Work is underway on abolishing bi-terminality in local governments

Proposed statutory amendments

The bill is comparatively short, and its substantive layer is in fact reduced to a derogation of the provisions of the Law of 5.1.2011. – Electoral Code (Journal of Laws of 2025 item 365, hereinafter referred to as Code Wyb). The drafter assumes the repeal of Article 11 of the Code of Wyb, which in its current wording restricts passive electoral rights in elections in a given municipality for mayor, mayor or city president (in the following part of the text, any discussion of changes relating to the mayor will besides mention to the mayor and city president) of a individual who has already been elected twice in that municipality.

Another of the proposed derogations is the repeal of the first conviction of Article 472(2) of the Code. The proposed change assumes that the candidate in the election for the mayor will be able to run for the territory council and the voivodship seymik. As a consequence of this change, the task promoter besides proposes to repeal Article 483(1)(b) and (c) of the Code. This proposal removes the power of the municipal electoral commission to remove candidate for mayor from the list, who is moving for the voivodship seymik and for mayor in another municipality.

Projector's recitals

The bill partially reverts to the legal position prior to the amendments introduced by the Act of 11.1.2018 amending certain laws to increase the participation of citizens in the selection, operation and control of certain public authorities (Journal of Laws of 2018 item 130). The drafter argues that the current legal state deprives voters of the anticipation of re-election as mayor of the individual whom they trust in the exercise of the word of office limitation in that position. It besides increases the unconstitutionality of the existing legal state, including Article 62 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland in relation to the applicable limitation due to, inter alia, the disproportionateity of the restrictions applied or the violation of Article 2 of the Constitution as regards the rule of prohibition of retroactivity.

On the another hand, the proposal to abolish the ban on simultaneously moving for mayor and councillor of the territory and voivodship motivates, among others, the extension of passive electoral law and more flexible formation of local government representation.

Positions of the local government in the Sejm

The municipal authorities and their associations which submitted their opinions accepted the assumptions of the parliamentary draft law in terms of the abolition of the word limit of the mayor. However, their positions remained heterogeneous in terms of the anticipation for a candidate to run for mayor at the same time as a territory councillor or a regional council. The opponents of this solution raised the argument of different executive and local government functions and expressed concern about the hazard of reducing the transparency and transparency of the electoral process should specified a solution be introduced.

Position of the National Chamber of Legal Advisers

The National Chamber of Legal Advisors submitted a draft bill for constitutional analysis, recognising that it is simply a deregulation task relating to active and passive electoral law in the local elections. The home besides stressed that the proposal to abolish the existing regulation extends the constitutional electoral rights of citizens. In her view, the proposal does not rise any constitutional objections and should be regarded as deliberate and necessary. Finally, the home assessed the full bill as a constitutional agreement, global law, including European law.

Position of the Minister of Justice – Prosecutor General

Minister of Justice – The lawyer General expressed his position approving the Polesi draft law, recognising that these changes were consistent with constitutional principles and correspond to the standards of a democratic legal state. The opinion stressed that the legal situation so far raises constitutional doubts, and that the abolition of the word of office is intended to reconstruct the systemic consistency of electoral regulations by eliminating unsymmetrical and non-uniform solutions. The current regulation limiting the word of office of the mayor is not justified either in constitutional standards or in the principles of rational legislation.

Position of the Sejm Bureau of Experts

The Bureau of Experts and Assessments of the Regulatory Effects of the Chancellery of the Sejm in the submitted opinion notes that the rule of 2 cadency makes it impossible for a individual to be elected for the 3rd time as mayor in the same municipality, and this regulation is of a lasting nature. However, there is no obstacle to the candidate applying for a mayoral position in another, even a neighbouring municipality after his word of office. In the deliberations made, the Bureau stressed that the doctrine of constitutional law remains inconsistent in assessing the constitutionality of the incumbent word of office. The Sejm Bureau carried out a detailed analysis of the current state of head of the legal doctrine, but did not take a clear stance on the bill. However, it considered that a possible decision to repeal Article 11(4) of the Code should accompany the presumption of legal certainty and stability. besides important, the 2 word limits are calculated from the 2018 general election. Since the introduction of regulation, only 1 full word ended in 2024 and the second word of office of persons included in that limit is presently in force. The changes made to the 2018 Electoral Code so had not yet had a chance to function. The second word of office was re-elected in 2024 with 34.52% of the members who held these functions in the first word after the 2018 Electoral Code amendments. In addition, the survey conducted by the Bureau in the framework of the public consultation showed a strong division of opinion and the social importance of the issue raised in the draft.

What's next?

The bill is before reading in the Sejm. If, in the further legislative process, it is not rejected and signed by the president of Poland in its current form, it will enter into force six months after its publication in the authoritative Journal.