The polish parliamentary elections of October 1991

THE ORGANISATION OF free, competitive elections in Eastern Europe has generally proved relatively easy. Their contribution to the development of parliamentary democracy has been rather more problematic in the absence of a coherent sociopolitical infrastructure: notable for their absence are strong, well organised political parties, firm cultural norms of political participation and tolerance, and experienced alternative elites embracing a public service ethos and subordination to the rule of law. Recent Polish experience illustrates the extent to which free and fair elections are a necessary but insufficient condition of parliamentary demo-