Contract Sejm

Template:Short description Template:More footnotes Template:Infobox legislative term Template:Sidebar with collapsible lists Contract Sejm (Template:Langx) is a term commonly applied to the Sejm ("parliament") elected in the Polish parliamentary elections of 1989. The contract refers to an agreement reached by the Polish United Workers' Party and the Solidarność ("solidarity") movement during the Polish Round Table Agreement. The final agreement was signed on April 5, 1989. As a result, real political power was vested in a newly created bicameral legislature and in a president who would be the chief executive. Solidarność became a legitimate and legal political party.

Perhaps the most important decision reached during the talks was to allow for partially free elections to be held in Poland. All seats to the newly created Senate of Poland were to be elected democratically, as were 161 seats (35 percent of the total) in Sejm. The remaining 65% of the seats were reserved for the Communist Party and its satellite parties. In addition, all 35 seats elected via the national electoral list were reserved for the Party's candidates provided they gained a certain quota of support. This was to ensure that the most notable leaders of the Party were elected.

The outcome of the election was largely unpredictable. After all, Poland had not had a free and fair election since 1928, so there was little precedent to go by. It was clear that the Communists were unpopular, but there were no hard numbers as to how low support for them would actually fall. The Communist government still had control over most major media outlets and employed sports and television celebrities for candidates, as well as successful local personalities and businesspeople. Some members of the opposition were worried that such tactics would gain enough votes from the less educated segment of the population to give the Communists the legitimacy that they craved.

The election of June 4, 1989 (and the second round of June 18) brought a landslide victory to Solidarność: 99% of all the seats in the Senate and all of the possible seats in the Sejm. Out of 100 seats in the Senate, 99 were won by Solidarity and 1 by an independent candidate. Out of 35 seats of the country-wide list, only one was gained by the Party candidate (Adam Zieliński) and one by a United People's Party satellite party candidate, while the remainder were taken by the Solidarity in the second run. Altogether, out of 161 seats eligible, Solidarity took 160.

The turnout was surprisingly low: only 62.7% in the first round and 25% in the second. The outcome was a major surprise to both the Party and Solidarity. Only a few days before June 4 the party Central Committee was discussing the possible reaction of the Western world should Solidarity not win a single seat. At the same time the Solidarity leaders were trying to prepare some set of rules for the non-party MPs in a Communist-dominated parliament, as it was expected that the Solidarity would win not more than 20 seats.

Although the elections were not entirely democratic, they paved the way for the creation of Tadeusz Mazowiecki's cabinet and a peaceful transition to democracy, which was confirmed after the Polish parliamentary elections of 1991.

The Contract Sejm's opening session took place on 5 July 1989.

Party breakdown

Clubs				Deputies (Sejm)			Senators (Senate)
Results of the 1989 election		As of 26 October 1991		Results of the 1989 election	As of 26 October 1991	Change	Results of the 1989 election	As of 26 October 1991	Change
Template:Party color cell	Polish United Workers' Party	Template:Party color cell	Parliamentary Club of the Democratic Left	173	102	Decrease 71	—	—	—
Template:Party color cell	Civic Parliamentary Club			161	105	Decrease 56	99	67	Decrease 32
Template:Party color cell	United People's Party	Template:Party color cell	Polish People's Party	76	65	Decrease 11	—	—	—
—		Template:Party color cell	Democratic Union	—	49	Increase 49	—	29	Increase 29
—		Template:Party color cell	Deputies' Labour Club	—	39	Increase 39	—	—	—
Template:Party color cell	Democratic Party			27	21	Decrease 6	—	—	—
Template:Party color cell	PAX Association			10	10	Template:Nochange	—	—	—
	Template:Ill			8	8	Template:Nochange	—	—	—
—		Template:Party color cell	Template:Ill	—	8	Increase 8	—	—	—
—		Template:Party color cell	Club of Independent Deputies (former PZPR)	—	7	Increase 7	—	—	—
—		Template:Party color cell	Club of Military Deputies (former PZPR)	—	7	Increase 7	—	—	—
—		Template:Party color cell	Labour Solidarity	—	5	Increase 5	—	—	—
—		Template:Party color cell	Template:Ill	—	4	Increase 4	—	—	—
	Template:Ill			5	4	Decrease 1	—	—	—
—		Template:Party color cell	Parliamentary Ecological Club	—	3	Increase 3	—	—	—
Template:Party color cell	Non-attached members			—	20	Increase 20	1	2	Increase 1
Total members				460	457	Decrease 3	100	98	Decrease 2
	Vacant			—	3	Increase 3	—	2	Increase 2
Total seats				460			100

Governments

Portrait		Name Sejm District (Birth–Death)	Tenure			Ministerial offices held as prime minister	Party	Government
			Took office	Left office	Duration
style="background:Template:Party color"|	Template:CSS image crop	Czesław Kiszczak None (1925–2015)	2 August 1989	24 August 1989 (no confidence vote)	Template:Age in years and days	Interior Minister (1981–1990)	Template:Party shading/Liberal | Polish United Workers' Party	Template:Party shading/Liberal |Kiszczak (PZPR–ZSL–SD)
style="background:Template:Party color"|	Template:CSS image crop	Tadeusz Mazowiecki None (1927–2013)	24 August 1989	4 January 1991	Template:Age in years and days	–	Template:Party shading/Whigs |Solidarity Citizens' Committee	rowspan=2 Template:Party shading/Coalition (UK) | Mazowiecki B: (KO‘S'–ZSL–PZPR–SD) E: (KO‘S'–UD–PSL–SD–ROAD–FPD)
style="background:Template:Party color" |							Template:Party shading/Liberal Democrats | Democratic Union
style="background:Template:Party color"|	Template:CSS image crop	Jan Krzysztof Bielecki Gdańsk - 21 (born 1951)	4 January 1991	6 December 1991	Template:Age in years and days	–	Template:Party shading/Conservative (UK) | Liberal Democratic Congress	Template:Party shading/Coalition (UK) | Template:Ill (KLD–ZChN–PC–SD)