1926 Polish presidential elections

Two presidential elections were held in Poland in 1926. They followed the May Coup, which forced President Stanisław Wojciechowski and Prime Minister Wincenty Witos to resign and gave effective power to coup leader, Marshal Józef Piłsudski.

First 1926 Polish presidential election
31 May 1926
 
Nominee Józef Piłsudski Adolf Bniński
Party Independent Independent
Popular vote 292 193
Percentage 60.2% 39.8%
President before election

Stanisław Wojciechowski
PSL

 President

Maciej Rataj (acting)
PSL

Second 1926 Polish presidential election
1 June 1926
 
Nominee Ignacy Mościcki Adolf Bniński Zygmunt Marek
Party Sanation ZLN PPS
1st Round 215 211 56
2nd Round 281 200 1
President before election

Maciej Rataj (acting)
PSL

 President

Ignacy Mościcki
Independent

Professor Ignacy Mościcki was elected (and accepted) in place of Piłsudski

According to then Constitution President was elected by joint houses of Sejm and Senate (National Assembly).

31 May

There were two candidates: Piłsudski and supported by the National Democracy, Christian Democracy and Piast Adolf Bniński, Voivode of Poznań. Several other politicians were mentioned to run, most notably ousted President Wojciechowski, Sejm Marshal and now Acting President Maciej Rataj (Polish People's Party "Piast") and Senate Marshal Wojciech Trąmpczyński (National Democracy), but they declined to run.

Piłsudski was endorsed by left-wing groups and Biński was endorsed by national democracy.

Piłsudski defeated Biński in a single round:

Candidate Votes %
Józef Piłsudski29260.2
Adolf Bniński19339.8
Total485100

1 June

Piłsudski, now President-elect, declined to take office due to minor powers vested by the constitution. He proposed the candidacy of politically unknown Ignacy Mościcki, a well known chemist. Due to Mościcki's lack of experience and his devotion to Piłsudski, this move assured loyalty of the next President to the de facto leader.

The Polish Socialist Party, who had previously supported Piłsudski, filed their candidate:- Sejm Caucus Chair Zygmunt Marek, a man who had officially nominated Piłsudski a day earlier. Bniński ran again.

Candidate First round Second round
Votes % Votes %
Ignacy Mościcki21544.628158.3
Adolf Bniński21143.820041.5
Zygmunt Marek5611.610.2
Total482100482100

Mościcki accepted his election.

gollark: > Lobbying, persuasion, or interest representation is the act of attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, which usually involves direct, face-to-face contact, is done by many types of people, associations and organized groups, including individuals in the private sector, corporations, fellow legislators or government officials, or advocacy groups (interest groups).
gollark: ...
gollark: Often the industry's preferences conflict with people's, and they can't overrule that easily.
gollark: Eh. Sort of. It puts too much power, in my opinion, in the hands of people with moneypiles.
gollark: Benevolent dictatorships are unstable and never happen.

References
  • Zygmunt Kaczmarek, Trzej prezydenci II Rzeczypospolitej, Instytut Wydawniczy Związków Zawodowych, Warszawa 1988
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.