Two indirect presidential elections were held in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

in December 1922. In the first election on 9 December

Gabriel Narutowicz Gabriel Józef Narutowicz (; 29 March 1865 – 16 December 1922) was a Polish professor of hydroelectric engineering and politician who served as the first President of Poland from 11 December 1922 until his assassination on 16 December, five da ...

was elected president, but he was assassinated five days later. A second election on 22 December was won by

Stanisław Wojciechowski Stanisław Wojciechowski (; 15 March 1869 – 9 April 1953) was a Polish politician and scholar who served as President of Poland between 1922 and 1926, during the Second Polish Republic. He was elected president in 1922, following the assassin ...

First election

After the independence of

, the head of state was

Naczelnik Państwa The Chief of State ( pl, Naczelnik Państwa; ) was the title of the head of state of Poland in the early years of the Second Polish Republic. This office was held only by Józef Piłsudski, from 1918 to 1922. Until 1919, the title was called the ...

Józef Piłsudski ), Vilna Governorate, Russian Empire (now Lithuania) , death_date = , death_place = Warsaw, Poland , constituency = , party = None (formerly PPS) , spouse = , children = Wan ...

. In a new constitution adopted by the Polish

Sejm The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of t ...

, the new

head of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...

was to be the President of Republic of Poland - to be choose by the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

(combined Sejm and

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

). After the

parliamentary election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

, planning began for the first Polish presidential election in history. The main probable candidate

Józef Piłsudski ), Vilna Governorate, Russian Empire (now Lithuania) , death_date = , death_place = Warsaw, Poland , constituency = , party = None (formerly PPS) , spouse = , children = Wan ...

, despite calls for him to contend, did not run for election. He proposed a former Prime Minister,

Wincenty Witos Wincenty Witos (; 22 January 1874 – 31 October 1945) was a Polish politician, prominent member and leader of the Polish People's Party (PSL), who served three times as the Prime Minister of Poland in the 1920s. He was a member of the Polish Peo ...

, for presidency. Witos also refused. Finally Piłsudski supported the candidature of

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

. At the time of the election the main candidates were count Maurycy Zamoyski, the candidate of

National Democracy National Democracy may refer to: * National Democracy (Czech Republic) * National Democracy (Italy) * National Democracy (Philippines) * National Democracy (Poland) * National Democracy (Spain) See also * Civic nationalism, a general concept * Na ...

and

, candidate of Polish People's Party "Piast". Narutowicz's good result was a surprise. Once the long voting was over, Zamoyski and Narutowicz advanced to the fifth ballot. Narutowicz finally won the election with the support of "Piast" (Wojciechowski was eliminated on the fourth round). Narutowicz was sworn in as president on 11 December 1922, but was assassinated five days later.

Candidates

File:Gabriel narutowicz.jpg,

File:Maurycy Zamoyski.jpg, Diplomat

Maurycy Zamoyski Count Maurycy Klemens Zamoyski (30 July 1871 – 5 May 1939) was a Polish nobleman ( szlachcic), politician, social activist, and Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Polish government of the 1920s. He was the 15th Lord of the Zamość estate and th ...

File:Stanisław Wojciechowski.jpg, Former

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

File:Baudouin2.jpg, Linguist

Jan Baudouin de Courtenay Jan Niecisław Ignacy Baudouin de Courtenay (13 March 1845 – 3 November 1929) was a Polish linguist and Slavist, best known for his theory of the phoneme and phonetic alternations. For most of his life Baudouin de Courtenay worked at Imperi ...

File:Ignacy Daszynski01.jpg, Former

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Ignacy Daszyński Ignacy Ewaryst Daszyński (; 26 October 1866 – 31 October 1936) was a Polish socialist politician, journalist, and very briefly Prime Minister of the Second Polish Republic's first government, formed in Lublin in 1918. In October 1892 he cofo ...

Results

Second election

The first election, when

President of the Republic of Poland The president of Poland ( pl, Prezydent RP), officially the president of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Prezydent Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej), is the head of state of Poland. Their rights and obligations are determined in the Constitution of Polan ...

was elected after several rounds by joint chambers of

and

(at time of

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of ...

joint parliament elected president. The first direct vote took place in 1990). Narutowicz, however, was assassinated just five days since taking office. According to the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

the

Sejm Marshal The Marshal of the Sejm , also known as Sejm Marshal, Chairman of the Sejm or Speaker of the Sejm ( pl, Marszałek Sejmu, ) is the speaker (chair) of the Sejm, the lower house of the Polish Parliament. The office traces its origins to the 15th c ...

Maciej Rataj Maciej Rataj (19 February 1884 – 21 June 1940) was a Polish politician and writer. Biography Born in the village of Chłopy, near Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine), on 19 February 1884, he attended a gymnasium in Lwów and studied classical lingu ...

became

Acting President of the Republic of Poland The acting president of the Republic of Poland ( pl, pełniący obowiązki prezydenta Rzeczpospolitej Polskiej, or ''p.o. prezydenta RP'') is a temporary post provided for by the Polish Constitution. The constitution states that the president is ...

and organised new elections, which took place on 20 December. Stanislaw Wojciechowski won the second election, and took office on 22 December.

Candidates

* Kazimierz Morawski (put on ballot by

; supporter by allied right-wing parties), philologist and academician from

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (Polish: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university in ...

(put on ballot by

Polish People's Party "Wyzwolenie" Polish Peasant Party "Wyzwolenie" or Polish People's Party "Wyzwolenie"''Wyzwolenie'' is Polish for ''Liberation'', and many sources translate the party's name fully as Polish Peasant Party "Liberation" or Polish People's Party "Liberation" (Poli ...

; supported also by

Polish Socialist Party The Polish Socialist Party ( pl, Polska Partia Socjalistyczna, PPS) is a socialist political party in Poland. It was one of the most important parties in Poland from its inception in 1892 until its merger with the communist Polish Workers' P ...

, agrarians and minorities), former Minister of Interior and one of the leading candidates in previous election

Results

References

Bibliography

*Sławomir Koper, ''Józef Piłsudski. Człowiek i polityk'', Warsaw 2011 *''Dodatek nadzwyczajny'', "Kurjer Poznański", 9 December 1922, Poznań.

Presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pre ...

Presidential elections in Poland Political history of Poland December 1922 events {{Poland-election-stub