Small Constitution of 1992 in the context of "Polish People's Republic"

The Constitution of the Republic of Poland (Polish: Konstytucja Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej or Konstytucja RP for short) is the supreme law of the Republic of Poland, which is also commonly called the Third Polish Republic (Polish: III Rzeczpospolita or III RP for short) in contrast with the preceding systems.

The current constitution was ratified on 2 April 1997. The Constitution is also commonly referred to as the 1997 Constitution. It replaced the Small Constitution of 1992, a revision of the 1952 Constitution of the Polish People's Republic. It was adopted by the National Assembly of Poland on 2 April 1997, approved by a national referendum on 25 May 1997, promulgated by the President of the Republic on 16 July 1997, and came into force on 17 October 1997.

A constitutional referendum was held in Poland on 25 May 1997. It was decreed by then-President Aleksander Kwaśniewski on the day the National Assembly adopted the Constitution. Voters were asked whether they approved of a new constitution, and replace the temporary constitution from 1992. It was narrowly approved, with 53.45% voting in favour. Voter turnout was 43%, below the 50% required by the 1995 Referendum Act to validate the referendum. However, the Supreme Court ruled on 15 July that the 1992 'small' constitution (which did not contain turnout requirements) took precedence over the Referendum Act and that the constitution could be introduced.

The Polish People's Republic (1952–1989), formerly the Republic of Poland (1944–1952), and also often simply known as Poland, was a country in Central Europe that existed as the predecessor of the modern-day democratic Republic of Poland. With a population of approximately 37.9 million near the end of its existence, it was the second most-populous communist and Eastern Bloc country in Europe. It was also where the Warsaw Pact was founded. The largest city and capital was Warsaw, followed by the industrial city of Łódź and cultural city of Kraków. The country was bordered by the Baltic Sea to the north, the Soviet Union to the east, Czechoslovakia to the south, and East Germany to the west.

The Polish People's Republic was a unitary communist state established in the country after the Red Army's takeover of Polish territory from German occupation in World War II. Communist control was strengthened through electoral fraud in the 1946 Polish people's referendum and the 1947 Polish parliamentary election. The Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) became the dominant political faction in a one-party state, but the country had more liberal policies than other socialist states due to its strategic location in the Cold War and internal opposition. The state's official name was the "Republic of Poland" (Rzeczpospolita Polska) between 1947 and 1952 in accordance with the temporary Small Constitution of 1947. The name "People's Republic" was introduced and defined by the Constitution of 1952. The Polish People's Republic was dissolved following the Revolutions of 1989 and the 1990 Polish presidential election, but the post-communist Third Polish Republic retained the 1952 constitution, with amendments, until the introduction of the current constitution on 17 October 1997, abolishing the socialist structure entirely and replacing it with a parliamentary system that has remained in place to the present-day.