The Legislative Sejm or Constituent Sejm () was the first national parliament (Sejm), and simultaneously Constituent Assembly of the newly independent Poland, sitting from 1919 to 1922. It was elected in the 1919 Polish legislative election.
Background The Legislative Sejm was formed in the aftermath of World War I on the territories of the newly independent Second Polish Republic. In late 1918 Polish state was governed by Józef Piłsudski, who quickly begun the work to organize election to the first Polish national parliament (Sejm) since the Grodno Sejm of 1793, held two years before partitions of Poland ended the independent existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
History The elections to the Sejm took place on January 26, 1919. At that time, Poland did not have fixed boundaries, and was involved in territorial conflicts and disputes. On the territories under the nascent Polish state's control, in the lands of former Congress Kingdom and Podlasie region, and western Lesser Poland, 42 electoral districts returned 302 deputies. In addition, 20 Polish deputies to the German Parliament, 26 Polish deputies to the Austro-Hungarian Parliament, and selected candidates from the Cieszyn region (where elections were disrupted due to hostilities) were added to the Sejm. In the coming months, as the Polish control grew over some disputed territories, more elections were held: on April 25, 1919, in Greater Poland and on June 15, 1919 in the Białystok and Podlasie regions. Some deputies who were provisional representatives yielded their seats to the newly elected ones. On March 24, 1922, the Sejm was joined by 20 deputies from the Republic of Central Lithuania (the dissolved Sejm of Central Lithuania). The Sejm thus had a changing number of deputies, starting at 348 and ending its term with 432 members. About 5 million votes were cast in the election.
Important legislation passed by the Sejm included laws on the military draft, land reform, and the development of a constitution, and the state-sponsored health insurance system. In 1921 the Sejm passed the March Constitution.
Composition Due to the changing number of deputies, and the ongoing fragmentation and merger of various parties, there is a number of different composition listings for the Legislative Sejm.
The composition of the Legislative Sejm was as follows:
Party or group (Polish name)Party or group (Jędruch)Party or group (Nohlen and Stöver)Votes (Nohlen and Stöver)% (Nohlen and Stöver)Seats (Nohlen and Stöver)Seats (Jędruch)Związek Ludowo-Narodowynot listedPopular National Union1,616,15729.0140??National Democratsnot listed 72Polska Partia SocjalistycznaSocialistPolish Socialist Party515,0629.23534Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe "Wyzwolenie"Peasant WyzwoleniePolish People's Party "Wyzwolenie"839,91415.15924Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe "Piast"Peasant PiastPolish People's Party "Piast"232,9834.246listed with no numberPolskie Stronnictwo Ludowe Lewicanot listedPolish People's Party "Left"197,8383.512?not listedPolish United Peasants' Party212,0973.835?not listedPeasants' Lists234,3994.20?Peasants' Totalnot listed 90?Conservativenot listed 44Stronnictwo Katolicko-Ludowenot listedCatholic People's Party102,2921.818?Christian Democratsnot listed 31?National Labornot listed 25?Middle Classnot listed 63?Communistnot listed 2?Minority (German)National Minorities96,6771.722?Minority (Jewish)Jewish Group602,92710.81116Narodowa Partia Pracynot listedNational Workers' Union67,2851.232Bezpartyjni; bez przynależności klubowej Small parties, independents Local lists and independents 863,34915.5429Total5,580,980100394432
Marshal of the Sejm was Wojciech Trąmpczyński.
In July 1922 + Party Seats % Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe "Piast" Polish Folk 96 22,3 Związek Ludowo-Narodowy 81 18,8 Narodowe Zjednoczenie Ludowe 45 3,9 Polska Partia Socjalistyczna 34 10,4 Narodowo-Chrześcijańskie Stronnictwo Ludowe 26 6,0 Narodowo-Chrześcijański Klub Robotniczy 26 6,0 Klub: Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe "Wyzwolenie" 24 5,6 Narodowa Partia Robotnicza 21 4,9 Klub Pracy Konstytucyjnej 16 3,7 Klub: Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe—Lewica 11 2,5 Zjednoczenie Mieszczańskie 11 2,5 Stronnictwo Katolicko-Ludowe 7 1,6 Narodowa Partia Pracy (II RP) 6 1,4 Rady Ludowe 5 1,1Komunistyczna Frakcja Poselska 2 0,5 Wolne Zjednoczenie Posłów Narodowości Żydowskiej (Jews) 10 2,9 Niemieckie Stronnictwo Ludowe (Germans) 7 1,6 Independent 4 0,9 Totals 432 100
Notes a. Neither Nohlen and Stöver nor Jędruch did retain original for Polish parties and groups; they used their own translations. As such, identification with a particular entity was not always possible.
References
See also Small Constitution (1919)