The present article aims to describe socio-political context which has proceeded be- fore parliamentary election 2011 in Poland. It draws attention to the perception of parties and candidates and political preferences those voters who are interested in election. There are many voices the polish politicians activity in campaign takes places in divided country. One of the social expectations is connected with exploration of plane crash in Smoleńsk on April 10th 2010). Public opinion is focused on critic of government and leader's party (PO) Donald Tusk who is treated as a persona personally responsible for death oh 96 persons in a plane crash. On the other hand we can see strong activity and leadership of monk Tadeusz Rydzyk, tried to put impact on voters (PiS). Rydzyk tries to use catholic radio called „Radio Maryja" to political agitation. The activity of Catholic Church in political campaign was one of the theme discussed by many experts and commentators. Although competition between parties was concentrated on two candidates (Tusk, Kaczyński) new party - „Palikot's Movement" (Ruch Palikota) was opened. It focused on criti- cism of Catholic Church, Catholic values and tried to appeal to voters interested in modernity in many levels of socio-political life. The success of Janusz Palikot's party was possible thanks to personality and charisma of the leader (well known as an author of many spectacular events in politics) and his project of „Modern Country". The other element of the context of parliamentary election 2011 was mobility of Pol- ish electorate, permanently reduced. Because of the voters absence diagnosis of civil society in Poland seems to be worse than in the other countries in Europe. This proves that situation before parliamentary election 2011 in Poland was specific. The main research materials were: newspaper articles, interviews in magazines, TV advertisements, sociological surveys, websites. It has used problems from range of different sciences: sociology, media and political marketing.

The civil competences may have a great influence on the level of the democracy con- solidation. They are a mark of knowledge about the democracy, understanding the democ- racy mechanisms and also the trust to its institutions. This way of understanding the civil competences (especially for the participating kind of political culture) seem to be not enough developed in Poland, what is proved by the results of carried out and shown research. Also the idea of the necessity of the occurrence of civil competences, understood as the compul- sion for the participating kind of political culture to work, might be exaggerated, because not always the knowledge about the democracy and its mechanisms and its institutions, must be connected with the civil activity.

This paper describes perception of the left and right-wing values by Polish commu- nity. They are analyzed in three dimensions: ideological and doctrinal, constitutional and eco- nomical as well as social. The outcome of the analysis was the creation of the map of actual per- ception of left and right wing by people with certain ideological auto-identification. The added value is a comparative analysis of the results obtained in 2012 with the data obtained from own studies conducted in 2007 that shows the dynamics of changes in the political consciousness of Polish society.

In Poland, the way to make the constitutional basis of freedom of speech and freedom of the media opened up with breakthrough systemic taking place in 1989. Today it is sanctioned under the Constitution of 1997 (article 14 expresses the freedom of media and article 54 regulates freedom of expression) and a matter of law on the National Council of Radio and Television. The need for free media market, free flow of information and opinions and the need to protect it with a functioning system of judicial instruments - domestic and international - is now the standard functioning of democratic states. If what is more free speech - mainly imple- mented by means of mass communication is a real value and perform proper function in society - the mass media must be able to operate without restrictions or influence by external actors. Only then they will be able to inform the public about the socio-political events in the most objective way. Everyone has the right to express their thoughts, whether in private life, whether in public life. In addition, each sentence of the people must be respected, even if someone disa-grees with him. This rule is reflected not only in Polish law (both in terms of the Constitution and ordinary laws) but also in the program documents, demands and actions of all major Polish political scene at the party. On the basis of the current legal regulations, political parties have the ability to access public radio and television, which have an impact on the implementation of the constitutional right of freedom of expression in practice. For this example, an object of study focused on two levels of analysis, in relation to the parliamentary elections of 2011 and in the context of political ideology. The analysis of em- pirical data on two key issues: the use of freedom of speech by the media in Poland and protec- tion of the constitutional right of free speech by the Polish political parties.

This part of the report describes two problems, which were included in both question- naires from 2010 and 2011. First issue asks about the time, when the voter made his decision for which political option he would vote for. Second problem concerns about factors, which determines for which candidate, he would choose. In 2010 we research this problem in refer- ence to Local election. This time our questions refers to candidates in elections to Sejm and Senate. We wanted to verify the trends we observed in Local and Presidential elections in Par- liamentary election. Obtained data in great part confirms conclusions from previous researches. Once again it turned out that majority voters was sure of their political preferences long before the voting, so they weren't susceptible to electioneering. Another observation, which was con- firm by the researches made in the end of 2011, relates to limited effectiveness of electioneering on voter. Our researches don't show any greater differences in factors, by which voter made his decision for which candidate he vote for in Parliamentary election.

Pre-election TV debates are not merely a means of providing information. Their pri- mary objective is the implementation of carefully formulated marketing strategy. The process of making politics personalized and entertaining undoubtedly contributes to the surge in their popularity. They become not only a means of conveying the information included in election manifestos or outlining the profiles of candidates. They create a kind of show, based on specific rules and a top-down program, designed to reach out to voters effectively. Public opinion polls clearly show that the evaluation of the effectiveness of such pro- grams is strongly correlated with the declared policy preferences. This article presents an im- age of pre-election debates with the use of the 2011 parliamentary campaign. The main aim of the discussion is to answer the question of whether pre-election television debates are an effective way of reaching out to voters. The second aspect of the analysis is the context of "the debate over the debate", which gives a specific character to the events described.

Recently, researchers have shown an increased interest in examining the impact of in- dividual characteristics of voters (personality traits, attitudes and personal values) on a political choice. The aim of this paper is to examine the relationships between voters> basic values, their political orientation and voting behavior in Polish national election in 2011. Personal values were treated as a cognitive representations of desirable, abstract goals. According to Schwartz>s theory, there are 10 basic, universal values (power, achievement, hedonism, stimulation, self- direction, universalism, benevolence, tradition, conformity, and security), organized into four higher-level types (conservation, openness to change, self-transcendence and self-enhance- ment). To assess the participants> basic values, the Schwartz>s Portrait Value Questionnaire was used. Comparisons between the groups of voters were made using the ANOVA method and the Tukey>s post-hoc tests. The results of the study indicate that right-wing voters scored higher in tradition, conformity and benevolence and lower in self-direction, achievement, stimulation and hedonism than left-wing and centre voters. Voters> political party preferences were as- sociated with distinct value profiles. According to the results of the research, voters> personal values can be important for understanding and predicting voting behavior.

The article reflects on the diagnosis the levels of a sense of alienation in the context of voting behavior in elections to parliament in 2011. Social functioning, mental condition and the perception of the political scene are important primarily in the plane of the possibility of mobilization of individual electorates. It can be assumed that those who feel a sense of im- pact on the socio-political environment, recognizing the link between the actions taken by them and their effects are more likely to take part in elections. It is difficult to determine in which di- rection will influence the level of a sense of political alienation, as dissatisfaction with the cur- rent political scene, lack of trust in political leaders, the lack of any effect on its shape can result in one hand and the consequent withdrawal of political passivity, on the other - raise motivation to change the status quo through activity and voting for another party. A sense of an external anchor, the integration of values and other people may also be affected in two ways - firstly to provide the individual a sense of strength, support, and identification with a group of committed and interested in the election could translate into a significant mobilizing force, on the other, be- ing in a safe place among the cherished values and loved ones can focus enough attention to the individual, that active participation of socio-political recedes into the background. The author's research tool was used in the study - the Scale of Alienation "Z". It consists of measurements of three factors: a sense of powerlessness-power, a sense of political alienation-self-significant, sense of isolation-integration.

The aim of the presented text is an attempt to verify the most popular in the political science literature hypotheses about the emergence of new political movements, potential sourc- es of their electoral success and the prospects for a permanent presence on the political scene. The primary reference is a theoretical model of the Political Opportunity Structure, which is a complex description concept for the success sources of the new political movements. The context for the presented text are the parliamentary elections in 2011 and the success of a new political party - "Ruch Palikota".

This article includes two main issues: leader effect (parties' leaders impact on electoral decisions) and increase of social influences on Prime Minister choose. The main aim is to answer two research questions: firstly, to what degree electoral decisions were determined by parties' lead- ers, and secondly, to what degree Poles would like to change Prime Minister choose principle? The majority of PO (Civil Platform) electorate (about 30 per cent) were determined by negative attitude to Jarosław Kaczyński. Getting votes against PiS's (Law and Justice) lead- er was a tactical choice. The proportion of such answers to the real election results leads to the conclusion that this negative vote was very important cause of PO win. The results of research confirm the thesis about high leader influence on three com- mittees which got the greatest number of all votes. It was especially connected with Palikot's Movement (RP) results. Here, strong and recognizable leader influenced the victory over PSL (Polish People's Party) and SLD (Left Democratic Alliance). However, we have to remember about popular slogans of this movement, which was shown by research results. Almost half of all researchers would like to change Prime Minister choose principle. However, we cannot expect a public debate to begin, because Polish Citizens do not propose this issue as subject of sociopolitical discourse. What is more, parties are not interested in this postulate, which is seen in parliamentary debate and parties' documents.

This part of our report describes the reasons of unequal women's representation in Polish parliament and changes that have been introduced by new Electoral Code. According to our researches, voters of right-wing parties are against the introducing of gender quotas,whereas electorate of centre and left-wing parties believes more frequently in effectiveness of legal regulations that guarantees equal women's representation in parliament. After the pass- ing of the Electoral Code that implemented 35% gender quotas, the number of women in Polish parliament have not increased significantly. It seems that changes of public awareness, fighting with stereotypes and patriarchal social system are better methods of improvement of women's participation in parliament than new regulations in Polish electoral system.

The main way of citizen's participation are elections. Elections at local level, espe- cially to local government, are very important for contemporary democracy. The key issue for developing democracy is activity of citizens which is very often called as civil society. Hence, the aim of the article is to find what is the citizen's participation at local level. The most popular form of activity at local level are: inhabitant consultation; country meeting; district meeting; local referendum. Supporters of SLD (39% of them) declared par- ticipation in country meetings. In other parties this indicator was at lower level, for example in PSL (33,3%) and PiS (28%). It looks different when the question is related to participation in an inhabitant consultation. In this case, the majority of supporters of PO (29,6%) take part in this kind of activity. Similar percents are in Ruch Palikota (29,6%) and PSL (29,3%). Sup- porters of PiS (28,8%) and PO (27,8%) attend actively in local referendum. To sum up, we can conclude that the participation at local level is not very optimistic or pessimistic. Unfortunately, we are not able to indicate clear conclusions, but only find some helpful notes for a further research. Presented study allows us to find many positive aspects and encourage us to continue this subject.

Knowledge of the behavior of the electorate has both its social context, as well as eco- nomic. It identifies the social interaction on the behavior of politicians and the effects of their management, moreover reveals the motivations and determines of political sensitivity, the de- gree of social disapproval and indifference. Rationalize the cost of election campaigns, influ- ences the electoral strategies and the consequent publicity and promotion mechanisms. It also affects the way services are involved in the electoral processes of individuals and businesses. It has a number of theoretical ways of using its wide but especially a practical context. The municipal elections which are the subject of growing interest are identified in the broader electoral context, the connection with other acts of election: elections to the parliament, the European Union and in the end of the presidential elections. The media of social life more and more influence on the behavior of voters, receiving daily spectacle of self-presentation, per-manent verbalization of ideas and references to public opinion polls. Voter is willed or not to participate. This causes the increasing consistency of its behavior in the different types of elections.

The article presents differences between the electorate and political parties programs in a political right point of view according to the principle of same-sex couples to certificate their relations. Parties of the left such as the Democratic Left Alliance (Sojusz Lewicy Demokratyc- znej) and Palikot's Movement (Ruch Palikota) tried to support the idea of the same-sex couple partnerships however they didn't try to make them equal with the ordinary marriages. The vot- ers of those parties where more often ready to accept the same-sex couple partnerships, nev- ertheless the right side pulls in the opposite electorate. Most of the Civic Platform (Platforma Obywatelska RP) voters didn't support the same-sex couples partnership idea, that kind of at- titude dominate the Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość) electorate too. Nowadays the aversion to the same-sex couples rights can be clearly seen among the whole society. During the 2011 campaign also clearly become the increase of support for the same-sex couples partnership over the previous year especially in political left wing of elector- ate. Social ratio to the main aspects of the article divines polish political parties as much as the most of the voters, creating a big line between the left and the right side of polish politics.

The present article has a double purpose. Firstly, the author examines the evolution of public support levels for both the Polish EU membership, and euro introduction in Poland; correlations between them are briefly presented. The data is presented chronologically for both datasets, and in the case of EU membership support included the results of own research on re- lationship between partisanship and EU accession support. The author analyses the literature on the subject, indicating the factors thought to influence public consent in both cases, discussing in particular the impact of personal choice of supporting a given political party (and political stance) on the individual's view on EU membership and euro introduction. Furthermore, a more detailed analysis of other factors in- fluencing the acceptance of euro introduction in new countries is shown - once again based on recent literature, with particular attention paid to recent studies carried out in Poland, draw- ing attention to differences with the overall European studies - grouped by type, and supported by results of numerous polls conducted in Poland over the last several years.