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This election would set the tone for all subsequent elections held during the 42 years of undisguised Communist rule in Poland. As would be the case with all elections held during this time, the election was blatantly rigged, and the results heavily falsified. Along with the 1947 election, the 1952 election is considered among the least free of elections held in Communist Poland. This was very common during the era of ]. Under ], who had become the de facto leader of Poland in 1948, the Communist government, like its kindred regimes in the rest of the Soviet bloc, tried to tighten its control over society as much as possible. All opposition parties had been either eliminated or driven underground by this time, and the regime's opponents were subject to arrest and torture. Voters were presented with a single list from the ], comprising the communist ] and its two satellite parties, the ] and the ]. The number of candidates permitted to run in the elections was equal to the number of seats in parliament.<ref name="Kozł">{{pl icon}} Bartłomiej Kozłowski, Last accessed on 5 April 2007</ref>
This election would set the tone for all subsequent elections held during the 42 years of undisguised Communist rule in Poland. As would be the case with all elections held during this time, the election was blatantly rigged, and the results heavily falsified. Along with the 1947 election, the 1952 election is considered among the least free of elections held in Communist Poland. This was very common during the era of ]. Under ], who had become the de facto leader of Poland in 1948, the Communist government, like its kindred regimes in the rest of the Soviet bloc, tried to tighten its control over society as much as possible. All opposition parties had been either eliminated or driven underground by this time, and the regime's opponents were subject to arrest and torture. Voters were presented with a single list from the ], comprising the communist ] and its two satellite parties, the ] and the ]. The number of candidates permitted to run in the elections was equal to the number of seats in parliament.<ref name="Kozł">{{pl icon}} Bartłomiej Kozłowski, Last accessed on 5 April 2007</ref>
There were 425 seats.<ref name=Davies2005/> The number of seats would be increased in the subsequent elections.<ref name=Davies2005>{{cite book|author=Norman Davies|title=God's Playground: 1795 to the present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EBpghdZeIwAC&pg=PA459|accessdate=3 June 2011|date=May 2005|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-12819-3|page=459}}</ref>
There were 425 seats.<ref name=Davies2005/> In return for accepting the PZPR's leading role--a condition of their continued existence--the lesser parties in the Front received a fixed percentage of seats in the Sejm.<ref>. ] Federal Research Division, December 1989.</ref> The number of seats would be increased in the subsequent elections.<ref name=Davies2005>{{cite book|author=Norman Davies|title=God's Playground: 1795 to the present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EBpghdZeIwAC&pg=PA459|accessdate=3 June 2011|date=May 2005|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-12819-3|page=459}}</ref>
This election would set the tone for all subsequent elections held during the 42 years of undisguised Communist rule in Poland. As would be the case with all elections held during this time, the election was blatantly rigged, and the results heavily falsified. Along with the 1947 election, the 1952 election is considered among the least free of elections held in Communist Poland. This was very common during the era of Stalinization. Under Bolesław Bierut, who had become the de facto leader of Poland in 1948, the Communist government, like its kindred regimes in the rest of the Soviet bloc, tried to tighten its control over society as much as possible. All opposition parties had been either eliminated or driven underground by this time, and the regime's opponents were subject to arrest and torture. Voters were presented with a single list from the Front of National Unity, comprising the communist Polish United Workers Party and its two satellite parties, the Democratic Party and the United People's Party. The number of candidates permitted to run in the elections was equal to the number of seats in parliament.
There were 425 seats. In return for accepting the PZPR's leading role--a condition of their continued existence--the lesser parties in the Front received a fixed percentage of seats in the Sejm. The number of seats would be increased in the subsequent elections.
The official results showed that 99.8% of the voters approved the FJN list. Candidates from the FJN parties took 91.2% of the Sejm, with 8.7% falling to the nominal "independents." Within the FJN, the PZPR won an absolute majority with 273 seats (64.2% total), its best result both in total number of seats and percentage of the Sejm controlled. However, as the other parties and "independents" were completely subservient to the PZPR, communist control of the Sejm was, in fact, total. In later years, the communist-dominated list would be credited with between 98 and 99% of the vote, a trend which would continue until 1989.
The term of the Sejm elected in 1951 was due to finish in 1956, but due to political shifts in Poland, the next elections took place in early 1957 in a more liberal atmosphere, although still not free.
References
Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1491 ISBN 9783832956097
Jerzy Drygalski, Jacek Kwasniewski, No-Choice Elections, Soviet Studies, Vol. 42, No. 2 (Apr., 1990), pp. 295–315, JSTOR
George Sakwa, Martin Crouch, Sejm Elections in Communist Poland: An Overview and a Reappraisal, British Journal of Political Science, Vol. 8, No. 4 (Oct., 1978), pp. 403–424,
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Elections and referendums in Poland