Toward party primaries. Internal organization of political parties in Poland

The objective of the study is an analysis of the democratization of the selection of political party leaders as well as the first attempts to employ primary election procedure in Poland. The crux of the analysis lies in examining the essence of the process and challenges caused by the alterations occurring within a party. Democratization of the procedures of the selection of party leaders and candidates is an observable phenomenon in stabilized democracies (LeDuc 2001; Rahat, Hazan 2001; Cross, Blais 2012). The impact of the formula of the elections and analysis of its consequences provide noteworthy cognizance about this issue (McSweeney 1999; Kenig 2009). Although the trend is apparent, the differences concerning party leadership in various countries and parties are perceptible (Bille 1997; Müller 1997; McCarty, Blake 1999; O’Neil, Stewart 2009). It is important to emphasize that certain political parties in Poland (SDPL and SLD – centre-left parties) have already implemented democratization and applied open procedures when selecting party leaders as well as candidates for the office of the president (PO – centre-right party). The analysis of these cases is going to be carried out from the viewpoint of the selection of party leaders in Poland since system transformations originating in 1989. It will enable to depict the tendencies of the transformations within 15 parties with highlighting the 5 parties present in the current Parliament. Examining the changes allows to draw the conclusion that political parties in Poland make up for lost time quickly and adjust to new requirements of modern democracies. Despite a relatively brief period of time the parties discerned the aforementioned trend and commenced seeking enlarging and promoting increasingly open assemblies selecting a party leader and applying primary election in selecting candidates for the office of the president.