Instytucjonalizacja prawna funkcji wyborczej partii politycznych w wyborach samorządowych w Polsce
LEGAL INSTITUCIONALIZATION OF AN ELECTORAL FUNCTION OF POLITICAL PARTIES IN SELF-GOVERNING ELECTIONS IN POLAND

Summary/Abstract: An electoral function is one of the most important task that is realized by political parties in political systems. In this paper the author tries to analyze the legal frame which regulates the position of those organizations in self-governing elections in Poland. The electoral function contains of three elements. The first one is a selection of candidates and it includes two, internal and external, areas. The second one creates political programs (including electoral platforms). The last one is a possibility of forming election coalitions. All of them are regulated by the norms of state law, mainly the Constitution, Self-governing Election Law, Political Parties Law, and internal statute law. The paper also analyzes those regulations in the context of the position of political parties in relation to other self-governing election actors – associations and separate candidates. State Law creates a number of factors that determine a dominant position of political parties in that kind of elections. The most important of them are candidates and list registration proceedings, a type of electoral system, a size of constituencies, a natural and legal threshold, apparent rules of financing electoral committees, and a possibility of some changes in the election law directly before elections. The self-governing elections in Poland in 1998, 2002 and 2006 show an increasing role of political parties. Those organizations monopolized a higher level of self-government, especially Province Councils (Sejmiki Wojewódzkie) and big cities’ councils. Their position is weaker on the level of administrative districts (powiaty) and communes (gminy) and also in mayoralty direct elections.

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