cyrankiewicz remained as prime minister.^[6] By 1949, the remains of the Polish People's Party (PSL), which had led the opposition in 1947,^[7]^[8] had been emasculated when it was forced to merge with the splinter pro-communist People's Party to form the United People's Party (ZSL).^[9]

PPR leader Władysław Gomułka, who had been largely responsible for the PPR's heavy-handed suppression of opposition, believed he was now free to pursue a more independent course. He wanted to adapt the Soviet blueprint to Polish circumstances and considered himself to be both a communist and a Polish patriot. He was also wary of the Cominform, and opposed forced collectivization of agriculture. However, he was pushed out as party leader in 1948, accused of "rightist-nationalist deviation." He was succeeded by President Bolesław Bierut, a hardline Stalinist.^[10]^[8]

Conduct

The election set the tone for all subsequent elections held during Communist rule in Poland. As would be the case with all future elections, only PZPR-allowed candidates participated, and the results were falsified as needed. Along with the 1947 election, the 1952 election is considered among the least free of elections held in communist Poland. This was typical of the era of Stalinization. The Bierut government, like its kindred regimes in the rest of the Soviet bloc, was determined to tighten its control over society as much as possible. All opposition parties had been either eliminated or driven underground by this time. The regime's opponents were persecuted. Voters were presented with a single list from the Front of National Unity (FJN), comprising the PZPR and its two satellite parties, the Democratic Party (SD) and the ZSL. The number of candidates permitted to run in the elections was equal to the number of seats in parliament.^[11]

There were 425 seats.^[12] The number of seats would be increased in the subsequent elections.^[12] In return for accepting the "leading role" of the PZPR—a condition of their continued existence—the minor parties in the Front received a fixed number of seats in the Sejm.^[13]

Results

The official results showed that 99.8% of the voters approved the FJN list. Candidates from the FJN parties took 91% of the Sejm seats, with 9% being taken by nominally independent candidates. Within the FJN, the PZPR held an absolute majority with 273 seats (64% of the total), its highest share to date.^[12] However, as the other parties and "independents" were subservient to the PZPR, communist control of the Sejm was complete.^[12]^[14] In later years, the communist-dominated lists would be credited with between 98 and 99% of the vote, a practice continued until 1989.



Party or alliance			Votes	%	Seats
	Front of National Unity	Polish United Workers' Party	15,459,849	99.80	273
		United People's Party			90
		Democratic Party			25
		Independents			37
Blank ballots			31,321	0.20	–
Total			15,491,170	100.00	425

Valid votes			15,491,170	99.97
Invalid votes			4,645	0.03
Total votes			15,495,815	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			16,305,891	95.03
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Aftermath

The term of the Sejm elected in 1951 was due to end in 1956, but due to political shifts in Poland, the next elections took place in early 1957 in a more liberal atmosphere, although still not free.^[11]

References

^ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1491 ISBN 9783832956097
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Staar, Richard F. (1958). "Elections in Communist Poland". Midwest Journal of Political Science. 2 (2): 200–218. doi:10.2307/2108857. ISSN 0026-3397. JSTOR 2108857.
^ "Polish History - Part 13". Polonia Today. Archived from the original on 17 January 2008. Retrieved 2009-08-22.
^ ^a ^b Poland at Encyclopedia Britannica
^ Władysław Gomułka at Encyclopedia Britannica
^ Józef Cyrankiewicz at Encyclopedia Britannica
^ Dariusz Baliszewski. "Demokracja urn". Wprost. Archived from the original on 2009-02-08. Retrieved 2009-08-22.
^ ^a ^b Wrobel, Piotr (2014). Historical Dictionary of Poland 1945-1996. Routledge. ISBN 9781135927011.
^ David Ost [pl], Solidarity and the Politics of Anti-Politics, pp. 34-36, 1990 Philadelphia, Temple University Press, ISBN 0-87722-655-5
^ Boleslaw Bierut at Encyclopedia Britannica
^ ^a ^b (in Polish) Bartłomiej Kozłowski, Wybory styczniowe do Sejmu 1957 Archived 2009-01-03 at the Wayback Machine Last accessed on 5 April 2007
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Norman Davies (May 2005). God's Playground: 1795 to the present. Columbia University Press. p. 459. ISBN 978-0-231-12819-3. Retrieved 3 June 2011.
^ Poland: a country study. Library of Congress Federal Research Division, December 1989.
^ Andrzej Paczkowski; Jane Cave (2003). The spring will be ours: Poland and the Poles from occupation to freedom. Penn State Press. p. 229. ISBN 978-0-271-02308-3. Retrieved 3 June 2011.