# 2009 European Parliament election in Poland

The 2009 European Parliament election in Poland was the election of the delegation from Poland to the European Parliament in 2009 which took place on 7 June 2009. On 13 February the Sejm (the lower house of the Polish parliament) accepted a proposal for an amendment to the electoral court act to allow voting for the European Parliament election of 2009 to take place over 2 days i.e. the 6 and 7 June 2009. However, on 5 March, the proposal was referred to the Constitutional Tribunal of the Republic of Poland by the Polish President, Lech Kaczyński. The Polish electorate elected 50 MEPs. In the 27 EU Member States, at total of 736 MEPs were elected from 4–7 June 2009.
As anticipated, the Civic Platform (PO) won a significant victory, winning more than 44% of the vote and gaining half of the total seats. PO's vote was higher than their 41.5% achieved at the 2007 Polish parliamentary election, and to date was the highest vote achieved by a Polish political party to either the Sejm (national legislature) or the European Parliament. Law and Justice (PiS), came second (27.4%), having more than doubled their vote and seats won as compared to the 2004 EU election, but their vote fell, in comparison to the national elections of 2007. PO polled strongest in the western half of Poland, whilst PiS polled best in the eastern half, particularly the south-east.
The largest grouping on the left, the Democratic Left Alliance-Labor Union (SLD-UP) came in at a distant third with 12.3% of the vote and seven seats. At one time, the biggest party in Poland, the Democratic Left Alliance's vote was fairly static over the past five years, and they have been unable to challenge the dominance of PO and PiS, since 2005. The Polish People's Party (PSL) came fourth with 7% of the vote, and won three seats. The remaining parties failed to reach the 5% threshold required to win seats.
The election result demonstrated a stability in voting patterns in the country. Previously, especially prior to 2005, the political environment in Poland was rather unpredictable, with big swings away from established parties, towards alternative parties, and ongoing splits and mergers of key parties. In 2009, however, the voting pattern did not vary too substantially from the 2007 elections, with the large parties consolidating their positions, and smaller parties failing to make a breakthrough.

## Contesting committees

| Name | Name | Ideology | European Union position | Leader | Main candidate | Alliance | 2004 result | 2004 result | Current seats |
| Name | Name | Ideology | European Union position | Leader | Main candidate | Alliance | Vote (%) | Seats | Current seats |
| | Civic Platform (PO) | Centrism, catch-all | Hard pro-Europeanism | Donald Tusk | Danuta Hübner | EPP | 24.1% | 15 / 54 | 14 / 54 |
| | Law and Justice (PiS)• Forward Poland • Piast | National conservatism, Christian democracy | Soft Euroscepticism | Jarosław Kaczyński | Michał Kamiński | UEN | 12.7% | 7 / 54 | 10 / 54 |
| | Alliance for the Future (PdP)• Democratic Party – demokraci.pl • Social Democracy of Poland • The Greens • Union of the Left • Alliance of Democrats | Social liberalism, social democracy | Hard pro-Europeanism | Dariusz Rosati | Dariusz Rosati | • ALDE • S&D • G-EFA | 12.9% | 7 / 54 | 9 / 54 |
| | Libertas Poland (LP)• League of Polish Families • Party of Regions • Forward Poland • Piast | Anti-Lisbon Treaty, souverainism | Hard Euroscepticism | Daniel Pawłowiec | Daniel Pawłowiec | • UEN • NI | 15.9% | 10 / 54 | 8 / 54 |
| | Democratic Left Alliance (SLD)• Labor Union • National Party of Retirees and Pensioners | Social democracy, third way | Hard pro-Europeanism | Grzegorz Napieralski | Wojciech Olejniczak | S&D | 9.4% | 5 / 54 | 5 / 54 |
| | Polish People's Party (PSL) | Agrarianism, Christian democracy | Hard pro-Europeanism | Waldemar Pawlak | Janusz Piechociński | EPP | 6.3% | 4 / 54 | 2 / 54 |
| | Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland (SRP) | Agrarian socialism, left-wing populism | Hard Euroscepticism | Andrzej Lepper | Jan Sochocki | • S&D • UEN • EUD | 10.8% | 6 / 54 | 2 / 54 |
| | Polish Labour Party (PPP) | Democratic socialism, anti-capitalism | Soft Euroscepticism | Bogusław Ziętek | Bogusław Ziętek | GUE-NGL | 0.5% | 0 / 54 | 1 / 54 |
| | Right Wing of the Republic (PR) | Political Catholicism, Christian right | Soft Euroscepticism | Marek Jurek | Marek Jurek | IND/DEM | - | 0 / 54 | 1 / 54 |
| | Real Politics Union (UPR) | Right-Libertarianism, Laissez-faire | Hard Euroscepticism | Bolesław Witczak | Bolesław Witczak | NI | 1.9% | 0 / 54 | 0 / 54 |

### Lead candidates by constituency

| Constituency | PO | PiS | SLD-UP | PSL | PdP | Libertas |
| Pomeranian | Janusz Lewandowski | Hanna Foltyn-Kubicka | Longin Pastusiak | Wojciech Przybylski | Dariusz Szwed | Tomasz Sommer |
| Kuyavian-Pomeranian | Tadeusz Zwiefka | Richard Czarnecki | Janusz Zemke | Eugeniusz Kłopotek | Henryk Kierzkowski | Ryszard Kozłowski |
| Podlaskie and Warmian-Masurian | Krzysztof Lisek | Jacek Kurski | Tadeusz Iwiński | Stanisław Żelichowski | Marian Szamatowicz | Ryszard Bender |
| Warsaw | Danuta Hübner | Michał Kamiński | Wojciech Olejniczak | Janusz Piechociński | Dariusz Rosati | Artur Zawisza |
| Masovian | Jacek Kozłowski | Adam Bielan | Marek Wikiński | Jarosław Kalinowski | Marek Czarnecki | Dariusz Grabowski |
| Łódź | Jacek Saryusz-Wolski | Urszula Krupa | Jolanta Szymanek-Deresz | Adam Fronczak | Magdalena Środa | Bolesław Borysiuk |
| Greater Poland | Filip Kaczmarek | Konrad Szymański | Marek Siwiec | Andrzej Grzyb | Sylwia Pusz | Anna Sobecka |
| Lublin | Lena Kolarska - Bobińska | Mirosław Piotrowski | Jacek Czerniak | Edward Wojtas | Marek Borowski | Zdzisław Podkański |
| Subcarpathian | Marian Krzaklewski | Tomasz Poręba | Marta Niewczas | Mieczysław Janowski | Krzysztof Martens | Daniel Pawłowiec |
| Lesser Poland and Świętokrzyskie | Róża Gräfin Von Thun Und Hohenstein | Zbigniew Ziobro | Andrzej Szejna | Czesław Siekierski | Janusz Onyszkiewicz | Wojciech Wierzejski |
| Silesian | Jerzy Buzek | Marek Migalski | Jerzy Markowski | Janusz Moszyński | Genowefa Grabowska | Piotr Ślusarczyk |
| Lower Silesian and Opole | Jacek Protasiewicz | Ryszard Legutko | Lidia Geringer De Oedenberg | Stanisław Rakoczy | Józef Pinior | Janusz Dobrosz |
| Lubusz and West Pomeranian | Sławomir Nitras | Marek Gróbarczyk | Bogusław Liberadzki | Juliusz Engelhardt | Radosław Popiela | Krzysztof Zaremba |

## Opinion polls

| Source | Date | PO | PiS | SLD-UP | PSL | PdP | Undecided |
| CBOS | March 2009 | 40% | 17% | 10% | 5% | 1% | 21% |
| TNS OBOP | 2–5 April 2009 | 54% | 21% | 7% | 6% | – | 28% |
| PBS | 3–5 April 2009 | 49% | 22% | 13% | 6% | 3% | – |
| GFK | 24–26 April 2009 | 47% | 26% | 12% | 6% | – | – |
| Gemius | 5 May 2009 | 40% | 16% | 11% | 3% | 2% | – |
| TNS OBOP | 6–7 May 2009 | 47% | 22% | 12% | 8% | 2% | – |
| Homo Homini | 7 May 2009 | 48.9% | 22.4% | 12.2% | 4.6% | 1.3% | 8% |
| TNS OBOP | 15 May 2009 | 48% | 25% | 8% | 5% | 5% |
| Gemius | 19 May 2009 | 39% | 20% | 7% | 6% | 4% | – |
| Homo Homini | 26 May 2009 | 45% | 25% | 11% | 7% | 3% | – |
| GFK | 3–4 June 2009 | 51% | 24% | 15% | 6% | – | – |
| SMG/KRC | 5 June 2009 | 54% | 25% | 9% | 7% | – | – |

## Results

| Party | Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– |
| | Civic Platform | 3,271,852 | 44.43 | 25 | +10 |
| | Law and Justice | 2,017,607 | 27.40 | 15 | +8 |
| | Democratic Left Alliance – Labour Union | 908,765 | 12.34 | 7 | +2 |
| | Polish People's Party | 516,146 | 7.01 | 3 | –1 |
| | Alliance for the Future | 179,602 | 2.44 | 0 | –7 |
| | Right Wing of the Republic | 143,966 | 1.95 | 0 | New |
| | Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland | 107,185 | 1.46 | 0 | –6 |
| | Libertas Poland | 83,754 | 1.14 | 0 | –10 |
| | Real Politics Union | 81,146 | 1.10 | 0 | 0 |
| | Polish Labour Party | 51,872 | 0.70 | 0 | 0 |
| | Forward Poland–Piast | 1,537 | 0.02 | 0 | New |
| | Polish Socialist Party | 1,331 | 0.02 | 0 | New |
| Total | Total | 7,364,763 | 100.00 | 50 | –4 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 7,364,763 | 98.17 | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 137,573 | 1.83 | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 7,502,336 | 100.00 | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 30,565,272 | 24.55 | | |
| Source: PKW ||||||