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1. Young people as voters

2. Young people as political representatives

3. Young people as candidates in elections

Young people as voters

In general, Polish age limits for participation in representative democracy seem to be moderately restrictive. However, the same voting age limit applies to all levels and types of democratic procedures, although there are some differences regarding the minimum age for candidates running for president or for the position of local level executives. Regardless of the type (presidential, parliamentary) and level (local, national and European) of elections, young people acquire voting rights having attained the age of 18 not later than on the day of voting.

Only Polish citizens have the right to vote and be elected in national elections. Since 2004, Polish national law has had to comply with the requirements of the European Union and therefore it guarantees voting rights to EU citizens permanently residing in the territory of a commune and the right to stand for election in communal elections. This excludes the right to stand for local election for executive posts.

The Constitution of the Republic of Poland defines the age at which citizens may enjoy voting rights. Article 62 states that on the day citizens attain the age of 18, they acquire the right to elect the President of the Republic of Poland as well as Parliamentary deputies, senators and local government representatives. The initiative of lowering the voting age limit applicable to the above types of election would require a Parliamentary majority being in favour of amending the Basic Law. The statutory lowering of the voting age limit is only possible in the case of European parliamentary elections.

Plans to lower the voting age limit resulted from initiatives undertaken by some political groups and in non-governmental circles. In 2003, the Freedom Union (Unia Wolności) proposed the participation of people aged 16-17 in the EU accession referendum. In 2010, the Civic Platform (Platforma Obywatelska) tried to sound out the idea of allowing junior youth to vote in local government elections. The demand to lower the voting age limit for all types of elections re-emerged in 2013 thanks to the party Your Move (Twój Ruch) (formerly the Palikot Movement) (Ruch Palikota). The current speaker of the parliament – and also the leader of the new political group Third Road (Trzecia Droga), which is a part of the government coalition – declared the intent to work on a proposal to amend the constitution to lower the voting age to 16 years.

There are no age-based legal regulations in Poland that would facilitate participation in democratic procedures (elections, referendums).. The government coalition has started to work on widening the access to postal voting, which is supposed to be made accessible to all voting groups regardless of age.

Young people as political representatives

The Political Parties Act (Ustawa o partiach politycznych) states that anyone aged over 18 may be a member of a political party in Poland. Most political parties liaise with various youth organisations. The nature of those relationships is very diversified. Some of them are officially affiliated youth organisations within political parties, some have the status of associated organisations or those loosely cooperating.

The latest data provided by the Central Statistical Office (2022) shows, that political parties have a total of 203 800 members which is roughly 0.7% of all voters. Membership in political parties has been consistently on the decrease. In 2014, there were almost 300 000 registered party members, so in ten years the number decreased by a third. In 2022, 20 political parties (versus 16 in 2016 and 14 in 2014) out of a total of 66 participating in the survey declared that they worked with youth organisations operating either within their party structures or acting as independent associations.

In 2022, the youth organizations of the party gathered 7 100 members, which is over 10 000 members less than in 2016. Among them were people under the age of 18, who made up 20.5% of all members. In 2022, the average youth organization gathered around 400 members simultaneously half of the youth had no more than 100 activists.

Young people as candidates in elections

The Election Code (Kodeks Wyborczy) is a document which contains all the regulations concerning the voting age limit and the age limit to stand for election in Poland. Among other things, it sets the minimum age of candidates participating in various categories of democratic elections. Art. 10 (1) of the Code states that voting rights can be exercised as follows:

1) In the case of parliamentary, Senate and presidential elections - Polish nationals who attain the age of 18 not later than on the day of voting can exercise their right to vote;

2) In the case of European Parliamentary elections in the Republic of Poland - Polish nationals who attain the age of 18 not later than on the day of voting and European Union nationals who are not citizens of Poland and who attain the age of 18 not later than on the day of voting and permanently reside in the territory of the Republic of Poland can exercise their right to vote.

3) in the case of local government elections:

a) commune councils - Polish nationals and European Union nationals who are not citizens of Poland as well as citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and who attain the age of 18 not later than on the day of voting and permanently reside in the territory of the relevant commune can exercise their right to vote,

b) district councils and provincial parliaments - Polish nationals and who attain the age of 18 not later than on the day of voting and who permanently reside in the territory of the relevant district or province can exercise their right to vote;

4) in mayoral elections in a commune - people having the right to elect the council of that commune can exercise their right to vote.

Under Art. 11 (1), the right to stand for election in each category is as follows:

1) For Parliamentary Elections (Sejm) - Polish nationals who have the right to vote in parliamentary elections and attain the age of 21 not later than on the day of voting;

2) For Senate Elections - Polish nationals who have the right to vote in Senate elections and attain the age of 30 not later than on the day of voting;

3) For Presidential Elections - Polish nationals who have the right to vote in presidential elections and attain the age of 35 not later than on the day of voting while enjoying full voting rights in parliamentary elections;

4) For European Parliament Elections in Poland - people enjoying voting rights in European Parliament Elections in the Republic of Poland who attain the age of 21 not later than on the day of voting and have permanently resided in the Republic of Poland or in the territory of other member state of the European Union for 5 years;

5) For Local Government Elections - people enjoying the right to vote in local government elections;

6) For Mayoral elections - Polish nationals enjoying voting rights in such elections who attain the age of  25 not later than on the day of voting; however, candidates do not have to permanently reside in the territory of the commune where they are a candidate. 

Polish legislation does not mention any parities relating to the age of candidates on an electoral ticket. The parliament elected on the 15th of October 2023 is one of oldest in years – the average PM age is 51, and has been consistently increasing since 2007. Currently, only 3 PMs are aged 30 or less (so 0.65% of 460 of all the PMs). In the previous term, there were 14 such PMS, and in the one before 10. Consequently,  the Polish parliament is one of the oldest in Europe, with only Greece having a lower percentage of PMs aged 30 or lower. The global average was 2,86%, and the European - 3,59%.

According to the data of the National Electoral  Commission (Państwowa Komisja Wyborcza), the average age of candidates running for the parliament is slightly increasing. In October 2023, it was slightly above 46 years old, in 2019 it was 46, 42 in 2015, and 44 in 2011. Average age of candidates to local and EP elections is roughly similar: around 46 years. When it comes to the Senate, the average age of candidates varies from 54 to 56, depending on the election year, which obviously is the result of the higher minimal eligibility age for candidates.