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48
ANDRZEJBISZTYGA
WhatisparticularlyimportantisthatthemandateofamemberoftheSejmand
themandateofasenatorareidentical;theActonExercisingtheMandateof
aMemberoftheSejmandtheMandateofaSenatormakenodilerencesinthis
respect.However,theelectionsystemsfortheSejmandtheSenatearedilerent.8
misdistinctiondoesnotseemsuIcient,though,sinceitdoesnotguarantee
thattheSenateanalyzestheoutputoftheSejmwithenoughcriticism,which
ismuchneeded.Primarily,thisconcernsthedilerenceintheapproachtothe
substanceofthelegislativeprocedure.Inordertoachievethedesiredsituation,
theelectionssystemtotheSenatewouldhavetobechanged,soastoeliminate
theelectofthepoliticalcompositionoftheSejmbeingcopiedintheSenate.
Variousreformsoftheexistingsituationor,moreaccurately,oftheexistingre-
peatablemechanism,areproposed.Inmyopinion,thereformshouldguarantee
thatthetermsofthetwochambersdonotcoincide.Forinstance,following
theAmericanmodel,butalsotheCzechmodel,onecouldconsiderextending
thetermoftheSenatetosixyears,withonethirdoftheseatsopenforelection
everytwoyears.9AnotheroptionistoholdtheelectionstotheSenatehalfway
throughthetermoftheSejm.meadvantageofthesesolutionsisthattheyoler
thepossibilityofthepoliticalcompositionoftheSenatedileringfromthatof
theSejm,without,however,guaranteeingthatitwillbeso,leavingtheissuefor
thevoterstodecide.mepossibilityofapartialorfullchangeofthepolitical
compositionoftheSenateduringthetermoftheSejmwouldbeanimportant
signalfortheSejm.
ItshouldalsobenotedthatthenecessityofcooperationbetweentheSejm
andtheSenate,dominatedbythepoliticalgroupingthatwouldbetheopposi-
tionintheSejm,wouldconstituteanewpoliticalsituationthatwehavenot
witnessedsofar,whichispreciselytheideaofthereform.However,bicameral-
ismwouldretainitsasymmetricalnature,andnoneofthecompetencesofthe
Sejmwouldbethreatened.Furthermore,thissolutionwouldhelplessenthe
concentrationofpowerinthehandsofonepoliticalparty,which,foranumber
ofreasons,isunwanted.
Withrespecttoparliamentaryrepresentation,itshouldbeobservedthat,in
general,themajorityelectionsystem,especiallyinsingle-memberconstituen-
cies,resultsinthepoliticalsupportforagivensenatorbeingmuchgreaterthan
8
M.Dobrowolski,KWsprawiepotrzebyreformydwuizbowościpolskiegoparlamentu,”Prze-
glądSejmowy2009,nr2,p.44.
9
mesameviewisexpressedinP
.Zientarski,KFunkcjeSenatu.Podstawykonstytucyjne
apraktyka”[in:]Konstytucjajakofundamentpaństwaprawa.W15.rocznicęuchwaleniaKonstytu-
cjiRzeczypospolitejPolskiej,P
.Zientarski,red.,Warszawa2013,p.52.
