Brest elections

Polish legislative election, 1930

← 1928 23 November 1930 (1930-11-23) (Sejm and Senate) 1935 →
All 444 seats to the Sejm
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Walery Sławek Joachim Bartoszewicz Mieczysław Niedziałkowski Party BBWR SN PPS Leader since November 1927 October 1928 1930 (as chairman of the PPS caucus) Leader's seat 1 – Warszawa Senate - Kielce Area 9 - Płock Last election 125 28 (as ZL-N) 64 Seats won 249 63 23 (79 as part of Centrolew) Seat change 124 25 41 Popular vote 5,292,725 1,443,165 590,820 Percentage 46.7% 12.7% 5.1% (17.3% as Centrolew)   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Jan Dąbski Dmytro Levytsky Wincenty Witos Party SCh UNDO Polish People's Party "Piast" (1913–31) Leader since 1929 1925 December 1 1918 Leader's seat State list - no. 7 51 - Lwów 84 - Tarnów Last election 26 26 17 (28 as Polish Catholic Bloc coalition) Seats won 18 (79 as part of Centrolew) 17 (21 as Ukrainian-Belarusian Bloc) 15 (79 as part of Centrolew) Seat change 8 9 2 Popular vote 472,656 449,033 401,758 Percentage 4.0% (17.3% as Centrolew) 3.8% 3.4% (17.3% as Centrolew)   Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party   Leader Maksymilian Malinowski Antoni Ponikowski Karol Popiel Party PSL "Wyzwolenie" PSChD NPR Leader since 1925 1925 1929 Leader's seat 27 - Zamość State list - no. 19 none Last election 40 16 (28 as Polish Catholic Bloc coalition) 14 Seats won 15 (79 as part of Centrolew) 14 8 (79 as part of Centrolew) Seat change 25 2 6 Popular vote ca. 400,000 430,074 165,429 Percentage 3.4% (17.3% as Centrolew) 3.8% 1.4% (17.3% as Centrolew)

Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 16 November 1930, with Senate elections held a week later on 23 November. In what became known as the Brest elections (Polish: Wybory brzeskie), the pro-Sanation Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government took 47% of the vote and 249 of the 444 seats in Sejm and 77 of the 111 seats in the Senate. The elections are known as the least free elections in the Second Polish Republic due to the Brest trial controversy.

The elections were rigged by the pro-Sanacja elements in the Polish government under the control of Józef Piłsudski (although Piłsudski left most of the details of the internal politics to others).

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 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 Silesian national hero, Wojciech Korfanty) were imprisoned in the Brest Fortress, 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 Brest trial ended in January 1932, with 10 accused receiving sentences up to three years of imprisonment. Some of them decided to emigrate instead.

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Wikipedia