Popular initiative in Poland
Our report describes on six pages the procedure of the popular initiative in Poland. In addition you find a detailed list showing the course of the 55 initiatives which have been started so far.
Summary: The Polish Constitution has allowed popular initiatives since 1999.
The initiators must gather 100.000 signatures in support of the proposal: approximately 0,3 % of the total registered electorate. A committee that has started an initiative does not get any financial support. Its proposals must fulfill the same formal requirements as the drafts from other entitled bodies.
The initiative should publish the start of the signature gathering in one of the national newspapers, together with its address and the place where people can make themselves acquainted with the draft. The committee is obliged to cover all the cost of such a publication itself.
Until 2005 the procedure was used 55 times. Only 6 times a law was enacted by the parliament.
The author
Anna Rytel works in the Institute of Constitutional Law and Political Institutions at the University of Gdansk. She currently writes her PhD on direct democracy in Poland.
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