Sejm

The first sejm in Łęczyca in 1182, according to Jan Matejko

The Sejm (AFI: [sεjm], "seim& #34;) is the name that designates the lower house of the Polish parliament, although in other times it designated the parliament as a whole. Its full name in Polish is Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej ("Sejm of the Republic of Poland"), although it is often abbreviated to Sejm RP or simply Sejm.

History

The Sejm was first established in 1182 in the town of Łęczyca.

At the end of the 15th century it consisted of the lower house (Izba Poselska) and the upper house or senate (Senat). Until 1795 the third part of the Sejm structure was the king.

The history of the Sejm dates back to 1493. Indirect elections were held every two years.

Sejm Headquarters in Warsaw.

Since 1918, the Sejm refers only to the lower house of Parliament, while the upper house remains the Senate or Senat. Since the end of the Polish People's Republic, the Sejm has 460 members elected in proportional elections every 4 years.

Between 7 and 19 deputies are elected from each constituency using the d'Hondt method (with one exception, in 2001, when the Sainte-Laguë method was used), their number being proportional to the population of their constituency. In addition, a threshold is used, such that candidates are chosen only from parties that polled at least 5% of the vote nationally (candidates from ethnic minority parties are exempt from this threshold).

Composition

Composition of the two chambers after the 2019 Polish general election:

Leaders

^[update]

• President of Sejm (Marszałek Sejmu)
  • Elżbieta Witek (PiS)
• Vice-Presidents of Sejm (Wicemarszałkowie Sejmu)
  • Małgorzata Gosiewska (PiS)
  • Włodzimierz Czarzasty (SLD)
  • Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska (PO)
  • Ryszard Terlecki (PiS)
  • Piotr Zgorzelski (PSL)