Constitutional Principles of Electoral Law in Local Government Elections in Poland and European Solutions – Contribution to the Discussion

Abstract

The subject of the article is an attempt to compare the constitutional principles of holding local government elections in Poland and in other EU countries. Preliminary studies of this issue indicate that in the case of elections of the constitutive bodies of local government units, three model solutions may be indicated: (1) lack of regulation of the principles of electoral law in the constitution, which means that the ordinary legislator is left with some freedom in regulation of this issue; (2) constitution regulates a limited catalogue of the principles of electoral law (usually two or three); (3) constitution regulates a full catalogue of the four fundamental principles of electoral law (universality, equality, directness, secret ballot). Similar remarks apply to executive bodies of local self-government units. The aim of the article is to classify Poland into one of the above-mentioned models and to try to answer the question of what were the premises behind such a regulation of this issue in the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 2 April 1997.