At stake in this election:       

• The 100 seats in the Senate

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Andrzej DUDA
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Ewa KOPACZ
• Assembly: Poland has a bicameral Parliament consisting of the Senate with 100 seats and the Sejm with 460 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by absolute majority vote through a two-round system to serve a 5-year term.  If a candidate receives more than 50% of votes in the first round, there is no second round.
• The Prime Minister is appointed by the president with the approval of the Sejm.
• In the Senate, 100 members are elected by plurality vote in single-member constituencies to serve 4-year terms.* In the Sejm, 460 members are elected through an open-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms.**

*There are 100 single-member constituencies

**There are 41 multi-member constituencies consisting of anywhere between 7 and 20 seats. Electors are required to cast a preferential vote for the candidate of their choice. All preferential votes are tabulated as votes for the candidate's party. There is a 5% threshold for parties and 8% threshold for coalitions. The threshold applies to the share of the total national vote, not the constituency. Candidates that belong to ethnic minorities are exempt from threshold requirements.

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Party: Civic Platform / Platforma Obywatelska (PO)
  • Leader: Ewa KOPACZ
  • Seats won in last Senate election: 63
  • Seats won in last Sejm election: 207
• Party: Law and Justice / Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (PiS)
  • Leader: Jaroslaw KACZYNSKI
  • Seats won in last Senate election: 31
  • Seats won in last Sejm election: 157
• Party: Democratic Left Alliance / Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej (SLD)
  • Leader: Leszek Cezary MILLER
  • Seats won in last Senate election: 0
  • Seats won in last Sejm election: 27
• Party: Polish Peasant Party / Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe (PSL)
  • Leader: Janusz PIECHOCINSKI
  • Seats won in last Senate election: 2
  • Seats won in last Sejm election: 28
• Party: Your Movement / Twój Ruch (TR) (formerly Palikot's Movement / Ruch Palikota (RP)) 
  • Leader: Janusz PALIKOT
  • Seats won in last Senate election: 0
  • Seats won in last Sejm election: 40

Last election:

• The last election for the Senate was held on 9 October 2011.  There were 30,762,931 registered voters for the election. The Civic Platform Party won 63 seats (of 100) or 39.18% of the vote, the Law and Justice Party won 31 seats (29.89% of the vote), the Polish Peasant Party won 2 seats (8.36% of the vote), the Cimoszewicz Voters' Election Committee won 1 seat, the Kazimierz Kutz Election Committee won 1 seat, the Marek Borowski Election Committee won 1 seat, and the Rafal Dutkiewicz Election Committee won 1 seat.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 37,433,631 (2015)[1]
• Registered voters: 30,564,605 (2015)[2]

Gender Data:

• Female Population: 19,794,560 (2014 est.)[3]
• Is Poland a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (29 May 1980)[4]
• Has Poland ratified CEDAW: Yes (30 July 1980)[5]
• Gender Quota: Yes[6]
• Female Candidates in this election: Yes
• Number of Female Legislators: 13 (13%) of 100 seats in the Senate[7]
• Human Development Index (HDI) Position: 35[8]
• Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: N/A[9]

Disability Data:

• Is Poland a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)[10]
• Has Poland ratified CRPD: Yes (25 September 2012) [11]
• Population with a disability: 4,697,000 (2014)[12]

[1]  http://parlament2015.pkw.gov.pl/

[2]  http://parlament2015.pkw.gov.pl/

[3] https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/pl.html

[4] https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-8&chapter=4&lang=en

[5] https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-8&chapter=4&lang=en

[6] http://www.quotaproject.org/uid/search.cfm#

[7] http://www.ipu.org/parline-e/reports/2256_E.htm

[8] http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/table-1-human-development-index-and-its-components

[9] http://genderindex.org/country/poland

[10] https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=iv-15&chapter=4&lang=en

[11] https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=iv-15&chapter=4&lang=en

[12] Statistical Yearbook 2014 published by Central statistical Office