Editing Sejm (section)

===Polish People's Republic===
The ''Sejm'' in the [[Polish People's Republic]] had 460 deputies throughout most of its history. At first, this number was declared to represent one deputy per 60,000 citizens (425 were elected in 1952), but, in 1960, as the population grew, the declaration was changed: The constitution then stated that the deputies were representative ''of'' the people and could be recalled ''by'' the people, but this article was never used, and, instead of the "[[five-point electoral law]]", a non-proportional, "four-point" version was used. Legislation was passed with majority voting.

Under the [[Constitution of the Polish People's Republic|1952 Constitution]], the Sejm was defined as "the highest organ of State authority" in Poland, as well as "the highest spokesman of the will of the people in town and country." On paper, it was vested with great lawmaking and oversight powers. For instance, it was empowered with control over "the functioning of other organs of State authority and administration," and ministers were required to answer questions posed by deputies within seven days.<ref name=PolandConstitutionChapter3>[http://libr.sejm.gov.pl/tek01/txt/kpol/e1952a-r3.html Chapter 3] of 1952 Constitution</ref> In practice, it did little more than rubber-stamp decisions already made by the Communist [[Polish United Workers Party]] and its executive bodies.<ref name=cs>[http://countrystudies.us/poland/80.htm Poland: a country study]. [[Library of Congress]] Federal Research Division, December 1989.</ref> This was standard practice in nearly all Communist regimes due to the principle of [[democratic centralism]].

The ''Sejm'' voted on the budget and on the periodic [[Planned economy|national plans]] that were a fixture of communist economies. The ''Sejm'' deliberated in sessions that were ordered to convene by the [[State Council of Poland|State Council]].

The ''Sejm'' also chose a ''[[Presidium|Prezydium]]'' ("presiding body") from among its members. The ''Prezydium'' was headed by the speaker, or [[Marshal of the Sejm|Marshal]], who was always a member of the [[United People's Party (Poland)|United People's Party]]. In its preliminary session, the ''Sejm'' also nominated the [[Prime Minister of Poland|Prime Minister]], the [[Council of Ministers of Poland]], and members of the State Council. It also chose many other government officials, including the head of the [[Supreme Audit Office (Poland)|Supreme Chamber of Control]] and members of the [[State Tribunal of Poland|State Tribunal]] and the [[Constitutional Tribunal of Poland|Constitutional Tribunal]], as well as the [[Polish Ombudsman|Ombudsman]] (the last three bodies of which were created in the 1980s).

When the Sejm was not in session, the State Council had the power to issue decrees that had the force of law. However, those decrees had to be approved by the Sejm at its next session.<ref name=PolandConstitutionChapter3/> In practice, the principles of democratic centralism meant that such approval was only a formality.

The [[Senate of Poland|Senate]] was abolished by the [[1946 Polish people's referendum|referendum]] in 1946, after which the ''Sejm'' became the sole legislative body in Poland.<ref name=autogenerated1 /> Even though the ''Sejm'' was largely subservient to the Communist party, one deputy, Romuald Bukowski (an independent) voted against the imposition of martial law in 1982.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/22/obituaries/romuald-bukowski-polish-legislator-64.html|title=Romuald Bukowski; Polish Legislator, 64|author=The Associated Press|date=22 October 1992|work=The New York Times|url-access=subscription}}</ref>