This article presents the discussion about the institution of countersignature in Poland, which preceded the resolution of Polish Constitution in 1935. The author shows the opinions of major political parties and distinguished scientists about this institution. The discussion, which had been held before the Constitution was passed, seems to be very interesting for modern science. During the discussion was presented the great variety of conceptions of understanding the institution of countersignature. Some scientists understood, that this is the institution according to which the head of state always follows the advice of government and without which the decisions of the president would be invalid. Others were the opinion, that the countersignature is the institution by which the member of government only accepts the political responsibility for the countersigned act, but the real decision is taken by the head of state. Finally, the discussion and controversies caused a very important change in the way of understanding the institution of countersignature and its constitutional and political meaning, which helped to create the strong presidency in the Polish Constitution of 1935.
The purpose of the study was to identify the influence of organizational factors, such as: furthering the development and the promotion of innovation and subjectively assessed self development attitude on the level of employee engagement. The study was conducted among 530 employees of three deliberately chosen innovation entities. Multiple regression analysis also identified a probable relationships between variables.
The Election Code was adopted on January 5, 2011 and entered into force on August 1, 2011 replacing five existing laws governing elections. It has unified the electoral system and implemented some new solutions aimed at changing considerably the electoral process or providing only an arrangement of the existing regulations. The authors describe and provide assessment of some novelties implemented by the Code, including single-member constituencies in elections to the Senate and in local self-government elections, the requirement for candidates to have no criminal convictions, obligation to apply gender quotas on electoral lists, changes in the election campaigning procedures, possibility of two-day voting, correspondence voting, as well as the powers of international election observers. They discuss the advantages and disadvantages of these institutions, at the same time identifying those solutions which may cause problems in practice. As regards single-member constituencies the authors claim that their introduction in elections to the Senate mostly shows a continued lack of vision for the second chamber and, in relation to local self-government elections, it may tempt municipal councils to determine the boundaries based mostly on the results of elections in former polling districts. Concerning gender quotas, the authors pointed out doubts as to their compliance with several constitutional provisions. Constitutional and interpretative doubts also appear in relation to the provision requiring candidates to have no criminal convictions. Regulations concerning election campaigning are also criticized, showing lack of preciseness of the provisions the Code which may cause a lot of doubts in practice. Discussing the possibility of a two-day voting, the authors conclude that it is no inconsistent with Poland's constitution. They support the idea of correspondence voting for citizens staying abroad and introduction of a statutory basis for activities performed by international election observers. Finally, the authors conclude that the changes introduced in electoral law mostly result from the practice of its application and are of arranging nature; therefore they should rather be approved. However, there are provisions that should be considered as imperfectly prepared, which prove the continued existence of a tendency to treat electoral law as an instrument for political dominance.
JavaScript is turned off in your web browser. Turn it on to take full advantage of this site, then refresh the page.