Sejm

The Sejm (English: /seɪm/ Seym, Polish: [sɛjm] (listen)), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (Polish: Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland.

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Sejm of the Republic of Poland Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej
9th term
Type
Type	Lower house of the Polish parliament
History
Founded	1493 (historical) 1921 (contemporary)
Leadership
Marshal of the Sejm	Elżbieta Witek, PiS since 9 August 2019
Deputy Marshal of the Sejm	Małgorzata Gosiewska, PiS Ryszard Terlecki, PiS Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, PO Włodzimierz Czarzasty, NL Piotr Zgorzelski, PSL
Structure
Seats	460 deputies (231 majority)
Political groups	Government (229)   United Right (228)   Law and Justice (193)   Sovereign Poland (20)   The Republicans (8)   Renewal (5)[lower-alpha 1]   Independent (2)[lower-alpha 2]   Polish Affairs (1)[lower-alpha 3] Confidence and supply (4)   Polish Affairs (2)[lower-alpha 4]   Non-affiliated (2)   The Republicans (1)[lower-alpha 5]   Independent (1)[lower-alpha 6] Opposition (227)   Civic Coalition (125)   Civic Platform (105)   Modern (6)   Polish Initiative (4)   The Greens (4)   Independent (6)   The Left (44)   New Left (38)[lower-alpha 7]   Left Together (6)   Polish Coalition (24)   Polish People's Party (19)   Centre for Poland (3)[lower-alpha 8]   Union of European Democrats (1)[lower-alpha 9]   Independent (1)   Confederation (9)   National Movement (5)[lower-alpha 10]   New Hope (3)[lower-alpha 11]   Confederation of the Polish Crown (1)[lower-alpha 12]   Poland 2050 (6)[lower-alpha 13]   Agreement (4)[lower-alpha 14]   Wolnościowcy (3)[lower-alpha 15]   Kukiz'15 (3)[lower-alpha 16]   Democratic Left Association (3)   Polish Socialist Party (2)[lower-alpha 17]   Democratic Left Association (1)[lower-alpha 18]   Non-affiliated (5)   German Minority (1)[lower-alpha 19]   Good Movement (1)[lower-alpha 20]   Independent (3)[lower-alpha 21]   Vacant (1)
Elections
Voting system	Open-list proportional representation in 41 constituencies (5% national election thresholda)
Last election	13 October 2019
Next election	2023
Meeting place
The Sejm and Senate Complex, Warsaw
Website
sejm.gov.pl
Footnotes
a 8% for coalitions, 5% countywide not nationwide for ethnic minority electoral committees

The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the transition of government in 1989. Along with the upper house of parliament, the Senate, it forms the national legislature in Poland known as National Assembly (Polish: Zgromadzenie Narodowe). The Sejm is composed of 460 deputies (singular deputowany or poseł – "envoy") elected every four years by a universal ballot. The Sejm is presided over by a speaker called the "Marshal of the Sejm" (Marszałek Sejmu).

In the Kingdom of Poland, the term "Sejm" referred to an entire two-chamber parliament, comprising the Chamber of Deputies (Polish: Izba Poselska), the Senate and the King. It was thus a three-estate parliament. The 1573 Henrician Articles strengthened the assembly's jurisdiction, making Poland a constitutional elective monarchy. Since the Second Polish Republic (1918–1939), "Sejm" has only referred to the lower house of parliament.