The analysis of voting preferences of West Pomerania inhabitants in the years 2001–2020

: The article concerns the voting preferences of West Pomerania inhabitants in comparison to the whole country regarding parliament elections, European Parliament elections, presidential elections, except for self-government elections. Taking into account different characteristics of the last type of elections, a separate article has been prepared to discuss them. Applying the comparison method, the election results have been analyzed in terms of political geography. The comparison of territorial diversity of political behaviors has shown how political preferences have evolved with respect to division into provinces, country districts and towns ruled by presidents in reference to, among all, three main political parties (PO RP, PiS and SLD). It has been checked if since 2005 the Platform has really managed to dominate the West Pomeranian political scene and also if any differences in voting prefer - ences occur depending on the place of residence or the type of elections? Subject to the analysis have been election results without the study of factors having impact on them, that is electoral campaigns and events on the political scene (they will be discussed in a separate publication). Regarding the typology of political parties ideological and programme criteria has been applied resulting in west-wing (SLD), central (PO RP) and right-wing division. The analysis has shown that there are no significant differences between the results of different types of elections. Regardless, the results from the whole country in West Pomerania in years 1993–2004 left-wing preferences were demonstrated, in years 1993–2004 central and since 2015 central-right. However, analyzing the results depending on the place of residence, together in three types of elections, in 8 the results between country districts and president cities in majority have overlapped and in 6 of them the differences have occurred.


Introductory remarks
T he 1990s were a complex period in Polish politics.The process of political trans- formation after the changes of 1989 led to democratization of the political system.As a result of the round table discussions, changes were made to the Constitution of the People's Republic of Poland (PRL), e.g. the Senate and the office of the President of the Republic of Poland were reactivated and the monopoly of power of the Polish United Worker's Party was broken.The beginning of the 1990s was the introduction of provisions regulating free, equal and universal elections to the local government, the Sejm and the Senate and for the President of the Republic of Poland.It is also the time of party formation, leading to fragmentation of the political scene.In addition, the instability of the party system meant that some were liquidated or marginalized, while others changed their names and merged into larger formations.Frequent changes in the provisions of the electoral law and the administrative reform of Jerzy Buzek's government additionally PP 3 '23 hindered the analysis of electoral preferences.Analyzing the results of the elections in Western Pomerania in the 1990s, it can be seen that apart from the first local government, parliamentary and presidential elections, from 1993 left-wing preferences dominated.
About the stabilization of the party system we have been talking since 2001, when, besides the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), which had a stable position on the political scene, e.g.Civic Platform of the Republic of Poland (PO RP) and Law and Justice (PiS).Since the first elections to the European Parliament (EP) in 2004, PO RP and PiS have started a process that ended with them dominating the political scene to such an extent that for the last 18 years both parties have been setting the tone for all election campaigns to all representative bodies (since 2005, presidents RP are derived from PO RP or PiS, and one of these parties is always a stronger partner in parliamentary coalitions forming the government).The remaining groupings were not able to realistically threaten the dominance of PO RP and PiS, as a result limiting themselves to the possible role of their coalition partner in creating election committees or exercising power.Also in Western Pomerania since 2004, centrist preferences began to dominate.
The article concerns the development of electoral preferences in Western Pomerania against the background of the country in relation to parliamentary, EP and Presidential elections.The analysis of local government elections was made in a separate text, due to the different specificity of these elections.The election results were analyzed in terms of electoral geography.The analysis of the spatial differentiation of electoral behavior showed how the electoral preferences in Western Pomerania were shaped, broken down by voivodeship, poviats and cities where presidents are in power, in relation to, among others, to the three most important parties (PO RP, PiS and SLD).It was analyzed whether the PO RP has really dominated the West Pomeranian political scene since 2005 and whether there are differences in electoral preferences depending on the place of residence or the type of election.Only the election results were analyzed, omitting the stage of election campaigns and events on the political scene between individual elections, which to a large extent determine the election results.
Two hypotheses were in the article: 1) The inhabitants of West Pomerania on a voivodeship scale showed similar electoral preferences to various representative bodies, because the election results, depending on the period, do not show major differences; 2) The inhabitants of West Pomerania showed differences in electoral preferences depending on the place of residence, because during some elections there were discrepancies in the results divided by poviats and presidential cities.
Regarding the typology of political parties, the ideological and program criterion was adopted after W. Sokół and M. Żmigrodzki, dividing the parties into the left (SLD), center (PO RP) and right (PiS) (Sokół, Żmigrodzki, 2003, pp. 197-258).Of course, this is a certain simplification, as some of the analyzed groupings, depending on the period, underwent, among others, from the center to the center-right or center-left.

Elections to the European Parliament
Analyzing the results of the elections to the European Parliament in West Pomerania, it can be seen that in relation to other elections, the inhabitants showed the most stable electoral preferences.The first elections to the European Parliament took place in 2004, when PO RP gained more and more popularity both in the country and in Western Pomerania.The victory of PO RP meant that the party was becoming a significant new political force.At the same time, in the analyzed region, there was a change in electoral preferences from left-wing to centrist, which was confirmed by the elections of 2009 and 2014.At that time, PO RP dominated the area of Western Pomerania.Kowalczyk, Tomczak, Piskorski (2006), Drzonek (2010), Tomczak (2010), Kowalczyk (2010), Radek (2010), Chrobak (2018) wrote about the elections to the European Parliament.
In 2004, PO RP won in 11 poviats, took second place in 6 and came third in one.So it was in the top three in every poviat.It also achieved the best result in 4 presidential cities and took second place in Kołobrzeg.This made it the best result in the voivodeship.It was undisputed champion in 2009, when it won in all 18 poviats and 5 presidential cities.The results from 2014 were also impressive, as PO RP won again in 5 presidential cities and in 17 poviats and took second place in one.The above results show that there were centrist electoral preferences in Western Pomerania.In turn, in 2019, PO RP retained the status of the strongest party in the region, as it won for the third time in all 5 presidential cities and in 16 poviats and also was ranked as second in 3.However, it should be noted that during 2019 elections, the PO RP was the main pillar of the broad centre-left European Coalition (EC) established at the beginning of 2019, which also included SLD, PSL, Nowoczesna and Zieloni (Rojewski, 2019;Lipiński, 2019).The aforementioned coalition was supposed to be a counterbalance to PiS, which at that time enjoyed the greatest popularity among parties on a national scale (Obwieszczenie PKW z dnia 15 czerwca 2004 r. ; Obwieszczenie PKW z dnia 8 czerwca 2009 r. ; Obwieszczenie PKW z dnia 26 maja 2014 r.; Obwieszczenie PKW z dnia 27 maja 2019 r.).See table no. 1, 2 and 3.
As mentioned, since the 2004 elections, there has been a departure from left-wing preferences in Western Pomerania.This is evidenced by the results of the SLD-UP coalition, which took places outside the top three in as many as 11 poviats and one presidential city.In 2009, the results were much better, as only in one poviat it was not among the first three committees.Whereas, the 2014 election was the most legible in terms of electoral preferences, as the undisputed leader was the PO RP, PiS was in second position, and the left-wing coalition took the place of the third political force.In turn, as mentioned before, in 2019 SLD was a member of the centre-left European Commission, while the UP (together with Together Party and the Social Justice Movement) joined the left-wing coalition Lewica Razem (Left Together).When analyzing the results, it should be noted that although the SLD was not the main political force during the European elections in Western Pomerania in all four elections, the leader of the list, Bogusław Liberadzki (in 2019, the leader of the EC list) in district no. 13 (West Pomeranian-Lubuskie) always won a seat.See table no. 1, 2 and 3.
In the first European elections, PiS achieved similar results to SLD-UP, as in 14 poviats and 3 presidential cities it was not among the first three committees.It was only in 2009 that PiS began to strengthen its position as the second political force in the region, as it was outside top three in only one poviat.However, the results from 2014 showed that PiS had become the undisputed second political force.The growing popularity was confirmed by the results from 2019, when PiS won in 3 poviats and took second place in the remaining 15.In turn, in all presidential cities it was again ranked second.This meant that second position of PiS in the region remained unthreatened (Obwieszczenie PP 3 '23 PKW z dnia 15 czerwca 2004 r. ; Obwieszczenie PKW z dnia 8 czerwca 2009 r. ; Obwieszczenie PKW z dnia 26 maja 2014 r.; Obwieszczenie PKW z dnia 27 maja 2019 r.).See table no. 1, 2 and 3.   Analyzing the results on a voivodeship scale, it can be seen that PO RP occupies a leading position in all four elections.On the other hand, PiS from the third position, since 2009 has strengthened its second position, which remained unthreatened after the 2019 elections.In turn, the SLD-UP coalition in the 2009 and 2014 elections remained the third political force and in 2019 it contributed to the success of the European Commission.The results, both at the voivodeship level and broken down by counties and presidential cities in all four elections, show that the electoral preferences in Western Pomerania were the most stable concerning other elections and were directed to the center of the political scene in the form of support for the PO.
It should be noted that the 2019 elections, although it turned out to be a success for the EC, the aforementioned coalition won only two seats (one for candidates from PO RP and SLD), i.e. as much as both parties won in 2004 and 2014.However, in 2019 the PO RP won two seats and the SLD one.PiS did not win any seats in 2004, in 2009 and 2014 it received one seat each and in 2019 the combined forces of among others PO RP and SLD forming the EC received more votes than PiS.PiS was the best in terms of the number of seats, which means that the electoral preferences of some inhabitants of Western Pomerania moved from the center of the political scene towards the right.To some extent, the above statement was confirmed by the results of the 2019 elections to the Sejm, which took place a few months after the elections to the EP.

Sejm and Senate Elections
In the 1990s, there were leftist electoral preferences in Western Pomerania.The 1991 elections were an exception, when the majority of deputies came from the Solidarity community.Seats were won by 13 committees (the election was characterized by a large fragmentation of the political scene, which was facilitated, among others, by the electoral law (Ustawa z dnia 28 czerwca 1991 r.…).In the West Pomeranian, as in the country, the SLD took second place behind the Democratic Union (UD), while in the Koszalin voivodeship the SLD received the highest support, pushing the UD to second place (Obwieszczenie PKW z dnia 31 października 1991 r.; Obwieszczenie PKW z dnia 30 października 1991 r.).In the 1993 elections in both voivodeships, the SLD was the distincted winner (as in the country).Also during the 1997 election, the Alliance received the highest support, despite the fact that the Solidarity Electoral Action won in the country (Piasecki, 2012; Obwieszczenie PKW z dnia 23 września 1993 r.; Obwieszczenie PKW z dnia 25 września 1997 r.).
In 2001, the SLD entered the elections in a coalition with the UP.At that time, the left-wing coalition was the largest political force in Western Pomerania.The SLD-UP committee won in all 17 districts (in 2001, the district of Łobez did not exist yet) and in all 5 presidential cities.In total, in the scale of voivodeship, out of 21 parliamentary seats, the left wing won 12 of them, 5 out of 8 in constituency no.40 (Koszalin) and 7 out of 13 in constituency no.41 (Szczecin).In addition, all 4 senatorial seats were won (two for each district).This confirmed that the vast majority of inhabitants of the region participating in the vote, both in poviats and presidential cities, showed leftist electoral preferences.Let us remind that the SLD-UP also won on a national scale (Obwieszczenie PKW z dnia 26 września 2001 r.).See table no. 4, 5 and 6.
At that time, the PO RP was the third political force in the West Pomeranian region, behind the left and Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland, which won 4 seats.Self-Defence's good result arose from the fact that its leader, Andrzej Lepper, ran for the Sejm from the Koszalin constituency.PO RP was ranked second in 2 poviats, third in 13 and not in the top three in 2. It fared much better in presidential cities.In 4 cities it took the second place just behind the left and in Koszalin it won third place giving way to the coalition of SLD-UP and Self-Defence (Samoobrona RP).These results show that PO RP had a larger electorate in large cities than in individual poviats.In total it won 3 seats in the voivodeship (2 in Szczecin district and 1 in Koszalin).See table no. 4, 5 and 6.
In 2001, PiS was ranked as the 4th political force in the region but with a large loss to the first three parties.In none of the 17 poviats, PiS was in the top three committees.Similarly in presidential cities.In Szczecin and Świnoujście, PiS took third place and in the other three it was outside the top three.The party won only one parliamentary seat in the Szczecin constituency (the last 13th seat went to the LPR) (Obwieszczenie PKW z dnia 26 września 2001 r.).See table no. 4, 5 and 6.
The change in the electoral preferences of the majority of the inhabitants of West Pomerania who voted took place during the 2005 election.Electoral sympathies began to shift from the left to the centre.Analyzing the results on a voivodeship scale it can be seen that the first political force was PO RP followed by PiS and Samoobrona RP.In this way SLD (in 2005, the Alliance went to the elections without the UP (Sieklucki, 2006, pp. 126-131;Tomczak, 2008, pp. 18-24;Migalski, Wojtasik, Mazur, 2006, pp. 202-203) which agrees with the SdPL) found itself outside the top three, which showed how major loss he suffered in relation to the 2001 elections (Obwieszczenie PKW z dnia 27 września 2005 r.).
However, the balance of power looked different if we take into account the results in the districts of Szczecin and Koszalin.In Szczecin the first two places remained unchanged, PO RP and PiS won 4 seats each.The change took place in the third position, PP 3 '23 which was taken by the SLD whereas Samoobrona RP was outside the top three (both parties obtained 2 seats each).The last 13th went to the LPR.In the Koszalin constituency, the best result was achieved by Samoobrona RP (3 seats), followed by PO RP and PiS (both parties won 2 seats each) and SLD was outside the top three (but received the last, 8th seat).It means that in Szczecin constituency, the voters of left-wing sympathies were stronger than in the Koszalin constituency.On the other hand, in Koszalin strong electoral sympathies towards Samoobrona RP are visible, because -as already mentioned -the leader of this party was a candidate from this constituency.Moreover, the results show that electoral preferences in Western Pomerania were not fully formed, after the majority of voters stopped supporting the SLD.It is evidenced, among others, by Senate results.Before the elections, PO RP and PiS concluded an agreement to put forward one candidate in both constituencies.Both parties won 2 seats each, with the difference that candidates of PiS won more votes than PO RP.So in the elections to Sejm, PO RP achieved a better result in the voivodeship scale but PiS won the Senate.
The fact that PO RP in 2005 was only strengthening its position as the first political force in the voivodeship is confirmed by the results in poviats.Out of 18 poviats (the Łobez poviat was created in 2002), it won in 7, in the next 7 it took second place, in 3 it was third, and in one it was outside the top three.In turn, PiS won in 3 poviats, won second place in 8 poviats, was third in 6, and outside the top three in one.Interestingly, the most victories in the poviats -as many as 8 -were won by Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland, while in one poviat it took second place, and in 6 it was third.In 2005, Samoobrona obtained the best result in the region in relation to all parliamentary elections in which it participated.In turn, the SLD fared the worst.It took second place in 2 poviats, third in 3, and was outside the top three in 13.The results from the land counties alone did not clearly indicate the balance of political forces in the region (Obwieszczenie PKW z dnia 27 września 2005 r.).See table no. 4, 5 and 6.
On the other hand, the balance of power was much more legible in presidential cities.There, electoral preferences -especially with regard to PO RP and PiS -did not change for the next five parliamentary elections in 2005-2019.The first political force was PO RP, winning in all 5 cities, while the second was PiS, which took second place in all cities.In turn, the SLD took third place in 4 cities, because in Koszalin it was outside the first three, giving way to Samoobrona RP (Obwieszczenie PKW z dnia 27 września 2005 r.).See table no. 4, 5 and 6.
Analyzing the results from 2007, it can be stated that, unlike in 2005, electoral preferences in Western Pomerania were clearly defined.Centrist voters dominated, followed by right-wing and left-wing voters.Looking at the results on a voivodeship scale, the first unquestioned political force was PO RP (13 seats), PiS was in second place (5 seats), and the center-left LiD coalition (3 seats), whose strongest pillar was SLD, was in third place.The balance of power was similar in both constituencies.In the Szczecin constituency, PO RP won 8 seats, PiS won 3 seats, and LiD received 2 seats.In the Koszalin constituency, PO RP won 5 seats, PiS won 2 seats and LiD won one.The confirmation of the PO's undisputed victory was obtaining all four senatorial mandates.
The decisive victory of PO RP was also confirmed by the results in poviats, as the aforementioned party won in all 18 poviats.The second political force was PiS, which won the second place in 17 poviats and the third position in one.On the other hand, the LiD in 17 poviats was ranked third, and in the Choszczno poviat was outside the top three, as it was the only poviat in which, apart from the victorious PO RP and PiS, which was in third position, the second place was won by PSL.Also in presidential cities, the results did not differ from the rest of the region.In all 5 cities, the PO RP won, PiS took second place, and LiD came third (Obwieszczenie PKW z dnia 23 października 2007 r.).See table no. 4, 5 and 6.
The 2011 elections were characterized by stable electoral preferences in Western Pomerania.On the scale of the voivodeship, the PO RP again became the undisputed winner.Out of 20 seats in total, it won 11.The second political force remained PiS (5 seats).In turn, the third force was emergent, the Palikot Movement (RP), while the SLD was just behind the top three (both parties won 2 seats each).
The results were similar in terms of constituencies.In the Szczecin, PO RP again achieved the best result winning 7 seats, PiS 3 seats, RP and SLD won 1 seat each.Also in Koszalin, the PO RP remained the leader with 4 seats, PiS 2 seats, and RP and SLD 1 seat each.The dominance of PO RP was confirmed by winning 4 senatorial seats in all single-mandate electoral districts that came into force in 2011.
Analyzing the results of the elections on the scale of the voivodeship and both districts, it can be seen that the inhabitants of the voivodeship continued to have centrist electoral preferences, followed by right-wing and left-wing ones.It is worth noting that the left-wing sympathies occupied a stable third position, as the third and fourth places were occupied by the RP (the Palikot Movement) and the SLD.The better result of the Republic of Poland than the SLD may indicate that some residents, still showing left-wing preferences, were not satisfied with the activities of the SLD and preferred to support another left-wing formation.
The results in poviats did not differ from the balance of power in the region.PO RP also maintained its dominance, winning again in all 18 poviats and PiS took second place in all of them.On the other hand, the SLD took third place in 8 poviats and was outside the top three in 10, giving way to 8 poviats of the Republic of Poland and poviats to PSL.In presidential cities, electoral preferences did not differ from other cities.For the third time, PO RP won in all 5 cities and PiS took second place for the third time.On the other hand, the SLD was ranked third only in Świnoujście, because in the others it was outside the top three, giving way to the RP (Obwieszczenie PKW z dnia 11 października 2011 r.) See table no. 4, 5 and 6.
In the 2015 elections, although the electoral preferences of the inhabitants of Western Pomerania remained unchanged, there was a certain weakening of PO RP's position in favor of PiS, which showed that more inhabitants began to look to the right side of the political scene.On the voivodeship scale, although PO RP remained the leader, it won as many seats as PiS (8 each).SLD was part of a broad left-wing coalition United Left (ZL) SLD+TR+PPS+UP+Zieloni (ZL) (Gajek, 2015;SLD...;Lewica...), but despite taking third place in the province, due to not exceeding the 8% electoral threshold on a national scale, ZL did not participate in the distribution of seats.The remaining 4 seats were won (2 each) by Kukiz'15 and Nowoczesna Ryszard Peru's (Obwieszczenie PKW z dnia 27 października 2015 r.).
The votes were similarly divided into two constituencies.In Szczecin, PO RP remained the leader, but PiS achieved only a slightly worse result and both parties won PP 3 '23 5 seats each.The change took place in the position of the third force, which became Nowoczesna (1 mandate), while ZL was right behind the top three, without mandates.The last twelfth mandate went to the Kukiz'15 committee.In turn, the results in the Koszalin district coincided with those in the voivodeship.PO RP and PiS won 3 seats each, ZL no seats, and Kukiz'15 and Nowoczesna won one seat.Analyzing the results on the scale of the voivodeship and both districts, it can be seen that West Pomerania still showed centrist electoral preferences, especially that PO PR won all 4 senatorial seats for the third time.However, the position of PiS has been strengthened, which translated into the same number of parliamentary seats as in PO RP, i.e. the electoral sympathies of some residents again shifted to the right.It should also be remembered that in 2015 there was a change in electoral preferences on a national scale, as PiS won the parliamentary elections, obtaining more than half of the seats, which made it possible for the first time in the history of the Third Republic of Poland to form a government by one committee (it must be remembered that the PiS lists included candidates from the parties of Zbigniew Ziobro and Jarosław Gowin).
The fact that the position of PO RP has weakened in favor of PiS is evidenced by the results of elections in poviats.In 2007 and 2011, PO RP won in all 18 poviats, while in 2015 it won only in 11, and took second place in the remaining 7. PiS, on the other hand, won in 7 poviats and was ranked second in the remaining 11.In turn, ZL in 9 poviats was ranked third, and in the remaining 9 poviats it was outside the top three, giving way -depending on the poviat -to Nowoczesna, Kukiz'15 or PSL.See table no. 4, 5 and 6.
On the other hand, the electoral preferences in the presidential cities, where the inhabitants showed stable political views since 2005, have not changed.Again, PO RP won all of them, and PiS took second place.In turn, ZL in 4 cities reached the third position, with the exception of Szczecin, where it was outside the top three, giving way to Nowoczesna (Obwieszczenie PKW z dnia 27 października 2015 r.).See table no. 4, 5 and 6.
The change of electoral preferences from centrist to right-wing in Western Pomerania took place during the 2019 election.For the first time on a voivodeship scale, PiS received the most votes, followed by the Civic Coalition (KO), i.e. the combined forces of PO RP, Nowoczesna and Zieloni (Dziedzic, 2019;Dąbrowska, Żelazińska, 2019;Schetyna...).By creating KO, PO RP hoped to strengthen its chances of defeating PiS.However, despite the victory, PiS won 7 seats and KO 8.The third place was taken by SLD (3 seats).Representatives of other left-wing formations, i.e.Lewica Razem (until June 2019, it was called the Together Party) and Wiosna, also started from his lists under the agreement.The last two seats went to PSL (Obwieszczenie PKW z dnia 14 października 2019 r.).
However, if we look at the results in division by both districts, the balance of power was not so obvious.In the Szczecin constituency, KO (5 seats) received the most votes, and PiS (4 seats) took the second position.The third place went to the SLD (2 seats), while the last twelfth seat went to the PSL.In turn, in the Koszalin district, as in the voivodeship, the winner was PiS, winning 3 seats from KO.The third place was also taken by SLD (1 seat), while the last, eighth seat was won by PSL.Although PO RP received fewer votes than PiS on the voivodeship scale, it won one seat more.This shows that although the preferences of the majority of voting residents have changed from the center to the right, it has not yet been a change enough to indicate which of the two groups has become the main political force.
In the land counties, PiS became the decisive political force, winning in 17, and taking second place in one.In turn, KO won only one, and in 17 it took second place.In 16 poviats, SLD was ranked third, and in 2 it was outside the top three, giving way to PSL.In this situation, the majority of voting residents in the counties showed rightwing views.On the other hand, in the presidential cities the situation was the opposite, because in all the KO obtained the best result, PiS was second and SLD third.So since 2005, electoral preferences have not changed and have remained in the center (Obwieszczenie PKW z dnia 14 października 2019 r.l).See table no. 4, 5 and 6.
Looking at the results from the perspective of the voivodeship, division into districts, counties, and presidential cities, it is evident that in the Koszalin district, right-wing preferences were stronger, while in the Szczecin district, centrist preferences prevailed.The same trend can be observed in the so-called terrain across the entire voivodeship, with stronger right-wing preferences, and centrist preferences in larger cities.This means that despite the Civic Platform (PO) party losing popularity mainly in the rural areas and Law and Justice (PiS) gaining at its expense, both parties enjoyed similar popularity in the region in 2019.However, even though the Civic Platform has been experiencing a downward trend since the 2015 elections, while Law and Justice has been on the rise, in the 2019 elections, the Civic Platform managed to win one more parliamentary seat and regain all the seats in the Senate.This implies that although they received fewer votes overall for the Sejm (lower house) than Law and Justice, they still retained a stronger position.

Elections of the President of the Republic of Poland
Analyzing the results in Western Pomerania in 1990Pomerania in , 1995Pomerania in and 2000, apart from the first elections, left-wing electoral preferences prevailed.The 1990 election was the only one in which the results between the Szczecin and Koszalin voivodeships differed greatly.In Koszalin, the results did not differ from those on a national scale, as Lech Wałęsa, Stanisław Tymiński and Tadeusz Mazowiecki took the first three places, while in Szczecin: Mazowiecki, Wałęsa and Tymiński.In turn, in the second round, in both regions, as well as in the country, Wałęsa gained the greatest support (Obwieszczenie PKW z dnia 26 listopada 1990 r.; Obwieszczenie PKW z dnia 10 grudnia 1990 r.).
In 1995, in both regions mentioned above, as well as on a national scale, in both rounds of voting, Aleksander Kwaśniewski received the most votes, followed by Wałęsa.Also, the election of 2000 showed that the candidate of the left was a definite favorite in the scale of the Zachodniopomorskie Voivodship.He obtained over 50% of votes in each of the four constituencies in the voivodeship and in each of the 17 poviats and 3 cities with poviat rights (in Lubuskie and Zachodniopomorskie, the left-wing candidate received the highest support in the voivodeship scale).This confirmed the leftist electoral preferences of the region (Obwieszczenie PKW z dnia 7 listopada 1995 r. ; Obwieszczenie PKW z dnia 20 listopada 1995 r.; Obwieszczenie PKW z dnia 9 października 2000 r.; Piasecki, 2012, pp. 85-103, 130-142).
The change in electoral preferences both in the country and in Western Pomerania took place in 2005.Kwaśniewski, who enjoyed great popularity, could no longer stand as a candidate, while the SLD systematically lost its popularity.It was, among others the effect of the government of Leszek Miller and then Marek Belka and the failed coalition between SLD-UP and PSL (Kuciński, 2007, pp. 106-107;Godlewski, 2006, pp. 119-120;Sieklucki, 2006, pp. 108-118).After the backtrack of the SLD candidate Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz, the SLD supported the second left-wing candidate, Marek Borowski, the leader of the SdPL (Kawecki, 2006, pp. 43-44;Sieklucki, 2006, pp. 145-147).On a national scale, the winner of the first round was Donald Tusk, followed by Lech Kaczyński, Lepper and only the candidate of the left.Although Tusk received the most votes, which showed a change in preferences from the left towards the center, the PiS candidate won over the majority of the supporters of the other contenders, thanks to which he received more votes in the second round, becoming the new President of the Republic of Poland.
On the other hand, in Western Pomerania, the change of preferences from the left to the center took place in both rounds of elections.In the scale of the voivodeship, Tusk won, followed by L. Kaczyński, then Lepper, and Borowski, as in the scale of the country, was outside the top three, in the fourth position.Also the results in poviats show the dominance of the PO RP candidate.Tusk won in 17 poviats and took second place in one.Lech Kaczyński was ranked second in 8 poviats, and third in the remaining 10.Compared to Kwasniewski's results, the candidate of the left stacked up very poorly.Only in one poviat did it take third place, and in the remaining 17 it was outside the top three.On the other hand, Lepper achieved a good result, which in the Sławno poviat (where he came from) was on the 1st place, in 9 poviats -second, in 7 -third, and in 1 out of the top three.See table no. 7, 8 and 9. Also in the presidential cities, the preferences with regard to the first two places did not differ from those in poviats.The winner in all 5 cities was the PO RP candidate, and the PiS contender took second place.However, there was a difference in the third place, which was taken by a candidate of the left in all 5 cities.So the electorate in big cities was more left-wing than in the so-called terrain.See table no. 7, 8 and 9.
The results of the second round did not differ from the first round.On the scale of the voivodship, in poviats and presidential cities, centrist preferences prevailed.Tusk won in the province, in 16 poviats and in all 5 presidential cities.On the other hand, L. Kaczyń ski won only in the Pyrzyce and Sławno districts (Obwieszczenie PKW z dnia 10 października 2005 r.; Obwieszczenie PKW z dnia 24 października 2005 r.).See table no. 7, 8 and 9.
In 2010, the elections were brought forward due to the plane crash near Smolensk.As a result of the tragic death of President L. Kaczyński, PiS put up his brother Jarosław.On a national scale, there was a change in electoral preferences, as the PO RP candidate, Bronisław Komorowski, won both rounds of elections against J. Kaczyński.The change took place in the third position, which was taken by the SLD candidate Grzegorz Napieralski.
In Western Pomerania, the elections confirmed the dominance of centrist preferences, still right-wing and left-wing preferences (SLD made up for losses and became the third political force), i.e. they coincided with electoral preferences on a national scale.The inhabitants of the region showed an oneness of views both on the scale of the voivodship, poviats and presidential cities.On a regional scale, in all 18 poviats and in all 5 presidential cities, the PO RP candidate won.The PiS contender took second place, and the SLD candidate third.In the second round, Komorowski also won against J. Kaczyński on the scale of the voivodship, poviats and presidential cities.It was the time of the greatest popularity of PO RP in the region.PiS, on the other hand, strengthened itself as the second political force (Obwieszczenie PKW z dnia 21 czerwca 2010 r.; Obwieszczenie PKW z dnia 5 lipca 2010 r.).See table no. 7, 8 and 9.
The election in 2015 brought another change of preferences in the country.In turn, preferences in Western Pomerania towards the two main forces in the form of PO RP and PiS remained unchanged.However, once again the third political force has changed both in the scale of the country and the analyzed region.In Poland, as a result of numerous mistakes made during the election campaign, Komorowski, despite the initial very high support, eventually lost to the PiS candidate Andrzej Duda, who ran a very effective campaign (Zieliński, 2015;Janicki, Władyka, 2015).Duda won both rounds, pushing the PO RP candidate to second place.In turn, in the first round, the SLD candidate Magdalena Ogórek took only fifth place, giving way to Duda, Komorowski, Paweł Kukiz and Janusz Korwin-Mikke.Nationally, electoral preferences have shifted to the right again.
On the other hand, in Western Pomerania, as in 2010, Komorowski won, followed by Duda.The SLD candidate was outside the top three.The PO RP candidate won in all counties and presidential cities, i.e. residents of large cities and the so-called terrain, showed centrist preferences.The PiS candidate maintained his second position, but with weaker support than in 2010, especially in large cities.Duda took second place in 17 poviats, and third place in Police poviat, while in 3 presidential cities he took second place, PP 3 '23 and in 2 cities third.The PiS candidate lost to Kukiz, who took second place in the police poviat, and third in the remaining 17.In turn, in presidential cities, it took second place in 2, and third in 3. The greatest losses compared to 2010 were suffered by the SLD, whose candidate was outside the top three in all 18 poviats and in presidential cities (Obwieszczenie PKW z dnia 11 maja 2015 r.; Obwieszczenie PKW z dnia 25 maja 2015 r.).See table no. 7, 8 and 9.
In the elections of 2010 and 2015, preferences in Western Pomerania were clear and directed to the center of the political scene.Both in the scale of the voivodeship, poviats and presidential cities, the PO RP candidate won.The situation partly changed in 2020.The elections were held during the coronavirus pandemic, which hindered the electoral process and involved postponing the date of voting and introducing changes to the electoral law, which aroused a lot of controversy, as not all changes were in line with the Electoral Code (Ustawa z dnia 5 stycznia 2011 r....).The inability to hold the vote on the original date and the resulting changes made it possible for PO RP to replace the candidate from Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska to Rafał Trzaskowski, because the candidate, as a result of, among others, badly conducted election campaign, it lost its popularity.Szymon Hołownia, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz and even Duda gained from it.On the other hand, the replacement of the candidate meant that PO RP regained the possibility of a real fight for the seat of the President of the Republic of Poland.
On a national scale, electoral preferences were still oriented to the right, because, as in 2015, the PiS candidate fighting for re-election won the largest support in both rounds, and the PO RP contender took second place.The third position was taken by Hołownia, and the left-wing candidate Robert Biedroń (the leader of Wiosna, with the support of SLD and Lewica Razem) did not make it to the top three, taking sixth place, which was the worst result for a left-wing candidate since 1990.
The inhabitants of Western Pomerania, as in 2015, retained their centrist preferences, voting for the PO RP candidate.However, Trzaskowski's victory was not as big as that of PO RP candidates in previous elections.So some voters from the center moved to the right.On the voivodeship scale, the PO RP candidate won, followed by the PiS contender and Hołownia.The left-wing candidate, on the other hand, was again outside the top three.The change took place in poviats, because unlike the elections of 2010 and 2015, the PO RP candidate won only in 5, and in 13 he took the second position.The PiS contender, on the other hand, won in as many as 13 poviats, and took second place in 5.This was the best result of the PiS candidate in all landed poviats from all previous elections.In turn, Hołownia won the third place in all poviats, and the candidate of the left was not in the top three in any of them.On the other hand, preferences in presidential cities remained at the center of the political scene.The PO RP pretender won again in all cities, and the PiS candidate took second place.The third place was taken by Hołownia, and the candidate of the left once again did not make it to the top three.In the second round, the preferences were clearer.On the scale of the voivodeship, in 17 poviats and in all presidential cities, the pretender of PO RP won.The PiS candidate won only in the Pyrzyce poviat (Obwieszczenie PKW z dnia 30 czerwca 2020 r.; Obwieszczenie PKW z dnia 13 lipca 2020 r.).See table no. 7, 8 and 9.
Analyzing the results of the elections in Western Pomerania, it can be concluded that support for PO RP weakened in favor of PiS in the so-called terrain, and remained unchanged in presidential cities.On the other hand, a better result of the PO RP candidate than PiS in poviats in the second round meant that PO RP, unlike PiS, managed to win over the majority of supporters of candidates who did not enter the second round.The left wing suffered heavy losses, as it was the second election in which the left wing candidate was not among the top three candidates in both the country poviats and presidential cities, which may indicate a certain crisis on the left.
Source: Own elaboration based on PKW data.

Final remarks
In Western Pomerania, as in the whole country, during the elections of the President of the Republic of Poland in 1990 and the parliamentary elections in 1991, the vast majority of voters supported candidates from Solidarity.The change of electoral preferences to left-wing, both in the country and in Western Pomerania, took place during the parliamentary elections in 1993, when SLD won the most votes.Two years later, the SLD candidate became the President of the Republic of Poland.Although the national parliamentary elections in 1997 were won by AWS, the inhabitants of Western Pomerania still showed left-wing sympathies by voting for SLD.This was confirmed by the election of the President of the Republic of Poland in 2000, which was again won by a left-wing politician who achieved one of the best results in the country in the West Pomeranian region.A year later, during the parliamentary elections, the left-wing SLD-UP coalition won nationally and in Western Pomerania.However, it turned out to be the last victory of the left both in the country and in the analyzed region.
The change of electoral preferences from the left to the center took place during the elections to the European Parliament in 2004.In turn, during the parliamentary elections and the elections for the President of the Republic of Poland in 2005, the preferences oriented to the right, remaining until 2007, when they returned to the center of the political scene again staying there until 2014.In 2015, in the elections of the President of the Republic of Poland and to the parliament, voters again opted for the right.However, throughout this period, Western Pomerania remained at the center of the political scene, until the parliamentary elections in 2019, when PiS received the most votes.
Analyzing the results of the parliamentary, EP and Presidential elections in Western Pomerania on a voivodeship scale and divided by county counties and presidential cities, it is clear that the inhabitants of the said region primarily showed centrist electoral preferences, and then right-wing and left-wing ones.SLD, taking part in the elections on its own or in left-wing or centre-left coalitions, occupied the position of the third political force at most, or outside the top three.It lost not only to PO RP and PiS, but also to leftwing formations (Ruch Palikot), centrist (Nowoczesna), center-right (Kukiz, Hołownia) or populist formations (Samoobrona RP).In addition, there was greater support for the SLD in large cities than in the so-called terrain.
However, the main fight since 2005 was between PO RP and PiS.The period of PO RP's dominance in Western Pomerania on the scale of voivodeships, counties and presidential cities begins with the parliamentary elections in 2007 and ends after the elections of the President of the Republic of Poland in 2015.Since the parliamentary elections in 2015, PO RP has lost to PiS.However, despite the fact that during the elections to the European Parliament in 2019 PiS won two seats for the first time, and during the parliamentary elections in 2019 it obtained the best result in the voivodeship and the Koszalin region, and Duda in 2020 won the vast majority in the first round counties did not result in a change in electoral preferences in Western Pomerania from centrist to right-wing.They can be described as center-right.PO RP, although weakened, still remains a significant political force in the region.However, PiS is consistently strengthening its position.This is especially evident in the so-called terrain where PiS is gaining more and more popularity.On the other hand, PO RP dominates in large cities.It seems that if PO RP results of the elections of selected committees in individual poviats and cities where presidents in Western Pomerania hold power to the Sejm of the Republic of Poland in the years a III a i b I a II a III a i b I a II a III a i b I a II a III a i b I a II a III a i b I a II a III a i b

a
Getting the first, second or third result on a county or city scale; b Obtaining a result other than in the top three on a county or city scale; c In 2019, PO RP was part of the KO; d In 2001, the SLD was in a coalition with the UP, in 2005 without coalition, in 2007 in the LiD coalition, in 2011 independently, in 2015 in the ZL coalition, in 2019 independently (but there were representatives on the lists Lewica Razem and Wiosna).Source: Own elaboration based on PKW data.Election results (first three committees) in individual poviats and cities in which power is exercised by the presidents of West Pomerania to the Sejm of the Republic of results of the elections of selected candidates (and parties supporting them) in individual poviats and cities in which power is exercised by presidents in Western Pomerania for President of the Republic of Poland in the years 2005a III a i b I a II a I a II a III a i b I a II a I a II a III a i b I a II a I a II a III a i b I a II a Poviats PO RP

Table 1 The results of the elections of selected committees in individual poviats and cities in which power is exercised by presidents in Western Pomerania to the European Parliament in the years 2004-2019 Name of the party Victories in presidential poviats and cities (top three places) 2004 2009 2014 2019 I a II a III a i b I a II a III a i b I a II a III a i b I a II a III a i b Poviats
the first, second or third result or a poviat or city scale; b Obtaining a result other than in the top three on a poviat or city scale; c In 2019, PO RP and SLD were members of the EC and UP joined the Lewica Razem coalition.

Table 8 Election results (first three candidates) in the West Pomeranian for the President of the Republic of Poland in 2005-2020
Source: Own elaboration based on PKW data.