New parliamentary bill would mandate direct election of municipal authorities

The Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) has prepared a new bill concerning the election of village leaders and mayors. The Civic Platform (PO) has also presented a similar project. Under the SLD's proposal, all wojts (heads of villages) and mayors of smaller cities would be chosen through direct elections and not by councilors, as is the case now. This would concern only communities of no more than 20,000 inhabitants. The PO says that all wojts, mayors and city presidents should be elected in all municipalities regardless of their size. Under the PO's proposal the mayor or wojt would be a one-person management board, and could be dismissed by referendum requiring a two-thirds majority. (Rzeczpospolita, p. A5) A.K.