Membership in Polish political parties

Poland is one of the states where the level of citizens' political participation, in terms of the level of political party membership, is very low. The comparative research carried out in twenty contemporary European democracies showed that the percentage of electors belonging to a party is at its lowest in Poland. These results encouraged us to study the membership in Polish political parties. This article reports the position of a party member based on the analysis of nine political parties' statutes. The overview begins with the criteria for joining the parties, membership kinds and the process of recruiting new members. Then it describes members' rights and duties, resignation and exclusion from the parties, party penalties as well as incentives encouraging individuals to join. The analysis suggests that the criteria for joining the parties and the members’ duties are rather excessive and may discourage or disappoint members. This article is based on the parties' statutes only and it should be considered as the first step for further research on Polish party membership, which requires empirical studies as well.