Referendum – an instrument or an illusion of the Polish Nation’s power

Abstract

The author has analysed the following issues: Polish referenda traditions in the twentieth century, the currently applicable law contained in the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 1997 and the Act of 2003, the modern referendum practice in Poland (subject and results of the referendum carried out in 1997, 2003 and 2015) and the legal limits of sovereign power (i.e. the subject of the Nation’s admissible decision in a referendum). The paper also points to the prospects for a consultative referendum on the amendment to the Constitution, related to the initiative of the President of the Republic of Poland submitted on 3 May 2017. It concerns the involvement of citizens in the process of drafting the constitution from scratch, before work on its draft in the Parliament commences, a practice that has not had a precedent in our history. The author takes the view that, notwithstanding the flaws or shortcomings of the existing legal regulations and the negative past experience, a referendum may become a joint result of the work of a sovereign nation may strengthen the authority of the new constitution.