National Holiday(s): Constitution Day - May 3, 1791
Chief of State: President Bronislaw Komorowski
Head of Government: Prime Minister Donald Tusk
Executive Branch: Elections - president elected by popular vote for a five-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 20 June and 4 July 2010 (next to be held in 2015); prime minister and deputy prime ministers appointed by the president and confirmed by the Sejm. Cabinet - Council of Ministers responsible to the prime minister and the Sejm; the prime minister proposes, the president appoints, and the Sejm approves the Council of Ministers
Legislative Branch: bicameral legislature consists of an upper house, the Senate or Senat (100 seats; members elected by a majority vote on a provincial basis to serve four-year terms), and a lower house, the Sejm (460 seats; members elected under a complex system of proportional representation to serve four-year terms); the designation of National Assembly or Zgromadzenie Narodowe is only used on those rare occasions when the two houses meet jointly.
Judicial Branch: Highest Courts - Supreme Court or Sad Najwyzszy (consists of the president of the Supreme Court and 116 judges organized in criminal, civil, labor and social insurance, and military chambers). Judge Selection and Term of Office - president of the Supreme Court nominated by the General Assembly of the Supreme Court and selected by the president of Poland; other judges nominated by the 25-member National Judiciary Council, and appointed by the president of Poland; judges appointed until retirement, normally at age 65, but tenure can be extended.
Suffrage: 18 years of age; Universal
Name of their Ambassador to the U.S.: Ambassador Ryszard Schnepf
Location of their embassy in the U.S.: 2640 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009
Location of their consulates in the U.S.: Chicago, Los Angeles, New York
Name of U.S. Ambassador to them: Ambassador Stephen Mull
Location of U.S. embassy there: American Embassy Warsaw, US Department of State, Washington, DC 20521-5010
Location(s) of U.S. consulate(s) there: Krakow
Name of their representative to UN: Ryszard Sarkowicz
two equal horizontal bands of white (top) and red; colors derive from the Polish emblem - a white eagle on a red field
National Symbol(s): White Eagle
International Disputes: As a member state that forms part of the EU's external border, Poland has implemented the strict Schengen border rules to restrict illegal immigration and trade along its eastern borders with Belarus and Ukraine.
Quantity of refugees inside country and counrty(ies) of origin of refugees: 14,938 (Russia)
Quantity of Internally Displaced Persons: N/A
Quantity of Stateless Persons: 10,825
Current human trafflicking issues related to this country: N/A
Illicit Drug trafflicking/use: despite diligent counternarcotics measures and international information sharing on cross-border crimes, a major illicit producer of synthetic drugs for the international market; minor transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin and Latin American cocaine to Western Europe