Editing President of Poland (section)

==History==
The first president of Poland, [[Gabriel Narutowicz]], was [[Polish presidential inauguration|sworn in as president]] of the [[Second Polish Republic]] on 11 December 1922. He was elected by the [[National Assembly]] (the [[Sejm]] and the [[Senate of Poland|Senate]]) under the terms of the 1921 [[March Constitution (Poland)|March Constitution]]. Narutowicz [[Assassination of Gabriel Narutowicz|was assassinated]] on 16 December 1922. Previously [[Józef Piłsudski]] had been "Chief of State" (''[[Chief of State (Poland)|Naczelnik Państwa]]'') under the provisional [[Small Constitution of 1919]]. In 1926 Piłsudski staged the "[[May Coup (Poland)|May Coup]]", overthrew President [[Stanisław Wojciechowski]] and had the National Assembly elect a new one, [[Ignacy Mościcki]], thus establishing the "[[Sanation]] regime". Before Piłsudski's death, parliament passed a more [[Authoritarianism|authoritarian]] 1935 [[April Constitution of Poland]] (not in accord with the amendment procedures of the 1921 March Constitution).<ref>{{Cite web|author=Garlicki, Andrzej |date=2001|title=Majowa, marcowa, kwietniowa: Kto nam pisał konstytucje (The valley between the March and the April: We who wrote the constitutions) |language=pl|publisher=Polityki Cyfrowej|url=http://www.konstytucje.pl/pub/t019.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071018023756/http://www.konstytucje.pl/pub/t019.htm |archive-date=18 October 2007 |url-status=dead}}, which first appeared in {{Cite journal|author=Garlicki, Andrzej |year=2001|title=Kto nam pisał konstytucje: majowa, marcowa, kwietniowa |journal=Polityka |volume=2001|issue=11 |pages=78, 80, 82}}</ref> Mościcki continued as president until he resigned in 1939 in the aftermath of the German [[invasion of Poland]]. Mościcki and his [[Polish government-in-exile|government went into exile]] in [[Kingdom of Romania|Romania]], where Mościcki was interned. In [[Angers]], [[French Third Republic|France]], [[Władysław Raczkiewicz]], at the time the speaker of the Senate, assumed the presidency after Mościcki's resignation on 29 September 1939.<ref name="Rojek">{{Cite book|author=Rojek, Wojciech |chapter=Chapter 4: The government of the Republic of Poland in exile, 1945–92|editor=Stachura, Peter D.|editor-link=Peter Stachura |year=2004|title=The Poles in Britain 1940–2000: from betrayal to assimilation |url=https://archive.org/details/polesbritainfrom00stac |url-access=limited |location=London |publisher=Frank Cass |page=[https://archive.org/details/polesbritainfrom00stac/page/n46 33] |isbn=978-0-7146-5562-8 }}</ref> Following the [[Battle of France|fall of France]], the president and the [[Polish government-in-exile]] were evacuated to [[London]], [[United Kingdom]]. The transfer from Mościcki to Raczkiewicz was in accordance with Article 24 of the 1935 April Constitution.<ref name="Garlinski">{{Cite book|author=Garliński, Józef |year=1985|title=Poland in the Second World War |location=Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, England|publisher=Macmillan |page=48 |isbn=978-0-333-39258-4 }}</ref><ref name="Jedrzejewicz">{{Cite book|editor=Jędrzejewicz, Wacław |year=1946 |title=Poland in the British Parliament 1939–1945 Volume I: British guarantees to Poland to the Atlantic Charter (March 1939 – August 1941) |location=New York |publisher=Jósef Piłsudski Institute of America for Research in the Modern History of Poland |page=318 |oclc=312889779}}</ref> Raczkiewicz was followed by a succession of presidents in exile, of whom the last one was [[Ryszard Kaczorowski]].

In 1945–54, [[Polish People's Republic|Poland]] became a part of [[Soviet Union|Soviet]]-controlled [[Eastern Bloc|central-eastern Europe]]. [[Bolesław Bierut]] assumed the reins of government and in July 1945 was internationally recognised as the head of state. The Senate was abolished in 1946 by the [[1946 Polish people's referendum|Polish people's referendum]]. When the Sejm passed the [[Small Constitution of 1947]], based in part on the 1921 March Constitution, Bierut was elected president by that body. He served until the [[Constitution of the Polish People's Republic]] of 1952 eliminated the office of the president, replacing it with a collective leadership called the [[State Council of the Polish People's Republic|Council of State]] ({{langx|pl|Rada Państwa}}).<ref name="Simons">{{Cite book|author=Simons, William B. |chapter=Constitution of the Polish People's Republic|editor=Simons, William B. |year=1980 |title=The Constitutions of the Communist World |location=Alphen ann den Rijn, the Netherlands|publisher=Sijthoff & Noordhoff |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=SVl4sNPzWlwC&pg=PA288 288–310] |isbn=978-90-286-0070-6}}</ref>

Following the 1989 amendments to the constitution which restored the presidency,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ustawa z dnia 29 grudnia 1989 r. o zmianie Konstytucji Polskiej Rzeczypospolitej Ludowej (An Act of 29 December 1989 to amend the Constitution of the Polish People's Republic) |series=Dz.U. 1989 Nr. 75, pos 444|language=pl|publisher=Sejm, Government of Poland |url=http://isap.sejm.gov.pl/Download?id=WDU19890750444&type=3|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415010203/http://isap.sejm.gov.pl/Download?id=WDU19890750444&type=3 |archive-date=15 April 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref> general [[Wojciech Jaruzelski]], the existing head of state, took office. In Poland's first [[direct election|direct]] [[1990 Polish presidential election|presidential election]], [[Lech Wałęsa]] won and was sworn in on 22 December 1990. The office of the president was preserved in the [[Constitution of Poland]] passed in 1997; the constitution now provides the requirements for, the duties of and the authority of the office.

The topic of creation the presidency role as a single-person position was meant to safeguard slow, gentle political change to keep the interests of the ruling party. By March 1989, a compromise regarding the creation of the institution of the presidency was reached between the government and the opposition. In return for a constitutionally defined presidency with various competences, the ruling party agreed to relinquish its position as managing organ within the state. The presidency would be created along with the restoration of a freely elected upper house, the Senate. The president would be elected by a joint session of the lower house (Sejm) and the Senate. By this way, representatives of the opposition, sitting in the Senate, would be involved in the political process of electing the president.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.studiapolitologiczne.pl/pdf-143453-69471?filename=How%20the%20means%20of%20electing.pdf|title=How the means of electing the President of Poland acts to distort roles within the country’s political system|author=Tomasz Słomka|journal=Studia Politologiczne|year=2021|accessdate=2023-09-18}}</ref>

The Small constitution of October 17, 1992 created a parliamentarisation of the political system and while the presidency remained in the active model, it was deprived of far-reaching governing powers.

In recent years, newly elected presidents have renounced formal ties with their political party before taking office.