Правовое регулирование рефередума в Польше

Abstract

In 1989, at a starting point of transformation of her system of government, Poland had a well-established system of constitutional provisions relating to a referendum and a relevant act governing the procedure for holding a referendum, as well as some practice in this respect. The subsequent amendments of the Constitution, made in 1989—1997, resulted in further development of these provisions, and the most important instance of a referendum being held was the constitutional referendum of 25 May 1997. After the Constitution came into force, the constitutional provisions concerning a referendum were much more developed than those in the previous legal order. Consequently, the Law of 1995 on Referendum, despite its revision, has become outdated. As a result, on 14 March 2003 the Sejm adopted a completely new Law on a Nationwide Referendum. In the article the author analyzes the three types of nationwide referendum, distinguished by the Constitution of 1997. A special place among legislative arrangements has been given to the discussion on the second type of the referendum (a referendum on granting consent for ratification (by the Head of State) of a n agreement by virtue of which the Republic of Poland would delegate to an international organization or international institution the competence of organs of State authority). In the remaining part of the article the content of the Law on a Nationwide Referendum is analysed in detail. The important novelties which the statute ntroduced are: a possibility to hold the referendum on one or two days, a possibility to include "explanation concerning the subject of the referendum" on the ballot paper, and a democratic construction of the referendum campaigns. In turn, the retained arrangements, which were binding before the new statute entered into force, are, notably, the institution of "the people's initiative" — a demand, addressed to the Sejm and signed by 500,000 citizens, to hold a referendum (however, the initiative is not binding on the Sejm which may choose not to support it).