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Two indirect presidential elections were held in Poland in December 1922. In the first election on 9 December Gabriel Narutowicz was elected president, but he was assassinated five days later. A second election on 22 December was won by Stanisław Wojciechowski.
After the independence of Poland, the head of state was Naczelnik Państwa Józef Piłsudski. In a new constitution adopted by the Polish Sejm, the new head of state was to be the President of Republic of Poland - to be choose by the National Assembly (combined Sejm and Senate). After the parliamentary election, planning began for the first Polish presidential election in history.
The main probable candidate Józef Piłsudski, despite calls for him to contend, did not run for election. He proposed a former Prime Minister, Wincenty Witos, for presidency. Witos also refused. Finally Piłsudski supported the candidature of Minister of Foreign Affairs Gabriel Narutowicz.
At the time of the election the main candidates were count Maurycy Zamoyski, the candidate of National Democracy and Stanisław Wojciechowski, candidate of Polish People's Party "Piast". Narutowicz's good result was a surprise. Once the long voting was over, Zamoyski and Narutowicz advanced to the fifth ballot. Narutowicz finally won the election with the support of "Piast" (Wojciechowski was eliminated on the fourth round).
Narutowicz was sworn in as president on 11 December 1922, but was assassinated five days later.[1]
| Candidate | Party | First ballot | Second ballot | Third ballot | Fourth ballot | Fifth ballot | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | % | |||
| Gabriel Narutowicz | PSL "Wyzwolenie" | 62 | 11.46 | 151 | 27.81 | 158 | 29.21 | 171 | 31.67 | 289 | 56.01 | |
| Maurycy Zamoyski | ZLN | 222 | 41.04 | 228 | 41.99 | 228 | 42.14 | 224 | 41.48 | 227 | 43.99 | |
| Stanisław Wojciechowski | PSL "Piast" | 105 | 19.41 | 153 | 28.18 | 150 | 27.73 | 145 | 26.85 | Withdrew | ||
| Jan Baudouin de Courtenay | National minorities | 103 | 19.04 | 10 | 1.84 | 5 | 0.92 | Withdrew | ||||
| Ignacy Daszyński | PPS | 49 | 9.06 | 1 | 0.18 | Withdrew | ||||||
| Source: Urbankowski[2] | ||||||||||||
The first election, when President of the Republic of Poland Gabriel Narutowicz was elected after several rounds by joint chambers of Sejm and Senate (at time of Second Polish Republic joint parliament elected president. The first direct vote took place in 1990). Narutowicz, however, was assassinated just five days since taking office. According to the Constitution the Sejm Marshal Maciej Rataj became Acting President of the Republic of Poland and organised new elections, which took place on 20 December. Stanislaw Wojciechowski won the second election, and took office on 22 December.[3]
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stanisław Wojciechowski | Polish People's Party "Wyzwolenie" | 298 | 57.42 | |
| Kazimierz Morawski | Popular National Union | 221 | 42.58 | |
| Total | 519 | 100.00 | ||
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