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POLAND
Population
Total population in Poland is 37,972,964 by 1st January 2017. 1.72% of the population is foreign born (Eurostat). The median age of Polishes is 38.55 which is less than the European average of 40.36 (UN Data).
Political Parties
The most recent parliamentary election was held in October 2015. The prominent parties, vote shares in this election and their orientations are as follows (Parlgov):
|
Party Name |
Vote Share |
Ideological Orientation |
|
Law and Justice |
37.58 |
Conservative |
|
Civic Platform |
24.09 |
Conservative |
|
Kukiz'15 |
8.81 |
Right-wing |
|
Modern |
7.6 |
Agrarian |
|
Democratic Left Alliance |
7.55 |
Liberal |
|
Polish People's Party |
5.13 |
Social democracy |
|
Coalition for the Renewal of the Republic -- Liberty and Hope |
4.76 |
Conservative |
|
Together Party |
3.62 |
Social democracy |
Electoral System
The system used in Poland is List PR with open lists in which parties make lists of candidates to be elected, and seats get distributed to each party in proportion to the number of votes the party receives (Wikipedia). The voter turnout in 2015 election was 50.92% (idea.int)
Quality of Democracy
Poland is a parliamentary democracy. Quality of democracy score by Freedom House is 1,5 out of 7 where 1 is most free and 7 is least free. According to Transparency International, Poland is ranked 36th least corrupted among 180 countries with a score of 60 out of 100.
Gender Equality
27% of the parliamentarians are women currently. The Electoral Law of Poland requires a 35% quota for the candidate list for both women and men (idea.int).