<item><hi format=bold>Independence:</hi> 11 November 1918 (independent republic proclaimed)
<item><hi format=bold>National holiday:</hi> Constitution Day, 3 May (1791)
<item><hi format=bold>Constitution:</hi> interim "small constitution" came into effect in December 1992 replacing the Communist-imposed Constitution of 22 July 1952; new democratic Constitution being drafted
<item><hi format=bold>Legal system:</hi> mixture of Continental (Napoleonic) civil law and holdover Communist legal theory; changes being gradually introduced as part of broader democratization process; limited judicial review of legislative acts; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
<item><hi format=bold>Suffrage:</hi> 18 years of age; universal
<item><hi format=bold>Executive branch:</hi>
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<item>• <hi format=ital>chief of state:</hi> President Lech WALESA (since 22 December 1990); election first round held 25 November 1990, second round held 9 December 1990 (next to be held NA November 1995); results—second round Lech WALESA 74.7%, Stanislaw TYMINSKI 25.3%
<item>• <hi format=ital>head of government:</hi> Prime Minister Waldemar PAWLAK (since 26 October 1993)
<item>• <hi format=ital>cabinet:</hi> Council of Ministers; responsible to the president and the Sejm
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<item><hi format=bold>Legislative branch:</hi> bicameral National Assembly (Zgromadzenie Narodowe)
<item><hi format=bold>Senate (Senat):</hi> elections last held 19 September 1993 (next to be held no later than NA October 1997); seats—(100 total)
<item><hi format=bold>Political parties and leaders:</hi>
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<item>• <hi format=ital>post-Solidarity parties:</hi> Freedom Union (WD; UD and Liberal Democratic Congress merged to form Freedom Union), Tadeusz MAZOWIECKI; Christian-National Union (ZCHN), Wieslaw CHRZANOWSKI; Centrum (PC), Jaroslaw KACZYNSKI; Peasant Alliance (PL), Gabriel JANOWSKI; Solidarity Trade Union (NSZZ), Marian KRZAKLEWSKI; Union of Labor (UP), Ryszard BUGAJ; Christian-Democratic Party (PCHD), Pawel LACZKOWSKI; Conservative Party, Alexander HALL; Nonparty Bloc for the Support of the Reforms (BBWR)
<item>• <hi format=ital>non-Communist, non-Solidarity:</hi> Confederation for an Independent Poland (KPN), Leszek MOCZULSKI; Polish Economic Program (PPG), Janusz REWINSKI; Christian Democrats (CHD), Andrzej OWSINSKI; German Minority (MN), Henryk KROL; Union of Real Politics (UPR), Janusz KORWIN-MIKKE; Democratic Party (SD), Antoni MACKIEWICZ; Party X, Stanislaw Tyminski
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<item><hi format=bold>Communist origin or linked:</hi> Social Democracy (SDRP, party of Poland), Aleksander KWASNIEWSKI; Polish Peasants' Party (PSL), Waldemar PAWLAK; Democratic Left Alliance, Aleksander KWASNIEWSKI
<item><hi format=bold>Other political or pressure groups:</hi> powerful Roman Catholic Church; Solidarity (trade union); All Poland Trade Union Alliance (OPZZ), populist program
<item>• <hi format=ital>consulate(s) general:</hi> Krakow, Poznan
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<item><hi format=bold>Flag:</hi> two equal horizontal bands of white (top) and red; similar to the flags of Indonesia and Monaco which are red (top) and white