Polish mayors
Researched and edited by Jacek Bruchal




ON THIS PAGE: Polish local government ||| Mayors of largest Polish cities ||| Polish cities with women mayors |||

Polish local government
June 2020: Since 1999, Poland has been divided into provinces, counties and districts. The 19 provinces (voivodeships) represent the highest-level of local government. They are mostly named after historical or geographical regions. Provincial powers are shared between a governor, a regional parliament and a marshal. The governor (volvode) is appointed by the Prime Minister and acts as the regional representative of the central government. The assembly (sejmic), which is elected every four years, legislates in areas such as development and budget and elects the marshall (marszaek) and other members of the executive office. The provincial executive office (zarzad województwa) under the marchal manages provincial property, implements regional policy and supervises the management of European Union (EU) funding. The populations of the provinces vary from 4.6 million (Silesian) to Opole with just over one million people.

Provinces are sub-divided into counties (powiaty), which can be rural or urban. Both types have elected councils. The number of counties per province varies from 12 (Opole province) to 42 (Masovian province). Poland has currently 379 counties, of which 314 are rural and 65 urban counties. Counties have some decision-making powers in areas such as local healthcare, secondary education, public transport, high-road maintenance and vehicle registration.

Rural districts and urban municipalities are Poland’s third level of local government. Counties are usually divided into several types of districts (gminy): urban, mixed urban-rural and entirely rural. In all three types of districts, voters directly elect local councillors and mayors. Mayors in cities with more than 400,000 people are called city presidents. Rural and urban districts are tasked with the management of utilities, public open spaces, sewage and waste disposal, health care, housing and education as well as social services and culture.


Mayors of Poland's largest cities

Poland’s women mayors
June 2020: While the mayors (presidents) of Poland’s largest and third-largest cities are women, overall, only 11 of the country’s 107 municipalities have female leaders. Two of them are in their fourth term of office. Gdansk Mayor Aleksndra Dulkiewicz was elected in March 2019, after the murder of her predecessor Pawel Adamowics. Only one mayor is a member of Poland’s ruling, right-wing Law and Justice party (PiS), three mayors belong to the centrist, pro-European Civic Platform (PO), while one is supported by the Democratic Left Alliance, a social-democratic, pro-European party.

Research by City Mayors reveals that of the world’s 300 largest cities only 25 are governed by women and, in 2016, the local government NGO, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) estimated that only five per cent of the world’s urban communities have female leaders. The 2018 World Mayor Project was dedicated to women mayors.

Women mayors in Poland

*Main political parties in Poland:
PO (Platforma Obywatelska): Centrist, pro-European party
PIS (Prawo I Sprawiedliwosc): Right-wing, nationalist party
SLD (Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej): Centre-left, social-democratic party


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