President of the Republic of Poland: State representative and political arbiter

Abstract:

The President of the Republic of Poland is the head of the state and the guarantor of the preservation of fundamental values for the state and the nation. However, the important, although not verbalized in the Polish Constitution, function of the president is the exercise of political and systemic arbitration. The head of state is to ensure harmonious cooperation of various centres of state power. Moreover, the president should, relying on his exceptional authority, mediate in the resolution of particularly important social and political conflicts. The article presents the scope of the president’s functions, shows the process of the return of a one-man head of state to the system of state organs after the Round Table in 1989, and also analysis the manner in which the president was elected. This office should be regarded as essential to the stability of the political and governance system.