Społeczna percepcja Konstytucji RP z 1997 roku
Social Perception of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 1997

Summary/Abstract: The author provides an analyses of social perception of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of the 2nd April 1997. This Constitution was prepared by the National Assembly based upon the results of 1993 parliamentary elections in which almost 35% of the rightist electorate did not achieve parliamentary representation because several parties did not reach a 5-percent threshold. Some political circles have questioned the moral right of that Assembly to prepare the constitution. Several initiatives has been offered to minimize that effect (e.g. opening the way to the citizen’s draft of the constitution, inviting extra-parliamentary opposition groups to join the constitutional discussions). In the text of the Constitution several proposals of the Catholic Church were accepted. Finally, however, the Constitution has represented the will of the constitutional coalition (Democratic Left Alliance, Polish People’s Party, Labor Union, Freedom Union) and national consensus has not been achieved. The Constitution was approved in the referendum (by 53.45%), showing a division in the Polish society on attitudes toward it. Social support for the Constitution was gradually diminishing since parties of the constitutional coalition lost their political position or even disappeared from parliamentary political scene. Calls for a change in the Constitution, especially after Law and Justice victory in 2005 and 2015, have reflected the change in the social perception of the Constitution.

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