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SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT UNDER THE ROUND-TABLE AGREEMENTS (Ustrój panstwa w porozumieniach Okraglego Stolu)

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Dobrowolski M.
Przegląd Sejmowy
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2009
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issue 3(92)
EN
The article provides an analysis of the system of government during the period of its transformation from 'the state of Communist nomenclature' to 'the state of civil society'. The most important elements of this process included: legalization of Solidarity trade union and establishment of new organs: President of the Republic (an office with wide powers, held at that time by Wojciech Jaruzelski) and the Senate (to be elected in free election), as well as the so-called 'contractual' election of deputies to the Sejm (65% of all seats reserved to the regime parties and the remaining 35% to be chosen in free election). Looking from the perspective of today, we may say that the system of government adopted in the Round-Table agreement provided some 'cracks' (through which the changes could be forced), but also particular measures to prevent the evolution from being excessively fast. These measures did not only protect the socialist system of the state, but first of all they were aimed at protection of those political groups and persons which were in power in that system. The analysis made by the author shows the existence of a peculiar negotiation philosophy used to solve political disputes and legal problems (manifested, in particular, in the course of modification of electoral law between the first and the second round of the election of June 1989). One may, however, wonder whether this philosophy has subsequently resulted in the practice that the decisions of highest importance for the state and the people are held in secret? This question is justified by the Rywin affair. If such a practice really took place, this could mean that public debates on the state policy guidelines would be only a surface reality, and actual decision-making process would be taken behind closed doors.
2
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PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION OF JUNE 1989 (Wybory parlamentarne - czerwiec 1989)

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Sokala A.
Przegląd Sejmowy
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2009
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issue 3(92)
47-59
EN
In 1988, many important events took place in Poland. The waves of strikes rocked the country in the spring and the summer. As a consequence of economic difficulties, without any prospect for recovery, public feeling deteriorated. In the opinion of the then government, negotiations with the still banned 'Solidarity' movement could have improved the situation. In February 1989, the negotiations concerning political and economic reforms of the country, called the “Round-Table Talks”, were initiated between the ruling (i.e. the coalition and government) and the opposition (i.e. the opposition and Solidarity) camps. In result of these talks, the government agreed to relegalize Solidarity trade union and allow the opposition to be represented in parliament. All seats in the newly-created Senate were to be elected democratically, as were 35 percent of the total in the Sejm. The remaining 65% of the seats were reserved for the representatives of the ruling bloc. The election, held in two rounds on 4 and 18 June 1989, brought victory to Solidarity which gained all (161) seats available to non-party candidates and dominated the Senate (winning 99 out of all 100 seats). The government's defeat was the more painful as it failed to win seats for its leading politicians entered in the national list of candidates. The June election, even if only partly free and democratic, marks a turning point in modern Polish history. As a consequence, the existing system of the exercise of power collapsed and was replaced by a new system in which opposition took part. In September, a new government headed by Tadeusz Mazowiecki, the first non-Communist prime minister in the Central and Eastern European countries, was formed. This fact started an inexorable transformation of Polish political, social and economic systems.
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THE POLITICAL SYSTEM OF POLAND AFTER THE COMING INTO FORCE OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL ACT OF 7 APRIL 1989 (Ustrój polityczny Polski po wejsciu w zycie ustawy konstytucyjnej z 7 kwietnia 1989 r.)

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Sarnecki P.
Przegląd Sejmowy
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2009
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issue 3(92)
11-26
EN
The article provides an analysis of the systemic transformations in Poland in the summer and autumn of 1989 r. The main impulse behind these transformations were the Round-table agreements between the representatives of the former Communist regime and independent social movement organizations comprised mostly of the members of the 'Solidarity' trade union.. They have resulted in an amendment of the Constitution of 7 April 1989 as well as the adoption of many other statutes. The arrangements of the Round-table discussions and the amendments of the Constitution were both a product of political compromise. These changes included, in particular, the establishment of the office of President of the Republic and the second chamber of parliament. The article contains a detailed analysis of powers of the two new bodies, as well as new powers of already existing bodies. However, the above-mentioned compromise was rejected by the People in the parliamentary election of 4 and 18 June 1989. In the opinion of the author, the result of that election, meant in fact the restoration of the principle of sovereignty of the Nation (although absent from the text of the Constitution), and the said principle had to lead, in practice, to an interpretation incompatible with the intentions behind the above-mentioned political compromise.
4
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THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT ACT OF 29 DECEMBER 1989 (Nowela konstytucyjna z 29 grudnia 1989 r.)

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Ciemniewski J.
Przegląd Sejmowy
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2009
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issue 3(92)
27-46
EN
The Act of 29 December 1989 on the Amendment of the Constitution of the Polish People's Republic put an end to the constitutional system based on the Marxist-Leninist doctrine and has laid the legal foundations for the formation of a democratic system of government in Poland. According to the original intention of its initiators, the amendment to the basic law was very narrowly drawn and would limit itself to establishing constitutional guarantees for the functioning of political pluralism, which became a political fact as a result of the Round-table discussions, a result of the election of 4 June and the appointment of the Cabinet of Tadeusz Mazowiecki. Fundamental changes in the system would have to be made by a new constitution (to be drafted and adopted in a near future). However, in the course of work on the draft amendment, it turned out that the basic principles of the system of government formulated in the then existing constitution are incompatible with the requirements of the ongoing process of political and economic transformation. Therefore, the need was recognised to repeal the introduction and two initial chapters. The provision stating that 'the Republic of Poland is a democratic state ruled by law and implementing the principles of social justice' was of a key importance for the systemic changes. The application of this provision in the constitutional system (as Article 1), has meant not only imposing the duty on public authorities to observe the law, but also provided the basis for determining material and formal requirements to be met by the existing law. The notion of a democratic state ruled by law, as a constitutional category, set the direction for change in legislation and created an area for judicial practice of the Constitutional Tribunal which, especially prior to the adoption of the Constitution of 1997, played important role in defining the principles of the Polish legal system. The second area of change concerning the amendment of the Constitution was national economy. A new economic system was based, above all, on the elimination of the privileged status of state ownership and the constitutional guarantee of ownership, on the basis of equality of treatment, and the guarantee of freedom of economic activity. As concerns public awareness building, the changes in the Polish national symbols, effected by the constitutional amendment, were of great significance. The official name of the state was restored to be the Republic of Poland and the Polish white eagle, as the state emblem, regained its crown to symbolise the state sovereignty. These changes reflected the collapse of the Soviet-dominated system of rule imposed on Poland in 1944.
5
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INSTITUTIONAL MODEL OF 1989: A RECONSTRUCTION ATTEMPT (Model instytucjonalny 1989 - próba rekonstrukcji)

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Matyja R.
Przegląd Sejmowy
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2009
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issue 3(92)
61-76
EN
The institutional model designed in the course of Round-table talks should be examined, above all, from the point of view of cognitive horizons of its authors, and not that of the later course of events; particularly because of the very short period of its application (from the end of the debates in April to the appointment of Mazowiecki's Cabinet in September 1989). The basic assumption of the model was retaining control by the ruling party and providing stability in the division between the ruling bloc and opposition, supported by measures determining political results of elections, non-existent in modern democracies. An important factor in the construction of an institutional model by the sides of the Round Table talks is the way in which they have overcome a 'confidence deficit' that prevents a universally recognized order from being built. This requires both reference to political vision of the sides of conflict, and to the manners of distribution of confidence in the very process of negotiation of the model, based on the acceptance of trade union and political pluralism and, thereby, the departure from the underlying principle of the Polish People's Republic, i.e. the principle of non-competitive exercise of power. The causative mechanism was based on wrongly (from the point of view of the government) negotiated electoral law and on the overestimation of the scope of control of their own candidates for deputies to the Sejm. In spite of that fact, in long-term perspective, it provided better position to the authorities of the Polish People's Republic and their powerbase than that available to post-Communist forces in other members of the Soviet bloc. Moreover, it contributed to strengthening of the elements of continuity in the systems of government in the Polish People's republic and the Third Republic of Poland.
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