Acceso usuarios
Eva Cristina Hoffman Jedruch
As the First World War headed towards the disintegration of the three European empires that dismembered the Polish territory at the end of the eighteenth century, Poles across partitioned lands and those living in exile were actively forming political groupings planning the rebirth of their country. At the same time as the main political groups emerged, preparations were launched by various political groupings to organize a new parliamentary regime. It would require a new constitution and an elected parliament. Top legal experts from across the entire Polish lands were invited for this task. An electoral ordinance was drafted and elections to a legislative parliament were promptly held as the initial steps for setting up the representative regime and the government based on the constitution. Mainstream political parties played a major role in shaping the new Polish state in the Legislative Parliament (Seym Ustawodawczy) following the elections in January 1919. The temporary constitution, known as the Small Constitution (Mala Konstytucja), enacted on 20 February 1919, established the Legislative Parliament as the supreme authority of the land whose decrees would be implemented by the head of state until such time as the permanent constitution would be adopted.
