A path towards a model? Political career paths of Polish presidents

Presidential elections in Poland are considered the most important election, next to parliamentary elections. This is because the President is elected by universal suffrage and has a strong popular mandate. It seems, therefore, that this office should be the culmination of a political career. The main objective of this paper is to define the place of the office of the President of the Republic of Poland on the model path of political careers of Polish politicians. In order to realise the main objective, two specific objectives have been identified: (1) to identify the model of the political career path of Polish presidents before taking office; (2) to identify the model of the political career path of Polish presidents after the presidency. A case study analysis of the political careers of successive presidents after 1989 was used in the analysis. Conclusions from the considerations indicate that while holding the office of the President of the Republic of Poland ends a political career, the only common feature of presidential candidates before winning the elections is their affiliation with one of the two largest political parties during the period of struggle for the presidency. In addition, the evolution over time shows that successive elections are won by candidates with less and less political experience so the election, although crucial, is basically another part of the party competition and a plebiscite between political groupings.