What is the capital of Poland?
Country Name | Poland |
Full Country Name | Republic of Poland |
Local - Long | Rzeczpospolita Polska |
Local - Short | Polska |
Former Name | Polish People's Republic |
Etymology- history of name | name derives from the Polanians, a west Slavic tribe that united several surrounding Slavic groups (9th-10th centuries A.D.) and who passed on their name to the country; the name of the tribe likely comes from the Slavic "pole" (field or plain), indicating the flat nature of their country |
Government Type | parliamentary republic |
Capital Name | Warsaw |
Capital - geographic coordinate | 52 15 N, 21 00 E |
Capital Time Difference | UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time) |
Daylight Savings Time | +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October |
Independence | 11 November 1918 (republic proclaimed); notable earlier dates: 14 April 966 (adoption of Christianity, traditional founding date), 1 July 1569 (Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth created) |
National Holiday | Constitution Day, 3 May (1791) |
Constitution |
history: several previous; latest adopted 2 April 1997, approved by referendum 25 May 1997, effective 17 October 1997 amendments: proposed by at least one fifth of Sejm deputies, by the Senate, or by the president of the republic; passage requires at least two-thirds majority vote in the Sejm and absolute majority vote in the Senate; amendments to articles relating to sovereignty, personal freedoms, and constitutional amendment procedures also require passage by majority vote in a referendum; amended 2006, 2009 |
Who is the president of Poland?
Executive Branch: |
chief of state: President Andrzej DUDA (since 6 August 2015) head of government: Prime Minister Donald TUSK (since 11 December 2023); Deputy Prime Ministers Wladyslaw KOSINIAK-KAMYSZ, Krzysztof GAWKOWSKI (both since 11 December 2023) cabinet: Council of Ministers proposed by the prime minister, appointed by the president, and approved by the Sejm elections/appointments: president directly elected by absolute majority popular vote in 2 rounds if needed for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 28 June 2020 with a second round on 12 July 2020 (next to be held in 2025); prime minister, deputy prime ministers, and Council of Ministers appointed by the president and confirmed by the Sejm; all presidential candidates resign their party affiliation election results: 2020: Andrzej DUDA reelected president in second round; percent of vote - Andrzej DUDA (independent) 51%, Rafal TRZASKOWSKI (KO) 49% 2015: Andrzej DUDA elected president in second round; percent of vote - Andrzej DUDA (independent) 51.5%, Bronislaw KOMOROWSKI (independent) 48.5% |
Citizenship Criteria: |
citizenship by birth: no citizenship by descent only: both parents must be citizens of Poland dual citizenship recognized: no residency requirement for naturalization: 5 years |
Legal System: | civil law system; judicial review of legislative, administrative, and other governmental acts; constitutional law rulings of the Constitutional Tribunal are final |
Suffrage: | 18 years of age; universal |
Legislative Branch: |
description: bicameral Parliament consists of: Senate or Senat (100 seats; members directly elected in single-seat constituencies by simple majority vote to serve 4-year terms) Sejm (460 seats; members elected in multi-seat constituencies by party-list proportional representation vote with 5% threshold of total votes needed for parties and 8% for coalitions to gain seats; minority parties exempt from threshold; members serve 4-year terms) elections: Senate - last held on 15 October 2023 (next to be held in 2027) Sejm - last held on 15 October 2023 (next to be held in 2027) election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - NA Sejm (preliminary results as of 10/15/2023): PiS 35.4%, KO 30.7%, TD 14.4%, Lewica 8.6%, Konf 7.2%; seats by party - PiS 194, KO 157, TD 65, Lewica 26, Konf 18 note: the designation National Assembly or Zgromadzenie Narodowe is only used on those rare occasions when the 2 houses meet jointly |
Judicial Branch: |
highest court(s): Supreme Court or Sad Najwyzszy (consists of the first president of the Supreme Court and 120 justices organized in criminal, civil, labor and social insurance, and extraordinary appeals and public affairs and disciplinary chambers); Constitutional Tribunal (consists of 15 judges, including the court president and vice president) judge selection and term of office: president of the Supreme Court nominated by the General Assembly of the Supreme Court and selected by the president of Poland; other judges nominated by the 25-member National Judicial Council and appointed by the president of Poland; judges serve until retirement, usually at age 65, but tenure can be extended; Constitutional Tribunal judges chosen by the Sejm for single 9-year terms subordinate courts: administrative courts; military courts; local, regional and appellate courts subdivided into military, civil, criminal, labor, and family courts |
Regions or States: | 16 voivodships [provinces] (wojewodztwa, singular - wojewodztwo); Dolnoslaskie (Lower Silesia), Kujawsko-Pomorskie (Kuyavia-Pomerania), Lodzkie (Lodz), Lubelskie (Lublin), Lubuskie (Lubusz), Malopolskie (Lesser Poland), Mazowieckie (Masovia), Opolskie (Opole), Podkarpackie (Subcarpathia), Podlaskie, Pomorskie (Pomerania), Slaskie (Silesia), Swietokrzyskie (Holy Cross), Warminsko-Mazurskie (Warmia-Masuria), Wielkopolskie (Greater Poland), Zachodniopomorskie (West Pomerania) |
Political Parties and Leaders: |
Agreement [Jaroslaw GOWIN] Civic Platform or PO [Donald TUSK] Konfederajca [Krzysztof BOSAK] Law and Justice or PiS [Jaroslaw KACZYNSKI] New Left or NL [Wlodzimierz CZARZASTY and Robert BIEDRON] Poland 2050 [Szymon HOLOWNIA] Polish People's Party or PSL [Wladyslaw KOSINIAK-KAMYSZ] Republican Party or R [Adam BIELAN] United Poland or SP [Zbigniew ZIOBRO] |
International Law Organization Participation: | accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations; accepts ICCt jurisdiction |
International Organization Participation: | Arctic Council (observer), Australia Group, BIS, BSEC (observer), CBSS, CD, CE, CEI, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, ECB, EIB, ESA, EU, FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC (national committees), ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), MIGA, MONUSCO, NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OIF (observer), OPCW, OSCE, PCA, Schengen Convention, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNHRC, UNIDO, UNMIL, UNMISS, UNOCI, UN Security Council (temporary), UNWTO, UPU, Wassenaar Arrangement, WCO, WFTU (NGOs), WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC |
Diplomatic Representation in the US: |
chief of mission: Ambassador Marek Grzegorz MAGIEROWSKI (since 13 January 2022) chancery: 2640 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009 telephone: [1] (202) 499-1700 FAX: [1] (202) 328-2152; [1] (202) 328-6271 email address and website: washington.amb.sekretariat@msz.gov.pl https://www.gov.pl/web/usa-en/embassy-washington consulate(s) general: Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York |
Diplomatic Representation from US: |
chief of mission: Ambassador Mark BRZEZINSKI (since 19 January 2022) embassy: Aleje Ujazdowskie 29/31, 00-540 Warsaw mailing address: 5010 Warsaw Place, Washington, DC 20521-5010 telephone: [48] (22) 504-2000 FAX: [48] (22) 504-2088 email address and website: acswarsaw@state.gov https://pl.usembassy.gov/ consulate(s) general: Krakow |