Editing Elections in Poland (section)

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{{Politics of Poland}}
[[Poland]] has a [[multi-party system|multi-party political system]]. On the national level, Poland elects the [[head of state]] – the president – and a legislature. There are also various [[local elections in Poland|local elections]], [[Referendums in Poland|referendums]] and elections to the [[European Parliament]].

Poland has a long history of public elections dating back several centuries, beginning with the elections to [[Sejm]] in [[Łęczyca]] (known as the First Sejm) in 1182. Notably, since the Sejm of 1493, Polish [[king]]s were obliged to call regular Sejms and regional elections ([[sejmik]]s) every two years. From 1573 until 1795 the state system of [[elective monarchy]] in Poland required the [[Royal elections in Poland|royal elections of monarchs]] as well during the Sejm proceedings.<ref name="opis"/>

[[1919 Polish legislative election|The first modern and free elections]] in 20th-century Poland were held in 1919, two months after the country regained independence in 1918 after [[Partitions of Poland|over a century of partition and occupation by foreign powers]]. After the [[Second World War]], Poland fell into the Soviet sphere of influence as a [[satellite state]] and became controlled by the communists, who rigged the [[1947 Polish legislative election|elections of 1947]] to ensure they controlled the entire Polish government. There were regular elections in Poland from that time on; however, no elections until the [[1989 Polish legislative election|groundbreaking elections of 1989]], marking the [[fall of communism]], were free. The Polish communists secured a majority of the lower house seats in 1989, but allowed opposition parties to take up seats.