President of the Republic of Poland Prezydent Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej |
|
---|---|
Style | Mr. President |
Residence | Presidential Palace |
Seat | Warsaw, Poland |
Appointer | Popular vote |
Term length | Five years renewable once |
Constituting instrument | Constitution of Poland |
Formation | 11 December 1922 |
First holder | Gabriel Narutowicz |
Website | http://www.prezydent.pl |
The President of the Republic of Poland (Polish: Prezydent Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, shorter form: Prezydent RP) is the Polish head of state. His or her rights and obligations are determined in the Constitution of Poland. The president heads the executive branch. In addition the president has a right to dissolve the parliament in certain cases, and represents Poland in the international arena.
The first president of Poland, Gabriel Narutowicz, was sworn in as president of the Second Republic on 11 December 1922. He was elected by the National Assembly (the Sejm and the Senate) under the terms of the 1921 Constitution of Poland. Previously Józef Piłsudski had been "Chief of State" (Naczelnik Państwa) under the provisional 1919 Constitution. In 1926, Piłsudski. who was fed up with regional bickering, staged a coup deposed the president and had the National Assembly elect a new one, Ignacy Mościcki, under the thumb of Sanacja. Just before Piłsudski died, parliament passed the 1935 April Constitution of Poland which incorporated Piłsudski's ideals, but was not in accord with the amendment procedures of the 1921 Constitution. Mościcki continued as president until he resigned following the German invasion of Poland in 1939. Mościcki and his government went into exile first into Romania, where Mościcki was interned, then to Angers in France where Władysław Raczkiewicz, at the time the Speaker of the Senate, assumed the presidency following Mościcki's resignation on 29 September 1939, and then on to London. The transfer from Mościcki to Raczkiewicz was in accordance with Article 24 of the 1935 April Constitution.