Zygmunt Stanisław Marek (born March 17, 1872 in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

, died 1931 in Kraków) was a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. After graduating from gymnasium he studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

. He joined the

Polish Social Democratic Party of Galicia Polish Social Democratic Party of Galicia ( pl, Polska Partia Socjalno-Demokratyczna Galicji) was a political party in Galicia. The party was formed in 1890 as the Galician territorial organization of the Social Democratic Workers Party of Austria ...

(PPSD) in 1890. Marek was a chief editor of the newspaper ‘'Więzien polityczny'' (Political prisoner) and ''Naprzód'' (Forward) during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. In 1919, after Poland regained independence after years of

partitions Partition may refer to: Computing Hardware * Disk partitioning, the division of a hard disk drive * Memory partition, a subdivision of a computer's memory, usually for use by a single job Software * Partition (database), the division of a ...

, he joined the united

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 ...

(PPS). Elected

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 ...

member the same year, he became chairman of the PPS caucus, replacing

Norbert Barlicki Norbert Barlicki (6 June 1880, in Sieciechów, Radom Governorate, Congress Poland – 27 September 1941, in Auschwitz) was a Polish publicist, lawyer and politician of the Polish Socialist Party (PPS). Barlicki was murdered during the Second Wo ...

in 1926. On May 31, 1926 he nominated

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

for

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

. Piłsudski was elected by National Assembly for this post, but decided against taking office. As a result PPS drafted their own candidate in next election, held on June 1, and Marek became a nominee. He faced Piłsudski-backed chemistry professor

Ignacy Mościcki Ignacy Mościcki (; 1 December 18672 October 1946) was a Polish chemist and politician who was the country's president from 1926 to 1939. He was the longest serving president in Polish history. Mościcki was the President of Poland when Germany ...

and

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...

Voivode Voivode (, also spelled ''voievod'', ''voevod'', ''voivoda'', ''vojvoda'' or ''wojewoda'') is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe since the Early Middle Ages. It primarily referred to the me ...

Adolf Bniński Adolf Bniński (21 August 1884 – 8 July 1942) was a Polish agricultural, conservative and royalist activist. He was Voivode of Poznań from 1923 to 1928 and a member of the Senate of Poland in the Second Polish Republic. In the aftermath of the G ...

, who represented the right wing. In the first round he placed last with 56 votes (against 215 for Mościcki and 211 for Bniński). In the runoff he finished last again, with just one vote (Mościcki defeated Bniński 281 to 200). Marek served as a Sejm Vice-Marshal from 1928 to 1931. He was the father of Krystyna Marek, Polish-Swiss professor of public international law.

See also