From the collection of the Archives of Modern Records in Warsaw (AAN)

December 11, 1922
The elected President Gabriel Narutowicz makes his oath as he assumes the office of President of the Republic of Poland.

Comment: In accordance with Section 39 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of March 17, 1921, the President was elected for a seven-year term by an absolute majority vote of the Sejm and the Senat convened together as the National Assembly. After the parliamentary election of November 1922, right-wing parties had 27% of the seats in the Sejm, 29.1% of the vote was given to centrist (centrowe) groups, centrum: 24.4%, the left got 13.4%, and the minorities 24.3%. On December 9, 1922, a presidential election was held by the National Assembly. The competing candidates included Count Maurycy Zamoyski (right wing), Stanislaw Wojciechowski (Polish Peasant Movement PSL-Piast), Gabriel Narutowicz (Polish Peasant Movement PSL-Wyzwolenie), Ignacy Daszynski (Polish Socialist Party or PPS), and Jan Baudouin de Courtenay (ethnic minorities). Gabriel Narutowicz was born on March 17, 1865 in Telsze (Kowno/Kaunas region). He got an education in hydrotechnics and electrical engineering. Most of Narutowicz’s life was spent abroad. In the years of 1907-1920 he was Professor at Zurich Polytechnic and a design engineer specializing in dam construction. After his return to Poland he was Minister of Public Works in the governments of Wladysław Grabski, Wincenty Witos and Antoni Ponikowski, and Minister of Foreign Affairs in the governments of Artur Sliwinski and Julian Nowak. Under the electionary regulations, when no absolute majority was reached, the least successful candidate would drop out, and the vote would be re-taken. The most serious contender was Count Maurycy Zamoyski, however with each consecutive vote the adherents of the unsuccessful candidates would cast their votes for Narutowicz. As a result, after the fifth vote Narutowicz won with 289 votes to Zamoyski’s 227 (29 votes were invalid). Frustrated in their expectations of an election victory, right wing parties launched an all-out campaign against the newly elected President. Street demonstrations were organized, and a press campaign was mounted to prove that Narutowicz was elected with the votes of ethnic minorities. Despite the unrest in the streets, the National Assembly convened on December 11, 1922, and the Sejm Marshal (Speaker) Maciej Rataj received the presidential oath from the President elect. The Chief-of-State Józef Piłsudski handed over the power in a formal ceremony on December 14, 1922.
On December 16, 1922 President Narutowicz was assassinated by a nationalist fanatic Eligiusz Niewiadomski during the opening of an arts exhibition at the Zachęta Art Gallery in Warsaw. (Andrzej Olejarczuk)

Description: Original, Polish language, 1 sheet in a file entitled Akta Zgromadzenia Narodowego dla wyboru Prezydenta RP 1922-1923.

Collection: The Archives of Modern Records in Warsaw, Biuro Sejmu RP (Offices of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland), catalogue no. 13, p. 69.

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