Polish legislative election, 1919

Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 26 January 1919, electing the first Sejm of the Second Polish Republic. The elections, based on universal suffrage and proportional representation, was the first free election in the country's history. It produced a parliament balanced between the right, left and center, although the elections were boycotted by the Polish communists and the Jewish Bund. In the territories where the election took place, voter turnout was from 70% to 90%. Right-wing parties won 50% of votes, left-wing parties around 30%, and Jewish organizations more than 10%.

In 1919, the borders of the newly restored Polish state were not yet established. As a result, the government of Poland led by Jozef Pilsudski had problems creating the electoral districts. Upon a decree, signed by Pilsudski on 28 November 1918, Poland was divided into several districts, some of whom were not even part of the country. The list of these districts presents a declaration of Polish territorial claims rather than real situation of late 1918. It covers the whole territory of the Kingdom of Poland (1916–1918), formerly Russian Belostok Oblast, as well as whole former Austrian province of Galicia, even though its eastern part was area of a conflict between Poles and Ukrainians (see Polish–Ukrainian War).

The situation was even more complicated in the West, in territories which had belonged to the German Empire. Polish legislators created there several electoral districts, even in lands that never became part of the Second Polish Republic. Thus, apart from districts of Poznań, Toruń, Kartuzy, Katowice, and Gostyń, the government stipulated creation of districts in such locations, as Bytom (Beuthen), Nysa, Złotów (Flatow), Gdańsk (Danzig), and Olsztyn (Allenstein). The 1919 election was not organized in these areas, as they remained part of Germany until 1945.

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