Polish referendum, 2015

Poland
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A three-part referendum was held in Poland on 6 September 2015.[1] Voters were asked whether they approved of introducing single-member constituencies for Sejm elections, maintaining state financing of political parties and introducing a presumption in favour of the taxpayer in disputes over the tax law.[2]

The voter turnout of 7.80 percent was well below the 50-percent threshold required for the referendum results to be legally binding.[3]

Background

The referendums were ordered by President Bronisław Komorowski, who had promised to hold a referendum on the electoral system after the first round of the presidential elections,[4] Although he had been leading in the polls, Komorowski received fewer votes (33.77%) than his main opponent Andrzej Duda (34.76%) in the first round. However third-placed candidate Paweł Kukiz’s received 20.8% of the vote, campaigning on introducing single-member constituencies for Sejm elections.[5] A day after the May elections, Komorowski made an instantaneous decision to hold the referendum. Justifying his initiative, he explained that he saw high support for Kukiz as a signal that voters wanted changes.

Questions

The referendum asked voters the following three yes-or-no questions:

  1. Are you in favour of introducing single-member constituencies in elections to the Sejm of the Republic of Poland?[lower-alpha 1]
  2. Are you in favour of maintaining the current method of financing of political parties from the national budget?[lower-alpha 2]
  3. Are you in favour of introducing a general rule of resolving doubts regarding the interpretation of taxation law in favour of the tax-payer?[lower-alpha 3][2]

Results

Question For Against Invalid/
blank		 Total Registered
voters		 Turnout
Votes % Votes %
Single-member constituencies1,829,99578.75493,93521.2560,8502,384,78030,565,8267.80
Financing of political parties404,51517.371,923,99482.6356,271
Tax law interpretation2,194,68994.51127,3955.4962,696
Source: PKW

Notes

  1. ↑ In Polish: Czy jest Pani/Pan za wprowadzeniem jednomandatowych okręgów wyborczych w wyborach do Sejmu Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej?
  2. ↑ In Polish: Czy jest Pani/Pan za utrzymaniem dotychczasowego sposobu finansowania partii politycznych z budżetu państwa?
  3. ↑ In Polish: Czy jest Pani/Pan za wprowadzeniem zasady ogólnej rozstrzygania wątpliwości co do wykładni przepisów prawa podatkowego na korzyść podatnika?

References

  1. ↑ Referendum set for 6 September Radio Poland, 18 June 2015
  2. 1 2 Postanowienie Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej z dnia 17 czerwca 2015 r. o zarządzeniu ogólnokrajowego referendum [Decision of the President of the Republic of Poland of 17 June 2015 ordering a nationwide referendum], Dz. U. z 2015 r. poz. 852 (2015-06-17)
  3. ↑ Obwieszczenie Państwowej Komisji Wyborczej z dnia 7 września 2015 r. o wynikach głosowania i wyniku referendum przeprowadzonego w dniu 6 września 2015 r. (Announcement of the National Electoral Commission of 7 September 2015 on the results of the vote and the result of the referendum held on 6 September 2015)
  4. ↑ Poland president will back referendum to change political system to be like Westminster The Telegraph, 10 May 2015
  5. ↑ Hartliński, Maciej (2015). "The 2015 Referendum in Poland" (PDF). East European Quarterly.
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