Parliamentary 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 populou ...

on 16 November 1930, with

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 ...

elections held a week later on 23 November.

Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An exp ...

& Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1491 In what became known as the ''Brest elections'' ( pl, Wybory brzeskie), the pro- Sanation

Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government The Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government ( pl, Bezpartyjny Blok Współpracy z Rządem, ; abbreviated ''BBWR'') was a "non-political" organization in the interwar Second Polish Republic, in 1928–35. It was closely affiliated with ...

took 47% of the vote and 249 of the 444 seats in

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 ...

and 77 of the 111 seats in the Senate. The elections are known as the least free elections in the

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

due to the

Brest trial The Brest trials ( pl, Proces brzeski) were among the most famous trials conducted under the Second Polish Republic. Lasting from 26 October 1931 to 13 January 1932, they were held at the Warsaw Regional Court where leaders of the ''Centrolew'', ...

controversy.

Controversy

The elections were rigged by the pro- Sanacja elements in the

Polish government The Government of Poland takes the form of a unitary parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the President is the head of state and the Prime Minister is the head of government. However, its form of government has also been id ...

under the control of Józef Piłsudski (although Piłsudski left most of the details of the internal politics to others). After the BBWR came up well short of a majority in the 1928 elections, Sanacja and Piłsudski left nothing to chance. Twierdza brzeska - satyra

The elections were supposed to take place in May, but the government invalidated the May results by disbanding the parliament in August and with increasing pressure on the opposition started a new campaign, the new elections being scheduled to November. Using the anti-government

demonstrations Demonstration may refer to: * Demonstration (acting), part of the Brechtian approach to acting * Demonstration (military), an attack or show of force on a front where a decision is not sought * Demonstration (political), a political rally or prote ...

as a pretext, 20 members of the oppositions, including most of the leaders of '' Centrolew'' alliance (from the Polish Socialist Party, Polish People's Party "Piast" and Polish People's Party "Wyzwolenie") were arrested in September without a warrant, only on the order of the minister of internal security, Felicjan Sławoj Składkowski accusing them of plotting an anti-government coup. The opposition members (who included the former prime minister Wincenty Witos, and the

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. S ...

n national hero,

Wojciech Korfanty Wojciech Korfanty (; born Adalbert Korfanty; 20 April 1873 – 17 August 1939) was a Polish activist, journalist and politician, who served as a member of the German parliaments, the Reichstag and the Prussian Landtag, and later, in the Polish ' ...

) were imprisoned in the

Brest Fortress Brest Fortress ( be, Брэсцкая крэпасць, '; pl, Twierdza brzeska, russian: Брестская крепость), formerly known as Brest-Litoŭsk Fortress, is a 19th-century fortress in Brest, Belarus. In 1965, the title " ...

, where their trial took place (thus the popular name for the election: the 'Brest election'). A number of less known activists were arrested throughout the country. They were released after the end of the election in the same month. The

ended in January 1932, with 10 accused receiving sentences up to three years of imprisonment. Some of them decided to emigrate instead. In addition, the minorities were also discriminated against; the government crackdown on opposition was especially hard in the eastern provinces, affecting the '' Blok Ukraińsko-Białoruski'' (Ukrainian-Belarusian Bloc) party. On 24 November 1930, ''

Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Ma ...

'' in its coverage of the elections wrote: :

During the campaign which ended in Poland's general election last week, opposition papers were so mercilessly censored that some were reduced to printing pictures of
Friederich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his car ...
(1844-1900) with the caption: He Died Crazy. Because Dictator Jozef Pilsudski has publicly made such statements as that "Parliament is a prostitute!" (Time, July 9, 1928) and because he somewhat resembles Philosopher Nietzsche in face and whiskers, his government promptly confiscated all Nietzschean campaign pictures, all papers in which they appeared.''

Nonetheless despite the governments pressure, the opposition members (from Centrolew and '' endecja'') still sat in the parliament, soon in the new parliament they tried to pass the

motion of no confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

to the new government. The imprisonment and trial of political opponents was a setback for Polish democracy, but no genuinely open trials of political opponents such as the one in Poland took place elsewhere in contemporary

Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the a ...

The exception was the 1933 Berlin trial of the Bulgarian communist Georgy M. Dimitrov. The success of BBWR, while certainly enhanced by the government crackdown on opposition, also stemmed from the fact that Sanacja and Piłsudski's held considerable support, and the Centrolew politicians were viewed as incapable in preventing the economic crisis (

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

). The Centrolew coalition fell apart in 1931 due to internal conflicts.

Results

Sejm

Senate

References

External links

The results
{{Authority control

Parliamentary elections in Poland 1930 in Poland Election and referendum articles with incomplete results November 1930 events 1930 elections in Poland