1989 Polish parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Poland in 1989 to elect members of the Sejm and the recreated Senate. The first round took place on 4 June with a second round on 18 June. They were the first elections in the country since the Communist Polish United Workers Party abandoned its monopoly of power in April 1989.

1989 Polish parliamentary election
4 June 1989 (1989-06-04) (first round)
18 June 1989 (1989-06-18) (second round)
All 460 seats in the Sejm
231 needed for a majority
161 up for free election
All 100 seats in the Senate
Turnout62.7% (first round)
25% (second round)
  Majority party Minority party Third party
 
Leader Wojciech Jaruzelski Lech Wałęsa Roman Malinowski
Party PZPR KO "S" ZSL
Leader since 18 October 1981 18 December 1988 (of political party) 1981
Last election 255 seats Outlawed 117 seats
Seats won 173 (Sejm)
0 (Senate)		 161 (Sejm)
99 (Senate)		 76 (Sejm)
0 (Senate)
Seat change 72 New 41
Percentage 37.6% 35.0% 16.5%
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Tadeusz Witold Młyńczak Zenon Komender Kazimierz Morawski
Party SD PAX UChS
Leader since 1976 1982 1989
Last election 39 seats 9 —
Seats won 27 (Sejm)
0 (Senate)		 10 (Sejm)
0 (Senate)		 8 (Sejm)
0 (Senate)
Seat change 12 1 New
Percentage 5.8% 2.1% 1.7%
Results by constituency, shaded according to the winner's vote share in the competitive seats in each district. Solidarity won all of the 161 competitive races.
Government before election

Rakowski cabinet
PZPR—ZSL—SD (Communist regime)

 Government after election

Mazowiecki cabinet
Solidarity—ZSL—SD—PAX (Contract Sejm)

Not all parliamentary seats were contested, but the resounding victory of the Solidarity opposition in the freely contested races paved the way to the end of communist rule in Poland. Solidarity won all of the freely contested seats in the Sejm, and all but one seat in the entirely freely contested Senate. In the aftermath of the elections, Poland became the first country of the Eastern Bloc in which democratically elected representatives gained real power. Although the elections were not entirely democratic, they led to the formation of a government led by Tadeusz Mazowiecki and a peaceful transition to democracy in Poland and elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe.

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