1.
Lower house
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A lower house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position below the house, in many legislatures worldwide. A legislature composed of one house is described as unicameral. In comparison with the house, lower houses frequently display certain characteristics, Powers In a parliamentary system, Much more power. Able to override the upper house in some ways, can vote a motion of no confidence against the government. In a presidential system, Somewhat less power, as the house alone gives advice. Given the sole power to impeach the executive Status Always elected directly, while the house may be elected directly, indirectly. Its members may be elected with a different voting system to the upper house, most populated administrative divisions are better represented than in the upper house, representation is usually proportional to population. Elected all at once, not by staggered terms, in a parliamentary system, can be dissolved by the executive. Has total or original control over budget and monetary laws, lower age of candidacy than the upper house. Many lower houses are named in the manner, House/Chamber of Representatives/the People/Commons/Deputies
2.
Parliament of Poland
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The parliament of Poland has an upper house, the Senate, and a lower house, the Sejm. Both houses are accommodated by the Sejm complex in Warsaw, the parliament itself is without an official name, the Constitution of Poland refers only to the Sejm and the Senate. Members of both houses are elected by election, usually every four years. The Sejm has 460 members, while the Senate has 100 senators, to become law, a bill must first be approved by both houses, but the Sejm can override a Senate refusal to pass a bill. On certain occasions, the Marshal of the Sejm summons the National Assembly and its function is mostly ceremonial in nature, and it convenes only occasionally, such as to witness the inauguration of the President. Debating halls have designated seats for the deputies, senators and the Marshal, seats are also equipped in voting devices, used by deputies and senators to vote
3.
Marshal of the Sejm
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Marshal of the Sejm also known as Sejm Marshal, Chairman of the Sejm or Speaker of the Sejm is the speaker of the Sejm, the lower house of the Polish parliament. The office traces its origins to the 15th century, in modern Poland, the full title is Marshal of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth also had an office of Sejmik Marshal, in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, from 1861, the chairman of the Provincial Sejm of Galicia with its seat at Lwów bore the title Marszałek krajowy. The Kingdom of Poland, from 1916 to 1918, used the title Marszałek Rady Stanu, in the Second Polish Republic, the deputies elected one of their number as Marshal of the Sejm for the duration of the Sejms term. Until 1935, the Marshal or Chairman of the Sejm substituted for the President of Poland in the absence or disability. Today the Marshal of the Sejm is the chairman of the Presidium of the Sejm, the Marshal oversees the work of the Sejm, supervises procedural sessions of the Sejm, and convenes and chairs the proceedings of the Convention of Seniors and the Presidium of the Sejm. He appoints the Chief of the Chambers, and since 1989 substitutes for the President of Poland in the event of that offices vacancy, his/her deputy is the Deputy Marshal of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland. Marszałek senior List of Sejm Marshals Offices in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
4.
Law and Justice
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Law and Justice, abbreviated to PiS, is a right-wing national-conservative, and Christian democratic political party in Poland. With 216 seats in the Sejm and 56 in the Senate, the party was founded in 2001 by the Kaczyński twins, Lech and Jarosław. It was formed part of the Solidarity Electoral Action, with the Christian democratic Centre Agreement forming the new partys core. The party won the 2005 election, while Lech Kaczyński won the presidency, Jarosław served as Prime Minister, before calling elections in 2007, in which the party came second to Civic Platform. Several leading members, including Lech Kaczyński, died in a crash in 2010. The party programme is dominated by the Kaczyńskis conservative and law, the party is solidarist and mildly eurosceptic. PiS is a member of the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe European political party, the current sixteen PiS MEPs sit, as well as three other people elected from the PiS register, in the European Conservatives and Reformists group in the European Parliament. The AWS itself was created from an array of many small right-wing political parties. In the 2001 general election PiS gained 44 seats in the chamber of the Polish Parliament with 9. 5% of votes. In 2002, Lech Kaczyński was elected mayor of Warsaw and he handed the party leadership to his twin brother in 2003. In the 2005 general election, PiS took first place with 27. 0% of votes and it was almost universally expected that the two largest parties, PiS and Civic Platform, would form a coalition government. The putative coalition parties had an out, however, related to a fierce contest for the Polish presidency. In the end, Lech Kaczyński won the round of the presidential election on 23 October 2005 with 54. 0% of the vote, ahead of Donald Tusk. After the 2005 elections, Jarosław should have become Prime Minister, in July 2006 PiS formed a right-wing coalition government with the agrarian populist Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland and nationalist League of Polish Families, headed by Jarosław Kaczyński. Association with these parties, on the margins of Polish politics, when accusations of corruption and sexual harassment against Andrzej Lepper, the leader of Self Defense, surfaced, PiS chose to end the coalition and called for new elections. In the 2007 general election PiS managed to secure 32. 1% of votes, although an improvement over its showing from 2005, the results were nevertheless a defeat for the party, as Civic Platform gathered 41. 5%. The party won 166 out of 460 seats in the Sejm and 39 seats in Polands Senate, on 10 April 2010, its former leader Lech Kaczyński died in the 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash. The party won the 2015 parliamentary election, this time with an outright majority—something no Polish party had done since the fall of Communism, in the normal course of events, this should have made Jarosław Kaczyński prime minister for a second time
5.
Modern (political party)
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Modern, is a classical liberal political party in Poland. The party was founded in May 2015 by the economist Ryszard Petru, the party was founded in late May 2015 as NowoczesnaPL by economist Ryszard Petru. Due to some controversy over its name – there had already been an organization called the Modern Poland Foundation – in August 2015. Around the same time, the new logo was presented. The party received 7. 6% of votes in the 2015 parliamentary election, the party was admitted into the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe on 4 June 2016
6.
Civic Platform
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Civic Platform is a liberal-conservative, Christian democratic, and liberal political party in Poland. Civic Platform came to following the 2007 general election as the major coalition partner in Polands government. Tusk was re-elected as Prime Minister in the 2011 general election, Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz led the party in the 2015 general election but was defeated by the Law and Justice party. On November 16,2015 Civic Platform government stepped down after exactly 8 years in power, in 2010 Civic Platform candidate Bronisław Komorowski was elected as President of Poland, but failed in running for re-election in 2015. PO is the second largest party in the Sejm, with 138 seats, Civic Platform is a member of the European Peoples Party. The party was formed in 2001 as a split from Solidarity Electoral Action, under the leadership of Andrzej Olechowski and Maciej Płażyński, in the 2001 general election, PO emerged as the largest opposition party, behind the ruling centre-left party Democratic Left Alliance. PO remained the second-largest party at the 2005 general election, but this time behind the national-conservative party Law, in 2007, Civic Platform overtook PiS, now established as the two dominant parties, and formed a coalition government with the Polish Peoples Party. Following the Smolensk disaster of April 2010, Bronisław Komorowski became the first President from PO in the 2010 presidential election, since its creation, the party has shown stronger electoral performances in the west and north of Poland. The Civic Platform was founded in 2001 as a split from existing parties, founders Andrzej Olechowski, Maciej Płażyński, and Donald Tusk were sometimes jokingly called the Three Tenors by Polish media and commentators. Olechowski and Płażyński left the party during the 2001–2005 parliamentary term, leaving Tusk as the remaining founder. I can say that I participated in a number of discussions, above all, I had to convince Olechowski and Paweł Piskorski to an idea, I also talked to Donald Tusk, said Czempiński. In the 2001 general election the party secured 12. 6% of the vote and 58 deputies in the Sejm, in 2005, PO led all opinion polls with 26% to 30% of public support. However, in the 2005 general election, in which it was led by Jan Rokita, PO polled only 24. 1% and unexpectedly came second to the 27% garnered by Law and Justice. A centre-right coalition of PO and PiS was deemed most likely to form a government after the election, yet the putative coalition parties had a falling out in the wake of the fiercely contested Polish presidential election of 2005. Lech Kaczyński won the round of the presidential election on 23 October 2005 with 54% of the vote, ahead of Tusk. Due to the demands of PiS for control of all the armed ministries, instead, PiS formed a coalition government with the support of the League of Polish Families and Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland. PO became the opposition to this PiS-led coalition government, the PiS-led coalition fell apart in 2007 amid corruption scandal with Andrzej Lepper and Tomasz Lipiec and internal leadership disputes. These events led to the new elections in 2007, in the 21 October 2007 parliamentary election, PO won 41. 51% of the popular vote and 209 out of 460 seats in the Sejm and 60 out of 100 seats in the Senate of Poland
7.
Kukiz'15
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Kukiz15 is a right-wing political party in Poland led by punk rock musician Paweł Kukiz. It is an association, which is not registered as a political party, the key postulates are, Eliminating the monopoly of political parties in parliament. Electoral reform from a representation to first past the post. Separation of government, courts and parliament, Protection of civic liberties, the movement was founded after Kukiz stood in the 2015 presidential election, winning 21% of the vote and coming in third during the elections first round. The movement is popular among young people, Kukiz won 42% among voters aged 18 to 29 in the 2015 presidential election. In the 2015 parliamentary election Kukiz15 cooperated with the far-right National Movement, on April 2016 National Movement management decided to leave Kukiz15, but only one Member of Parliament followed party instructions. These ones, who stayed in Kukiz15, together with a few other Kukiz MPs, there was a Sejm scandal in April 2016. Kornel Morawiecki of Kukiz15 left his Sejm member card in the device when he felt sick and went out from the debating hall. After this he left Kukiz15 and launched a new party Freedom, on February 2017 three Kukiz15 MPs left the party and became a parliamentary representation of the association Republicans
8.
Council of Ministers (Poland)
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The Council of Ministers of the Republic of Poland is the collective executive decision-making body of the Polish government. The cabinet consists of the Prime Minister, also known as the President of the Council of Ministers, the Deputy Prime Minister, who acts as a vice-president of the council, the current competences and procedures of the cabinet are described between Articles 146 to 162 of the constitution. The process of forming the council of ministers begins with the nomination of the minister by the President of Poland. The prime minister will then propose the composition of the cabinet, furthermore, the president is forbidden to select a different cabinet composition than the one already selected by the prime minister. Following their nomination, all members of the take the oath of office within the Column Room of the Presidential Palace. Within fourteen days of its appointment, the cabinet, headed by the minister, is obligated to submit an agenda to the Sejm together with a vote of confidence. An absolute majority of votes in the presence of at least half of all Sejm deputies is required to approve of the cabinet, which the president will then accept and administer their oaths of office. Should a vote of confidence fail again, the process of nomination is handed back to the presidency, who must again appoint a prime minister, who will then nominate other members of the cabinet. If the vote of confidence fails a third time, the president is obliged to shorten the Sejms term of office, the council of ministers is headed by the prime minister, known also as the President of the Council of Ministers. The prime minister directs the activities and acts as its representative. Furthermore, the prime minister ensures the implementation of the policies, coordinates and controls the work of his or her ministers. The prime minister may also be assisted by a deputy prime minister, both the prime minister and deputy prime minister can discharge the functions of a minister. The deputy prime ministers position is normally offered to representatives of the junior coalition partner. Deputy prime ministers also take on other ministerial positions, the rest of the cabinet is composed of ministers, whose tasks and governmental administrative portfolios are selected and organized by the prime minister. Cabinet ministers may originate from the Sejm and Senat, Ministers may also be selected from outside of the legislature. First are the department ministers, who exercise authority and responsibility within the governments administration, including ministries, subordinate departments. Regulations by any member of the council of ministers can be overruled by the cabinet upon a motion by the prime minister, the premier is also empowered to reshuffle or remove members from the cabinet. The style of the government and the roles of its ministers are not constitutionally mandated, the constitution entrusts the cabinet to craft and implement the most important regulations and policies of the state
9.
Polish People's Party
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The Polish Peoples Party (Polish, Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe, abbreviated to PSL, often shortened to ludowcy is an agrarian and Christian democratic political party in Poland. It has 16 members of the Sejm and four Members of the European Parliament and it was the junior partner in a coalition with Civic Platform. It is a member of the European Peoples Party and the European Peoples Party group in the European Parliament, the party was formed in 1990 as a left-wing party. The PSL formed a coalition with the Democratic Left Alliance after winning 132 seats in the Sejm at the 1993 election, the party fell to 27 at the next election, and moved towards the centre at the end of the 1990s. In 2001, the party re-entered a coalition with the SLD, after the 2007 election, the PSL entered a coalition with the centre-right Civic Platform. The partys name traces its tradition to a party in Austro-Hungarian-controlled Galician Poland. Until the 2014 local election, the PSL formed self-government coalition in fifteen to sixteen regional assemblies and it was one of the most important political parties in the Second Polish Republic until it was removed by the Sanacja regime. During this time there were two parties using the term Polish Peoples Party, Polish Peoples Party Piast and Polish Peoples Party Wyzwolenie, during World War II, PSL took part in forming the Polish government in exile. The party hoped to win the Yalta Conference-mandated elections and help establish a system in Poland. The communists formed a rival peasant party allied with them, the 1947 parliamentary election was heavily rigged, with the communist-controlled bloc claiming to have won 80 percent of the vote. Many neutral observers believe the PSL would have won the election had it been conducted fairly, mikołajczyk was soon compelled to flee Poland for his life. The communists then forced the remains of Mikołajczyks PSL to unite with the pro-communist Peoples Party to form the United Peoples Party, the ZSL was a governing partner in the ruling coalition. Around the time of the fall of communism several PSLs were recreated, including, Porozumienie Ludowe, Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe - Odrodzenie, and Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe. In 1989 most merged into one party and took part in forming the first postwar noncommunist government in Poland with the Solidarity grouping and it remained on the left of Polish politics in the 1990s, entering into coalitions with the postcommunist Democratic Left Alliance. However, in the 2001 parliamentary elections PSL received 9% of votes and formed a coalition with the Democratic Left Alliance, since then PSL has moved towards more centrist and conservative policies. The party ran in the 2004 European Parliament election as part of the European Peoples Party and received 6% of the vote, in the 2005 general election the party received 7% of votes, giving it 25 seats in the Sejm and 2 in the Senate. In European parliament elections PSL received 7. 01% of votes in 2009, in 2011 national parliamentary election Polish Peoples Party received 8. 36% votes which gave them 28 seats in the Sejm and 2 mandates in the Senate. At the 2015 parliamentary election, the PSL dropped to 5.13 percent of the vote, with 16 seats, it is the smallest of the five factions in the Sejm
10.
Open list
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Open list describes any variant of party-list proportional representation where voters have at least some influence on the order in which a partys candidates are elected. Additionally, an open list system can allow a voter the alternative of voting for the party as a whole without expressing a preference between individuals. There are differences possible between varying open list systems, each giving the voter varying amounts of influence, voters choice is usually called preference vote. A relatively closed open list system is one where a candidate must get a full quota of votes on his or her own to be assured of winning a seat. The total number of seats won by the party minus the number of its candidates that achieved this quota gives the number of unfilled seats and these are then successively allocated to the partys not-yet-elected candidates who were ranked highest on the original list. In a more open list system, the quota for election could be lowered from the above amount and it is then possible that more of a partys candidates achieve this quota than the total seats won by the party. It should therefore be made clear in advance whether list ranking or absolute votes take precedence in that case, in Dutch elections the voter can give his vote to any candidate in a list, the vote for this candidate is called a preference vote. If a candidate has at least 25% of the quota then he/she takes priority over the other candidates who stand higher on the party list. An example, A party list got 5000 votes, if the quota is 1000 votes, then the party wins five seats. Candidates #1, #7 and #4 have each achieved 25% of the quota and they get the first three of the five seats the party has won. The other two seats will be taken by #2 and #3, the two highest remaining positions on the party list and this means that #5 is not elected even though being the fifth on the list and having more preference votes than #2. In practice, at the level only one or two candidates can precede on their lists. This happens more often at the level where the quota is lower. Parties usually allow candidates to ask for votes, but without campaigning negatively against other candidates on the list. In elections in Sweden, the most open list is used, in Slovakia each voter may, in addition to the party, select one to four candidates from the ordered party list. Candidates who are selected by more than 3% of the voters are elected first. For European elections, voters select two candidates and the candidates must have more than 10% of the votes to override the party list. In the European election in 2009 three of Slovakias thirteen MEPs were elected solely by virtue of preference votes and only one was elected solely by virtue of her position on the party list, sometimes, however, people want to express their support for a particular person
11.
Proportional representation
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Proportional representation characterizes electoral systems by which divisions in an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. If n% of the support an particular political party, then roughly n% of seats will be won by that party. The essence of such systems is that all votes contribute to the result, not just a plurality, or a bare majority, Proportional representation requires the use of multiple-member voting districts, it is not possible using single-member districts alone. In fact, the most proportional representation is achieved when just one super-district is used, the two most widely used families of PR voting systems are party list PR and single transferable vote. Mixed member proportional representation, also known as the Additional Member System, is a hybrid Mixed Electoral System that uses party list PR as its proportional component, with party list PR, political parties define candidate lists and voters vote for a list. The relative vote for each list determines how many candidates from each list are actually elected, lists can be closed or open, open lists allow voters to indicate individual candidate preferences and vote for independent candidates. Voting districts can be small or as large as a province or an entire nation, the single transferable vote uses small districts, with voters ranking individual candidates in order of preference. During the count, as candidates are elected or eliminated, surplus or discarded votes that would otherwise be wasted are transferred to other candidates according to the preferences, STV enables voters to vote across party lines and to elect independent candidates. Voters have two votes, one for their district and one for the party list, the party list vote determining the balance of the parties in the elected body. Biproportional apportionment, first used in Zurich in 2006, is a method for adjusting an elections result to achieve overall proportionality. Some form of representation is used for national lower house elections in 94 countries, party list PR. As with all systems, there are overlapping and contentious claims in terms of its advantages and disadvantages. But does it follow that the minority should have no representatives at all, is it necessary that the minority should not even be heard. Nothing but habit and old association can reconcile any reasonable being to the needless injustice, in a really equal democracy, every or any section would be represented, not disproportionately, but proportionately. A majority of the electors would always have a majority of the representatives, man for man, they would be as fully represented as the majority. Unless they are, there is not equal government, many academic political theorists agree with Mill, that in a representative democracy the representatives should represent all segments of society. The established parties in UK elections can win formal control of the parliament with as little as 35% of votes, in Canada, majority governments are regularly formed by parties with the support of under 40% of votes cast. Coupled with turnout levels in the electorate of less than 60%, in the 2005 general election, for example, the Labour Party under Tony Blair won a comfortable parliamentary majority with the votes of only 21. 6% of the total electorate
12.
Election threshold
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The electoral threshold is the minimum share of the vote which a political party requires to secure any representation in a legislature. This limit can operate in various ways, if there are a number of multi-member constituencies, each constituency will have a quota, i. e. a minimum percentage of the votes in that constituency to be awarded one seat. Lijphart suggested calculating the informal threshold as the mean of these, in Polands Sejm, Germanys Bundestag and New Zealands House of Representatives, the threshold is 5%. However, in Germany and New Zealand, if a party wins a number of directly elected seats—three in Germany. The threshold is 3. 25% in Israels Knesset, and 10% in the Turkish parliament, in Poland, ethnic minority parties do not have to reach the threshold level to get into the parliament, and so there is always a small German minority representation in the Sejm. In Romania, for the minority parties there is a different threshold than for the national parties that run for the Chamber of Deputies. In the Slovenian parliamentary elections of 1992 and 1996 the threshold was set at 3 parliamentary seats and this meant that the parties needed to win about 3. 2% of the votes in order to pass the threshold. In 2000 the threshold was raised to 4% of the votes, in Sweden, there is a nationwide threshold of 4%, but if a party reaches 12% in one election district, it will take part in the seat allocation for that district. However, through the 2014 election, nobody has been elected based on the 12% rule, in Norway the nationwide electoral threshold of 4% applies only to leveling seats. A party with sufficient local support may still win the district seats. Following the 2009 election, the Liberal Party won two seats in this manner, in the United States, as the majority of elections are conducted under the first-past-the-post system, legal election thresholds do not apply in the actual voting. However, several states have requirements for parties to obtain automatic ballot access to the next general election without having to submit voter-signed petitions. The threshold rules also apply for independent candidates to obtain ballot access, countries can have more than one threshold. Most multiple-threshold systems are still in the proposal stage, election thresholds are often implemented with the intention of bringing stability to the political system. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe recommends for parliamentary elections a threshold not higher than 3%. However a 2007 European Court of Human Rights decision, Yumak and Sadak v. Turkey, because Turkey has no limits for independent candidates, the 10% rule has to some extent been circumvented by parties running candidates as independents. Examples of elections where established parties fall below the threshold are, all five parties that passed the 10% threshold in 1999 elections, as well as two other major parties, failed to pass the threshold in 2002, rocking the Turkish politics to its foundations. Notably DYP got 9. 55%, MHP got 8. 34%, GP got 7. 25%, DEHAP got 6. 23%, ANAP got 5. 13%, SP got 2. 48% and DSP got 1. 22%, all falling below the threshold
13.
Polish parliamentary election, 2015
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Parliamentary elections to both the Sejm and Senate were held in Poland on 25 October 2015. The election was won by the largest opposition party Law and Justice with 37. 6% of the vote against the governing Civic Platform, PiS vice chairwoman Beata Szydło succeeded PO leader Ewa Kopacz as Prime Minister of Poland, heading a one-party cabinet. Official results, announced on 27 October, gave Law and Justice with 235 of 460 seats and it was also the first election in Poland since the introduction of liberal democracy in 1989 that a party won an absolute majority in the Sejm. The senate is elected using first-past-the-post voting in single-member districts, to be included on a ballot, a senate candidate must present 2,000 signatures of support from their constituents. For Sejm elections, the threshold is 5,000 signatures per constituency, overall, the Sejm includes 460 MPs. Should a party have 231 or more deputies in Parliament, it has a majority and can thus govern autonomously. The constitution can be amended with a supermajority of two-thirds, or 307 deputies, the date of the election,25 October, was set by the previous President of Poland, Bronisław Komorowski. The latest possible date for the election to be held was in November 2015, prior to the announcement of the election date, the most likely dates were thought to be in October or November. In the previous elections in 2011 the Civic Platform–Polish Peoples Party coalition government, in power since 2007. All 460 seats in the Sejm and 100 seats in the Senate were up for election, the opposition party, Law and Justice won the election with 37. 58% of the vote against the governing Civic Platform, which gained a 24. 09% share. Beata Szydło became the new Prime Minister, succeeding Ewa Kopacz, notes The perceived winner of the election was Law and Justice, which made history as the first and only party in Poland to win majority government in a free election, since 1991. The other parties considered winners were two parties, Kukizs Movement and Ryszard Petrus Modern party. Two of the biggest losers were Civic Platform and the Polish Peoples Party, PO suffered its worst result in a parliamentary election in ten years, ending eight years of political dominance. The PSL, the partner in the outgoing government, had its worst result in 25 years. Another perceived loser was the Democratic Left Alliance, Polands largest left-wing party, the SLD ran as the largest partner of the United Left, which was 0. 5% short of the 8% threshold for electoral alliances to win seats. Political analysts noted that the election marked the first time in the post-communist era that a political party received enough votes to form a majority government. BBC News suggested that Law and Justices strategy of putting forward Szydło as its candidate for prime minister was a formula in the election. Szydło was widely perceived as being more moderate than PiS outspoken leader, however, it also noted that Kaczyński could step into the role of prime minister after the election
14.
Poland
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Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges in the south. Bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, the total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres, making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. With a population of over 38.5 million people, Poland is the 34th most populous country in the world, the 8th most populous country in Europe, Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions, and its capital and largest city is Warsaw. Other metropolises include Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk and Szczecin, the establishment of a Polish state can be traced back to 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of a territory roughly coextensive with that of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe, Poland regained its independence in 1918 at the end of World War I, reconstituting much of its historical territory as the Second Polish Republic. In September 1939, World War II started with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, followed thereafter by invasion by the Soviet Union. More than six million Polish citizens died in the war, after the war, Polands borders were shifted westwards under the terms of the Potsdam Conference. With the backing of the Soviet Union, a communist puppet government was formed, and after a referendum in 1946. During the Revolutions of 1989 Polands Communist government was overthrown and Poland adopted a new constitution establishing itself as a democracy, informally called the Third Polish Republic. Since the early 1990s, when the transition to a primarily market-based economy began, Poland has achieved a high ranking on the Human Development Index. Poland is a country, which was categorised by the World Bank as having a high-income economy. Furthermore, it is visited by approximately 16 million tourists every year, Poland is the eighth largest economy in the European Union and was the 6th fastest growing economy on the continent between 2010 and 2015. According to the Global Peace Index for 2014, Poland is ranked 19th in the list of the safest countries in the world to live in. The origin of the name Poland derives from a West Slavic tribe of Polans that inhabited the Warta River basin of the historic Greater Poland region in the 8th century, the origin of the name Polanie itself derives from the western Slavic word pole. In some foreign languages such as Hungarian, Lithuanian, Persian and Turkish the exonym for Poland is Lechites, historians have postulated that throughout Late Antiquity, many distinct ethnic groups populated the regions of what is now Poland. The most famous archaeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the Biskupin fortified settlement, dating from the Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age, the Slavic groups who would form Poland migrated to these areas in the second half of the 5th century AD. With the Baptism of Poland the Polish rulers accepted Christianity and the authority of the Roman Church
15.
Polish language
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Polish is a West Slavic language spoken primarily in Poland and is the native language of the Poles. It belongs to the Lechitic subgroup of the West Slavic languages, Polish is the official language of Poland, but it is also used throughout the world by Polish minorities in other countries. It is one of the languages of the European Union. Its written standard is the Polish alphabet, which has 9 additions to the letters of the basic Latin script, Polish is closely related to Kashubian, Silesian, Upper Sorbian, Lower Sorbian, Czech and Slovak. It is also the second most widely spoken Slavic language, after Russian, in history, Polish is known to be an important language, both diplomatically and academically in Central and Eastern Europe. Today, Polish is spoken by over 38.5 million people as their first language in Poland. It is also spoken as a language in western parts of Belarus and Ukraine, west and central Lithuania, as well as the northern parts of the Czech Republic. There are 55 million Polish language speakers around the world, Polish began to emerge as a distinct language around the 10th century, the process largely triggered by the establishment and development of the Polish state. With Christianity, Poland also adopted the Latin alphabet, which made it possible to write down Polish, the precursor to modern Polish is the Old Polish language. Ultimately, Polish is thought to descend from the unattested Proto-Slavic language, Poland is the most linguistically homogeneous European country, nearly 97% of Polands citizens declare Polish as their first language. Elsewhere, Poles constitute large minorities in Lithuania, Belarus, Polish is the most widely used minority language in Lithuanias Vilnius County and is found elsewhere in southeastern Lithuania. There are significant numbers of Polish speakers among Polish emigrants and their descendants in many other countries, in the United States, Polish Americans number more than 11 million but most of them cannot speak Polish fluently. The largest concentrations of Polish speakers reported in the census were found in three states, Illinois, New York, and New Jersey. Enough people in these areas speak Polish that PNC Financial Services offer services available in Polish at all of their machines in addition to English and Spanish. According to the 2011 census there are now over 500,000 people in England, in Canada, there is a significant Polish Canadian population, There are 242,885 speakers of Polish according to the 2006 census, with a particular concentration in Toronto and Montreal. The geographical distribution of the Polish language was affected by the territorial changes of Poland immediately after World War II. Poles settled in the Recovered Territories in the west and north and this tendency toward a homogeneity also stems from the vertically integrated nature of the authoritarian Polish Peoples Republic. The inhabitants of different regions of Poland still speak standard Polish somewhat differently, first-language speakers of Polish have no trouble understanding each other, and non-native speakers may have difficulty distinguishing regional variations
16.
Universal suffrage
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The concept of universal suffrage, also known as general suffrage or common suffrage, consists of the right to vote of all except a small number of adult citizens. As minors are excluded, the concept is frequently described as universal adult suffrage. Many countries make an exception for small numbers of adults that are considered incapable of voting. Other countries also exclude people convicted of crimes or people in jail. In some countries, including the United States, it is very difficult, in any case, where universal suffrage exists, the right to vote is not restricted by race, sex, belief, wealth, or social status. The term active suffrage is sometimes used for the right to vote, passive suffrage for the right to run for office, the equivalent term when talking about both genders would then be universal full suffrage, or full universal suffrage. Greece recognized full male suffrage in 1830 and France and Switzerland have continuously done so since the 1848 Revolution, the German Empire implemented full male suffrage in 1871. In 1893, the self-governing colony New Zealand became the first country in the world to grant active universal suffrage by giving women the right to vote and it did not grant universal full suffrage until 1919. In 1902 Australia become the first country to grant full suffrage for women, however, universal suffrage was not implemented, as aboriginals didnt get the right to vote until 1962. It also elected the worlds first female members of parliament the following year, in most countries, universal suffrage followed about a generation after universal male suffrage. Notable exceptions in Europe were France, where women could not vote until 1944, Greece and it is worth noting that countries that took a long time to adopt womens suffrage had previously often been pioneers in granting universal male suffrage. In the first modern democracies, governments restricted the vote to those with property and wealth, in some jurisdictions, other restrictions existed, such as requiring voters to practice a given religion. In all modern democracies, the number of people who could vote has increased progressively with time, in the 19th century in Europe, Great Britain and North America, there were movements advocating universal suffrage. The democratic movement of the late 19th century, unifying liberals and social democrats, particularly in northern Europe, used the slogan Equal, the concept of universal suffrage requires the right to vote to be granted to all its residents. All countries, however, do not allow certain categories of citizens to vote, saudi Arabia was the last major country that did not allow women to vote, but admitted women both to voting and candidacy in the 2015 municipal elections. France, under the 1793 Jacobin constitution, was the first major country to enact suffrage for all adult males, the Second French Republic did institute adult male suffrage after the revolution of 1848. In 1867, Germany enacted suffrage for all adult males, in the United States following the American Civil War, slaves were freed and granted rights of citizens, including suffrage for adult males. Several European nations that had enacted universal suffrage had their legal process, or their status as an independent nation, interrupted during
17.
Speaker (politics)
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The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer. The title was first used in 1399 in England, the speakers official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, and the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the powers to members who break the procedures of the chamber or house. The speaker often also represents the body in person, as the voice of the body in ceremonial, the title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerford in the Parliament of England. By convention, speakers are normally addressed in Parliament as Mister Speaker, if a man, or Madam Speaker, in other cultures other styles are used, mainly being equivalents of English chairman or president. Many bodies also have a pro tempore, designated to fill in when the speaker is not available. The Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives is the officer of the Australian House of Representatives. The President of the Australian Senate is the officer of the Australian Senate. Now constitutional community highlights changes also in this role, in Canada, the Speaker of the House of Commons is the individual elected to preside over the House of Commons, the elected lower house. The speaker is a Member of Parliament and is elected at the beginning of new parliament by fellow MPs. The Speakers role in presiding over Canadas House of Commons is similar to that of speakers elsewhere in countries that use the Westminster system. The Speaker does not vote except in the case of a tie, by convention, if required to vote, the Speaker will vote in favour of continuing debate on a matter, but will not ultimately vote for a measure to be approved. The Speaker of the Senate of Canada is the officer of the Senate of Canada. The Speaker represents the Senate at official functions, rules on questions of procedure and parliamentary privilege. The Speaker of the Senate is appointed by the Governor General of Canada from amongst sitting senators upon the advice of the Prime Minister, the Speaker has a vote on all matters. In the event of a tie, the matter fails, at the provincial level, the presiding officer of the provincial legislatures is called the Speaker in all provinces except Quebec, where the term President is used. The presiding officer fulfills the role as the Speaker of the House of Commons. In the United Kingdom, the Speaker of the House of Commons is the elected to preside over the elected House of Commons
18.
Upper house
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An upper house, sometimes called a Senate, is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house. The house formally designated as the house is usually smaller. Examples of upper houses in countries include the UKs House of Lords, Canadas Senate, Indias Rajya Sabha, Russias Federation Council, Irelands Seanad, Germanys Bundesrat, a legislature composed of only one house is described as unicameral. An upper house is different from the lower house in at least one of the following respects, Powers, In a parliamentary system. Therefore, in countries the Upper House votes on only limited legislative matters. Cannot vote a motion of no confidence against the government, while the house always can. In a presidential system, It may have equal or nearly equal power with the lower house and it may have specific powers not granted to the lower house. For example, It may give advice and consent to some executive decisions and it may have the sole power to try impeachments against officials of the executive, following enabling resolutions passed by the lower house. Status, In some countries, its members are not popularly elected, membership may be indirect and its members may be elected with a different voting system than that used to elect the lower house. Less populated states, provinces, or administrative divisions may be represented in the upper house than in the lower house. Members terms may be longer than in the house. Members may be elected in portions, for staggered terms, rather than all at one time, in some countries, the upper house cannot be dissolved at all, or can be dissolved only in more limited circumstances than the lower house. It typically has fewer members or seats than the lower house and it has usually a higher age of candidacy than the lower house. In parliamentary systems the upper house is seen as an advisory or revising chamber. Some or all of the restrictions are often placed on upper houses. No absolute veto of proposed legislation, though suspensive vetoes are permitted in some states, in countries where it can veto legislation, it may not be able to amend the proposals. A reduced or even absent role in initiating legislation, additionally, a Government must have the consent of both to remain in office, a position which is known as perfect bicameralism or equal bicameralism. An example is the British House of Lords, bills can only be delayed for up to one year before the Commons can use the Parliament Act, although economic bills can only be delayed for one month
19.
Senate of Poland
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The Senate is the upper house of the Polish parliament, the lower house being the Sejm. The history of the Polish Senate is rich in tradition and stretches back over 500 years and it was one of the first constituent bodies of a bicameral parliament in Europe and existed without hiatus until the dismemberment of the Polish state in 1795. After a brief period of existence in the period the Senate was again abolished by the authorities of the Peoples Republic of Poland. It was not re-established until the collapse of communism and rebirth of democracy in Poland in 1989, the Senate is based in Warsaw and is located in a building which forms part of the Sejm Complex on Ul. Wiejska, close to Three Crosses Square and Ujazdow Castle and it consists of 100 senators elected by universal ballot and is headed by the Marshal of the Senate. The incumbent Marshal of the Senate is Senior Marshal Stanisław Karczewski, in line with Article 10, Paragraph 2, and Article 95 of the Polish Constitution of April 2,1997, the Senate and the Sejm exercises legislative power. The Senate is composed of 100 senators who are elected for a term of four years in general election in a vote by secret ballot. Alongside the Sejm, the President of the Polish Republic, the Council of Ministers and all citizens of Poland, the Senate is allowed 30 days to examine any piece of draft legislation passed by the Sejm,14 days if a bill is considered to be urgent. Any bill submitted by the Sejm to the Senate may be adopted by the latter without any amendments or amended or rejected. Any resolution of the Senate, as a result of which a bill is repealed or amended, is considered to be passed provided it has not been rejected by the Sejm, however, for the state budget, the Senate has 20 days to examine it. For amending the constitution, the Senate has 60 days for analysis, if the constitution is amended, identical wording of the amendment must be approved by both the Sejm and the Senate. The president cannot decide to stage a nationwide referendum on matters of importance unless he or she has been given explicit permission to do so by the Senate. The Senate is also empowered to examine any reports submitted by the Commissioner for the Protection of Citizens Rights, however, unlike the Sejm, the Senate has no role in providing for oversight of the executive. The Senate can be traced back approximately five hundred years to a council of royal advisors, in 1501 at Mielnik, senators attempted to force the soon to be crowned king Alexander I Jagiellon to devolve all royal powers relating to the governing of the state to them. However, whilst Alexander first agreed, after his coronation he refused to affirm this privilege, later the Nihil Novi act of 1505 affirmed the right of both the Chamber of Envoys and Senate to propagate common law for the kingdom. At this time the competences of the Senate were also laid down as pertaining to participation in legislation, foreign policy, in 1537 the Senate followed a course of action which would have seen it become the most important institution in protecting landowners’ rights and freedoms. However, this view was at odds with those of Sigismund I the Old who believed that the Senate was becoming far too powerful. Resultantly, over the period of 1562–69, the Senate lost many of its powers and influence, eventually becoming subordinate to its formerly-equal companion body, the Chamber of Envoys
20.
Second Polish Republic
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The Second Polish Republic, also known as the Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland, refers to the country of Poland between the First and Second World Wars. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland and it had access to the Baltic Sea via a short strip of coastline either side of the city of Gdynia. Between March and August 1939, Poland also shared a border with the then-Hungarian governorate of Subcarpathia, the Second Republic was significantly different in territory to the current Polish state. It included substantially more territory in the east and less in the west, the Second Republics land area was 388,634 km2, making it, in October 1938, the sixth largest country in Europe. After the annexation of Zaolzie, this grew to 389,720 km2, according to the 1921 census, the number of inhabitants was 27.2 million. By 1939, just before the outbreak of World War II, almost a third of population came from minority groups,13. 9% Ukrainians, 10% Jews,3. 1% Belarusians,2. 3% Germans and 3. 4% Czechs, Lithuanians and Russians. At the same time, a significant number of ethnic Poles lived outside the country borders, Poland maintained a slow but steady level of economic development. By 1939, the Republic had become one of Europes major powers, the victorious Allies of World War I confirmed the rebirth of Poland in the Treaty of Versailles of June 1919. It was one of the stories of the 1919 Paris Peace Conference. Poland solidified its independence in a series of wars fought by the newly formed Polish Army from 1918 to 1921. The extent of the half of the interwar territory of Poland was settled diplomatically in 1922. In the course of World War I, Germany gradually gained overall dominance on the Eastern Front as the Imperial Russian Army fell back, German and Austro-Hungarian armies seized the Russian-ruled part of what became Poland. In a failed attempt to resolve the Polish question as quickly as possible, Berlin set up a German puppet state on 5 November 1916, with a governing Provisional Council of State, the Council administered the country under German auspices, pending the election of a king. A month before Germany surrendered on 11 November 1918 and the war ended, the Regency Council had dissolved the Council of State, with the notable exception of the Marxist-oriented Social Democratic Party of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania, most Polish political parties supported this move. On 23 October the Regency Council appointed a new government under Józef Świeżyński, in 1918–1919, over 100 workers councils sprang up on Polish territories, on 5 November 1918, in Lublin, the first Soviet of Delegates was established. On 6 November socialists proclaimed the Republic of Tarnobrzeg at Tarnobrzeg in Austrian Galicia, the same day the Socialist, Ignacy Daszyński, set up a Provisional Peoples Government of the Republic of Poland in Lublin. On Sunday,10 November at 7 a. m, Józef Piłsudski, newly freed from 16 months in a German prison in Magdeburg, returned by train to Warsaw. Piłsudski, together with Colonel Kazimierz Sosnkowski, was greeted at Warsaws railway station by Regent Zdzisław Lubomirski, next day, due to his popularity and support from most political parties, the Regency Council appointed Piłsudski as Commander in Chief of the Polish Armed Forces
21.
Veche
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Veche was a popular assembly in medieval Slavic countries. In Novgorod, where the veche acquired the greatest prominence, the veche was broadly similar to the Norse thing or the Swiss Landsgemeinde, the semantic derivation that yields the meaning of the word under consideration is parallel to that of congregation. The contemporary words svedeniya and svidchennya both meaning information are cognates of this word, the East Slavic veche is thought to have originated in tribal assemblies of Eastern Europe, thus predating the Rus state. The earliest mentions of veche in East European chronicles refer to examples in Belgorod Kievsky in 997, Novgorod the Great in 1016, the assemblies discussed matters of war and peace, adopted laws, and called for and expelled rulers. In Kiev, the veche was summoned in front of the Cathedral of St Sophia, in Ukraine, the town viche was simply a gathering of community members to inform everybody of important events and come up with a collective planning for the near future. The veche was the highest legislature and judicial authority in the Republic of Novgorod until 1478, Аn upper Senate-like Council of Lords was also created, with title membership for all former city magistrates. Some sources indicate that veche membership may have become full-time, some of the more recent scholars call this interpretation into question. The Novgorod assembly could be summoned by anyone who rung the veche bell. The whole population of the city - boyars, merchants, separate assemblies could be held in the boroughs or Ends of Novgorod. Of all other towns of Novgorod Land, the only mention a veche in Torzhok. In the Pskov Republic the veche continued until 1510, when city was taken over by Grand Prince Vasilii III. In Pskov the veche assembled in the court of the Trinity cathedral, veches, known in Poland as wiece, were convened even before the beginning of the Polish statehood in the Kingdom of Poland. Issues were first debated by the elders and leaders, and later presented to all the men for a wider discussion. One of the types of wiec was the one convened to choose a new ruler. By the 12th or 13th centuries, the wiec institution likewise limited its participation to high ranking nobles, the nationwide gatherings of wiec officials in 1306 and 1310 can be seen as precursors of the Polish parliament. Paul, The Iaroslavichi and the Novgorodian Veche, A Case Study on Princely Relations with the Veche, Russian History
22.
Casimir III the Great
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Casimir III the Great reigned as the King of Poland from 1333 to 1370. He was the son of King Władysław I and Duchess Hedwig of Kalisz, Kazimierz inherited a kingdom weakened by war and made it prosperous and wealthy. He reformed the Polish army and doubled the size of the kingdom and he reformed the judicial system and introduced a legal code, gaining the title the Polish Justinian. Kazimierz built extensively and founded the University of Kraków, the oldest Polish university and he also confirmed privileges and protections previously granted to Jews and encouraged them to settle in Poland in great numbers. Kazimierz left no male heir to his throne, producing only daughters. When Kazimierz died in 1370 from an injury received while hunting, his nephew, King Louis I of Hungary, when Kazimierz attained the throne in 1333, his position was in danger, as his neighbours did not recognise his title and instead called him king of Kraków. The kingdom was depopulated and exhausted by war, and the economy was ruined, in 1335, in the Treaty of Trentschin, Casimir was forced to relinquish his claims to Silesia in perpetuity. Kazimierz rebuilt and his kingdom prosperous and wealthy, with great prospects for the future. He waged many wars and doubled the size of the kingdom. He founded the University of Kraków, the oldest Polish University, Kazimierz is the only king in Polish history to both receive and retain the title of Great. In 1355, in Buda, Kazimierz designated his nephew Louis I of Hungary as his successor should he produce no male heir, in exchange Kazimierz gained Hungarian favourable attitude, needed in disputes with the hostile Teutonic Order and Kingdom of Bohemia. Kazimierz at the time was still in his years and having a son did not seem to be a problem. Kazimierz left no son, however, bearing five daughters instead. He tried to adopt his grandson, Casimir IV, Duke of Pomerania, the child had been born to his second daughter, Elisabeth, Duchess of Pomerania, in 1351. This part of the testament was invalidated by Louis I of Hungary, however, thus King Louis I of Hungary became successor in Poland. Louis was proclaimed king upon Kazimierzs death in 1370, though Kazimierzs sister Elisabeth held much of the power until her death in 1380. Casimir was facetiously named the Peasants King and he introduced the codes of law of Greater and Lesser Poland as an attempt to end the overwhelming superiority of the nobility. During his reign all three major classes — the nobility, priesthood, and bourgeoisie — were more or less counterbalanced and he was known for siding with the weak when the law did not protect them from nobles and clergymen
23.
Old Church Slavonic
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Old Church Slavonic, also known as Old Church Slavic, was the first Slavic literary language. It is thought to have been based primarily on the dialect of the 9th century Byzantine Slavs living in the Province of Thessalonica, as the oldest attested Slavic language, OCS provides important evidence for the features of Proto-Slavic, the reconstructed common ancestor of all Slavic languages. The language was standardized for the mission of the two apostles to Great Moravia in 863, the language and the alphabet were taught at the Great Moravian Academy and were used for government and religious documents and books between 863 and 885. The texts written during this phase contain characteristics of the Slavic vernaculars in Great Moravia, in 885, the use of Old Church Slavonic in Great Moravia was prohibited by Pope Stephen V in favour of Latin. Students of the two apostles, who were expelled from Great Moravia in 886, brought the Glagolitic alphabet to the First Bulgarian Empire, there it was taught at two literary schools, the Preslav Literary School and the Ohrid Literary School. The Glagolitic alphabet was used at both schools, though the Cyrillic script was developed early on at the Preslav Literary School where it superseded Glagolitic. The texts written during this era exhibit certain linguistic features of the vernaculars of the First Bulgarian Empire and these local varieties are collectively known as the Church Slavonic language. In Bosnia was preserved the local Bosnian Cyrillic alphabet, while in Croatia a variant of the Glagolitic alphabet was preserved, see Early Cyrillic alphabet for a detailed description of the script and information about the sounds it originally expressed. For Old Church Slavonic, the segments are reconstructible. The sounds are given in Slavic transliterated form rather than in IPA, as the realisation is uncertain. The letter щ denoted different sounds in different dialects and is not shown in the table, in Bulgaria, it represented the sequence /ʃt/, and it is normally transliterated as št for that reason. Farther west and north, it was probably /c/ or /tɕ/ like in modern Macedonian, Torlakian and Serbian/Croatian, /dz/ appears mostly in early texts, becoming /z/ later on. The distinction between l, n and r, on one hand, and palatal l, n and r, when it is, it is shown by a kamora diacritic over the letter. Accent is not indicated in writing and must be inferred from later languages, the pronunciation of yat ě differed by area. In Bulgaria it was an open vowel, commonly reconstructed as /æ/. The yer vowels ĭ and ŭ are often called ultrashort and were lower, more centralised and shorter than their counterparts i and they disappeared in most positions in the word, already sporadically in the earliest texts but more frequently later on. They also tended to merge with other vowels, particularly ĭ with e and ŭ with o, the exact articulation of the nasal vowels is unclear because different areas tend to merge them with different vowels. ę is occasionally seen to merge with e or ě in South Slavic, ǫ generally merges with u or o, but in Bulgaria, ǫ was apparently unrounded and eventually merged with ŭ
24.
History of Poland during the Piast dynasty
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The period of rule by the Piast dynasty between the 10th and 14th centuries is the first major stage of the history of the Polish nation. The dynasty was founded by a series of dukes listed by the chronicler Gallus Anonymous in the early 12th century, (Siemowit, Lestek and it was Mieszko I, the son of Siemomysł, who is now considered the proper founder of the Polish state at about 960 AD. The ruling house then remained in power in the Polish lands until 1370, Mieszko converted to Christianity of the Western Latin Rite in an event known as the Baptism of Poland in 966, which established a major cultural boundary in Europe based on religion. He also completed a unification of the West Slavic tribal lands that was fundamental to the existence of the new country of Poland. Mieszkos son Bolesław I Chrobry established a Roman Catholic Archdiocese in Gniezno, the first Piast monarchy collapsed with the death of Mieszko II Lambert in 1034, followed by its restoration under Casimir I in 1042. In the process, the dignity for Polish rulers was forfeited. Bolesław III, the last duke of the period, succeeded in defending his country. Upon his death in 1138, Poland was divided among his sons, the resulting internal fragmentation eroded the initial Piast monarchical structure in the 12th and 13th centuries and caused fundamental and lasting changes. Konrad I of Masovia invited the Teutonic Knights to help him fight the Baltic Prussian pagans, which led to centuries of Polands warfare with the Knights and the German Prussian state. In 1320, the kingdom was restored under Władysław I the Elbow-high, the western provinces of Silesia and Pomerania were lost after the fragmentation, and Poland began expanding to the east. The period ended with the reigns of two members of the Capetian House of Anjou between 1370 and 1384, the consolidation in the 14th century laid the base for the new powerful kingdom of Poland that was to follow. Accelerated rebuilding of old tribal fortified settlements, construction of new ones. The Polish state developed from these roots in the second half of the century. According to the 12th-century chronicler Gallus Anonymus, the Polans were ruled at this time by the Piast dynasty, in existing sources from the 10th century, Piast ruler Mieszko I was first mentioned by Widukind of Corvey in his Res gestae saxonicae, a chronicle of events in Germany. Widukind reported that Mieszkos forces were defeated in 963 by the Veleti tribes acting in cooperation with the Saxon exile Wichmann the Younger. Under Mieszkos rule, his tribal state accepted Christianity and became the Polish state, the viability of the Mieszkos emerging state was assured by the persistent territorial expansion of the early Piast rulers. Beginning with a small area around Gniezno, the Piast expansion lasted throughout most of the 10th century. The Polanie tribe conquered and merged with other Slavic tribes and first formed a tribal federation, after the addition of Lesser Poland, the country of the Vistulans, and of Silesia, Mieszkos state reached its mature form, including the main regions regarded as ethnically Polish
25.
Bicameral system
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A bicameral legislature is one in which the legislators are divided into two separate assemblies, chambers or houses. As of 2015, somewhat less than half of the national legislatures are bicameral. Often, the members of the two chambers are elected or selected using different methods, which vary from country to country and this can often lead to the two chambers having very different compositions of members. However, in many Westminster system parliaments, the house to which the executive is responsible can overrule the other house, some legislatures lie in between these two positions, with one house only able to overrule the other under certain circumstances. For example, one house would represent the aristocracy, and the other would represent the commoners as was the case in the Kingdom of England. Others, such as France under the Ancien Régime had a legislature known as the Estates General, which consisted of separate chambers for the clergymen, the nobility. The Founding Fathers of the United States also favoured a bicameral legislature, the idea was to have the Senate be wealthier and wiser. Benjamin Rush saw this though, and noted that, this type of dominion is almost always connected with opulence, the Senate was created to be a stabilising force, elected not by mass electors, but selected by the State legislators. Senators would be more knowledgeable and more sort of republican nobility—and a counter to what Madison saw as the fickleness. He noted further that the use of the Senate is to consist in its proceeding with more coolness, with system and with more wisdom. Madisons argument led the Framers to grant the Senate prerogatives in foreign policy, an area where steadiness, discretion, the Senate was chosen by state legislators, and senators had to possess a significant amount of property in order to be deemed worthy and sensible enough for the position. In fact, it was not until the year 1913 that the 17th Amendment was passed, as part of the Great Compromise, they invented a new rationale for bicameralism in which the Senate would have states represented equally, and the House would have them represented by population. Many nations with parliaments have to some degree emulated the British three-tier model, nevertheless, the older justification for second chambers—providing opportunities for second thoughts about legislation—has survived. An example of controversy regarding a second chamber has been the debate over the powers of the Canadian Senate or the election of the Senate of France. The relationship between the two chambers varies, in cases, they have equal power, while in others. The first tends to be the case in federal systems and those with presidential governments, the latter tends to be the case in unitary states with parliamentary systems. In the United States both houses of the U. S and this is due to their original location in the two-story building that was to house them. In Canada, the country as a whole is divided into a number of Senate Divisions, each with a different number of Senators, Senators in Canada are not elected by the people but are appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister
26.
Sejmik
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A sejmik was the name of various local parliaments throughout the history of Poland. The first sejmiks were regional assemblies in the Kingdom of Poland, Sejmiks arose around the late 14th and early 15th centuries and existed until the end of the Commonwealth in 1795, following the partitions of the Commonwealth. In a limited form, some sejmiks existed in partitioned Poland, in modern Poland, since 1999, the term has been revived with the voivodeship sejmik, referring to the elected council of each of the 16 voivodeships. The competences of sejmiks varied over time, and there were geographical differences. Often, numerous different types of sejmiks coexisted in the governance structure. Almost always presided over by the marshal, sejmiks could often elect delegates to the national sejm, Sejmiks attained the peak of their importance at the turn of the 18th century, when they effectively supplanted the inefficient national sejm. The word sejm and sejmik are derived from old Czech sejmovat, the traditions of a sejmik can be traced to the institution of the wiec that actually predates the Polish state. They originated from gatherings of nobility, formed for military and consultative purposes, historians disagree about the specific date of origin of the sejmiks, with some proposed dates being 1374 and 1454. Geographically, sejmiks first arose in central Poland, over the next century or so, they spread to other provinces of Poland, and finally, by the 16th century, to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Casimirs recognition of the sejmik stemmed from an attempt to limit the power of the magnates. Still, the continued to play an important role in the governance of Poland as the most direct form of political enfranchisement of the nobility. After the Union of Lublin in 1569, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had about 70 sejmiks, stanisław Płaza also estimates about 100 at the turn of the 18th century. Most sejmiks elected 2 deputies, but there were exceptions, wojciech Kriegseisen notes that until the late 18th century, there were 44 sejmiks in Poland proper,24 in Lithuania, and 1 in Inflanty province. The sejmiks role grew again in the late 17th century, as central power weakened, Sejmiks attained the peak of their importance at the turn of the 18th century, when they often set their own time limits—that is, they extended their authorized periods of operation. This period, which was known as the rule of sejmiks, was brought to an end by acts of the one-day Silent Sejm of 1717, which removed most taxation and military competences from the sejmiks. Some sejmiks were also affected by liberum veto until it was abolished for sejmiks in 1766, where the middle nobility had been the leading force at the sejmiks in the 16th century, the magnates became increasingly influential in the 18th century. This stemmed from their ability to bribe masses of poorly educated, landless nobility, Sejmiks in Lithuania were dominated by the magnates to a greater extent than those in Poland proper, as the Lithuanian magnates were more powerful than their Polish counterparts. When they met, the nobility was known to fight among themselves
listen); Polish: Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej) is the lower house of the Polish parliament. It consists of 460 deputies (posłowie, literally "envoys", in Polish) elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the "Marshal of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland" (Marszałek Sejmu Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej). In the Kingdom of Poland, "Sejm" referred to the entire three-chamber parliament of Poland, comprising the lower house (the Chamber of Envoys; Polish: Izba Poselska), the upper house (the Senate; Polish: Senat) and the King. It was thus a three-estate parliament, since the Second Polish Republic (1918–1939), "Sejm" has referred only to the lower house of the parliament; the upper house is called the Senat Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej ("Senate of the Republic of Poland").
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