The president of Poland (), officially the president of the Republic of Poland (), is the head of state of Poland. Their rights and obligations are determined in the Constitution of Poland. The president heads the executive branch. In addition, the president has the right to dissolve parliament in certain cases, can veto legislation and represents Poland in the international arena.
History
The first president of Poland, Gabriel Narutowicz, was sworn in as president of the Second Polish Republic on 11 December 1922. He was elected by the National Assembly (the Sejm and the Senate) under the terms of the 1921 March Constitution. Narutowicz was assassinated on 16 December 1922. Previously Józef Piłsudski had been "Chief of State" (Naczelnik Państwa) under the provisional Small Constitution of 1919. In 1926 Piłsudski staged the "May Coup", overthrew President Stanisław Wojciechowski and had the National Assembly elect a new one, Ignacy Mościcki, thus establishing the "Sanation regime". Before Piłsudski's death, parliament passed a more authoritarian 1935 April Constitution of Poland (not in accord with the amendment procedures of the 1921 March Constitution). Mościcki continued as president until he resigned in 1939 in the aftermath of the German Invasion of Poland. Mościcki and his government went into exile in Romania, where Mościcki was interned. In Angers, France Władysław Raczkiewicz, at the time the speaker of the Senate, assumed the presidency after Mościcki's resignation on 29 September 1939. Following the fall of France, the president and the Polish government-in-exile were evacuated to London, United Kingdom. The transfer from Mościcki to Raczkiewicz was in accordance with Article 24 of the 1935 April Constitution. Raczkiewicz was followed by a succession of presidents in exile, of whom the last one was Ryszard Kaczorowski.
In 1945–54 Poland became a part of Soviet-controlled central-eastern Europe. Bolesław Bierut assumed the reins of government and in July 1945 was internationally recognized as the head of state. The Senate was abolished in 1946 by the Polish people's referendum. When the Sejm passed the Small Constitution of 1947, based in part on the 1921 March Constitution, Bierut was elected president by that body. He served until the Constitution of the Polish People's Republic of 1952 eliminated the office of the president. replacing it with a collective leadership called Council of State ().
Following the 1989 amendments to the constitution which restored the presidency, general Wojciech Jaruzelski, the existing head of state, took office. In Poland's first direct presidential election, Lech Wałęsa won and was sworn in on 22 December 1990. The office of the president was preserved in the Constitution of Poland passed in 1997; the constitution now provides the requirements for, the duties of and the authority of the office.
The topic of creation the presidency role as a single-person position was meant to safeguard slow, gentle political change to keep the interests of the ruling party. By March 1989, a compromise regarding the creation of the institution of the presidency was reached between the government and the opposition. In return for a constitutionally defined presidency with various competences, the ruling party agreed to relinquish its position as managing organ within the state. The presidency would be created alongside with the restoration of a freely elected upper house, Senate. The president would be elected by a joint session of lower house (sejm) and the Senate. By this way, representatives of the opposition, sitting in the Senate, would be involved in the political process of electing the president.
The Small constitution of October 17, 1992 created a parliamentearization of the political system and while the presidency remained in the active model, it was deprived of far-reaching governing powers.
Election
The president of Poland is elected directly by the people to serve for five years and can be reelected only once. Pursuant to the provisions of the Constitution, the president is elected by an absolute majority. If no candidate succeeds in passing this threshold, a second round of voting is held with the participation of the two candidates with the largest and second largest number of votes respectively.
In order to be registered as a candidate in the presidential election, one must be a Polish citizen, be at least 35 years old on the day of the first round of the election and collect at least 100,000 signatures of registered voters.