German Minority Electoral Committee


The German Minority Electoral Committee represents the German minority in Poland in the Sejm, or the lower house of Polish parliament. It is not a political party, but an organization by which Poland's political system gives political representation to national minorities. Candidates of the German minority are proposed by the Social-Cultural Association of Germans in Silesian Opole and the Social-Cultural Association of Germans in Silesian Voivodeship.

Programme

German Minority supports Polish integration with the European Union and the development of the region of Silesia, and argues for laws supportive of minority groups.

National elections

As a national minority, it is not required to pass the election threshold of 5% as standard political parties in Poland are.
National elections:
ElectionVotes% of Poland% of OpoleSeats Change
1991132,0591.2 7
199360,7700.419.0 4
199751,0270.417.0 1
200147,2300.413.6
200534,4690.312.9
200732,4620.28.8 1
201128,0140.28.8
201527,5300.28.1
201932,0940.27.9

In 1993 there were two lists, one in the Opole Voivodeship, one in the Katowice Voivodeship. The Opole list also won one seat in the Senate.
At the 2007 Parliamentary elections the candidate list to the Sejm got 8.81% of the votes in Opole Voivodeship, and only one seat in the Sejm, Ryszard Galla. He had already won a seat in 2005 and had announced the rise from 2 to 3 seats as an electoral goal early in September, thanks to the personal votes of local mayors who were supposed to reinforce the list. The second former Sejm deputy, Henryk Kroll, lost his seat and announced his resignation from the chairmanship of the Social-Cultural Association of Germans in Silesian Opole, whose delegates are due to elect a new president early 2008. The 3 candidate list for the Senate of Poland didn't succeed in winning a single seat. According to the bilingual weekly Schlesisches Wochenblatt, votes won by the German Minority list could have benefited the Civic Platform, for whom 6,000 to 8,000 ethnic Germans would have voted.
In 2011 the list got 8.76% of valid votes in the Opole constituency, and more than 20% in 3 powiat out of 12. Ryszard Galla was reelected as the sole MP from the German Minority with 11,794 personal votes.

Regional elections

Local elections to the Opole Regional Assembly:
YearVotes%Seats
199867,92121,15
200254,38518.61
200649,13117.30
201053,67017.77
201441,88914.90
201852,43114.64