1922 Polish legislative election

Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 5 November 1922, with Senate elections held a week later on 12 November.[1] The elections were governed by the March Constitution of Poland, and saw the Christian Union of National Unity coalition emerge as the largest bloc in the Sejm with 163 of the 444 seats.

1922 Polish legislative election

5 November 1922 (1922-11-05) (Sejm) 12 November 1922 (1922-11-12) (Senat)
All 444 seats to the Sejm
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Stanisław Głąbiński Yitzhak Gruenbaum Wincenty Witos Party ZL-N BMN Polish People's Party "Piast" (1913–31) Leader since November 1920 1922 December 1, 1918 Leader's seat 50 – Lwów 1 - Warszawa 84 - Tarnów Last election 140 did not exist 46 Seats won 98 (163 as Chjena coalition) 66 70 Seat change 42 66 24 Popular vote 1,534,011 (ca.) 1,398,250 1,153,397 Percentage 17.4% (29,1 as Chjena coalition) 16.0% 13,2%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Stanisław Thugutt Ignacy Daszyński Józef Chaciński Party PSL "Wyzwolenie" PPS PSChD Leader since 1921 1921 November 1920 Leader's seat 15 - Konin 42 - Kraków county no.8 - State list Last election 59 35 Did not exist Seats won 49 41 43 (163 as Chjena coalition) Seat change 10 6 43 Popular vote 963,385 906,537 700,000 (ca.) Percentage 11,0% 10,3% 8,0% (ca.) (29,1 as Chjena coalition)   Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party   Leader Jan Stanisław Jankowski Edward Dubanowicz Tadeusz Szułdrzyński Party NPR NChSL ChNSR Leader since 1920 July 1921 1920 Leader's seat none no.8 - State list Senate - Poznań Last election did not exist did not exist did not exist Seats won 18 11 (163 as Chjena coalition) 11 (163 as Chjena coalition) Seat change 18 11 11 Popular vote 473,676 < 250.000 < 250.000 Percentage 5,4% 2,0% (29,1 as Chjena coalition) 1,7% (29,1 as Chjena coalition)

The resulting coalitions were unstable, and the situation - difficult from the start, with assassination of Polish president Gabriel Narutowicz in December shortly after the elections - culminated in 1926 with the May Coup.

Results

Sejm

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Christian Union of National Unity	2,551,582	29.1	163	+23
Bloc of National Minorities	1,398,250	16.0	66	+64
Polish People's Party "Piast"	1,153,397	13.2	70	+24
Polish People's Party "Wyzwolenie"	963,385	11.0	49	–10
Polish Socialist Party	906,537	10.3	41	+6
National Workers' Party	473,676	5.4	18	–14
Jewish Group	405,961	4.6	18	+7
Polish Centre	259,956	3.0	6	–
Ukrainian Group	136,044	1.6	5	–
Communist Party	121,448	1.4	2	–
Radical Peasant Party	115,515	1.3	4	New
Polish People's Party "Left"	59,104	0.7	2	–10
People's Council	46,317	0.5	0	–
Unia Narodowo-Państwowa	38,160	0.4	0	–
Centrum Mieszczańskie	29,653	0.3	0	–
Invalids and Demobilised Soldiers	11,871	0.1	0	–
Others	91,842	1.0	0	–
Invalid/blank votes	58,977	–	–	–
Total	8,821,675	100	444	+50
Registered voters/turnout	12,989,718	67.9	–	–
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Senate

Party	Votes	%	Seats
Christian Union of National Unity	2,173,756	39.1	48
Bloc of National Minorities	977,075	17.6	23
Polish People's Party "Piast"	729,622	13.1	17
Polish People's Party "Wyzwolenie"	529,675	9.5	8
Polish Socialist Party	468,147	8.4	7
National Workers' Party	291,779	5.2	3
Jewish Group	179,626	3.2	4
Radical Peasant Party	56,339	1.0	0
Państwowe Zjednoczenie na Kresach	55,953	1.0	1
Polish Centre	55,805	1.0	0
Communist Party	51,094	0.9	0
Polish People's Party "Left"	25,362	0.5	0
Union of People's Councils	10,096	0.2	0
Urban Centre	3,111	0.1	0
National-State Union	2,338	0.0	0
Others	6,713	0.1	0
Invalid/blank votes	36,838	–	–
Total	5,653,329	100	111
Registered voters/turnout	9,085,690	61.6	–
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Ethnoreligious voting analysis

According to Kopstein and Wittenberg, 39% of the majority Catholic population voted for right-wing parties, 29% for non-revolutionary left-wing parties and 25% for centrist parties. The other ethnoreligious groups, including Uniates, Jews and Orthodox Christians voted largely for parties representing minority groups.[2]

Some regional differences were observed; in western Poland, 9% of the Catholic vote went to minority interest parties, which has been attributed in part to German Catholic voting, but in the east, only 1% did. Ethnic Polish support for the right wing was stronger in the east of the country, where 40% voted for right-wing parties, as opposed to the south where 16% did. No detectable regional variation existed among Jews.[3] The lack of support for the center and right among the major minorities (Jews, Ukrainians and Belarusians) was attributed to ethnic polarization that was exacerbated by discrimination and chauvinism from Polish officials.[4] Despite the success of minority parties, parties describing themselves as "Polish" refused to form a government with minority parties, and there was not one non-ethnic Polish cabinet member in the interwar period, though interethnic cooperation could still be seen in Ukrainian and Belarusian support for the Sikorski government.[3]

Estimates of voting patterns by ethnoreligious groups
Religion	Communists	Nonrevolutionary left	Minority interest parties	Center	Right-wing	Overall share (1921 census)
Catholic	2%	29%	4%	25%	39%	64%
Uniate	3%	2%	77%	1%	5%	12%
Orthodox Christian	8%	37%	66%	1%	1%	10%
Jewish	4%	18%	65%	2%	4%	11%
Overall share (1921 census)	2%	16%	24%	25%	34%

References

1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1491 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
2. Jeffrey S. Kopstein & Jason Wittenberg. "Who voted communist? Reconsidering the social bases of radicalism in interwar Poland." Slavic Review 62.1 (2003): pp87-109
3. Kopstein & Wittenberg, p99
4. Kopstein & Wittenberg, p98

Further reading

• A. J. Groth, Polish Elections 1919-1928, Slavic Review, Vol. 24, No. 4 (Dec., 1965), pp. 653–665 JSTOR