Editing Popular initiative (section)

====Poland====
Citizens' legislative initiatives are a constitutional right in Poland, defined in Article 118, paragraph 2, of the [[:s:Constitution of the Republic of Poland/Chapter 4|1997 Polish Constitution]]. The paragraph gives legislative initiative to any group of at least 100,000 citizens with voting rights to the [[Sejm]], the lower house of Polish parliament. The detailed procedure is defined in a law dated 24 June 1999.<ref name="Ust_dnia24czerwca1999" />

Under Article 5 of the 24 June 1999 law, citizens wishing to launch an initiative must create a committee of at least 15 members, which becomes a [[legal person]]. The committee must prepare the draft [[bill (law)|bill]] and collect at least 100,000 signatures (Article 2). Under Article 12 of the law, if there is "justified doubt regarding the authenticity of the required number of signatures of citizens, then within 14 days of the lodging of the list of signatures, the [[Marshal of the Sejm]] must request the [[National Electoral Commission (Poland)|National Electoral Commission]] to verify the signatures. The electoral commission has 21 days to carry out the verification.<ref name="Ust_dnia24czerwca1999" />

One of the best known citizens' initiatives in Poland is the pair of [[Abortion in Poland#Proposed abortion ban|2015/2016 anti-abortion and pro-abortion initiatives]] which were accompanied by the ''Black Protest'' marches coordinated by women's rights groups.<ref name="PulsBiz_2016BlackProtest" />

In October 2022, [[United Poland]] submitted a [[Popular initiative#Poland|citizens' legislative initiative]] for tougher [[Offending religious feelings (Poland)|blasphemy laws in Poland]] with close to 400,000 (Higher than the 100,000 needed) signatures to parliament.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://notesfrompoland.com/2022/10/07/insulting-or-ridiculing-church-to-be-jailable-crime-under-bill-supported-by-polish-justice-minister/ | title="Insulting or ridiculing church" to be jailable crime under bill supported by Polish justice minister | date=7 October 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://cne.news/artikel/1824-blasphemy-law-poland-may-be-toughened | title=Blasphemy law Poland may be toughened }}</ref>