How does your vote count?

Millions of voters, 41 districts and 460 MPs

Hi! My name is Demosław Stańczyk, also known as Świstańczyk. I'm the Election Marmot. I've always been fascinated by numbers and the twists and turns of politics.

Follow this page and I'll happily tell you about them. Do you really know how the D'Hondt method works? Or have you only heard of it?

Understanding it is easier than it seems.

Step 0 · the ballot

Vote first

Choose your district and a candidate.

electoral district

vote cast

No candidate selected yet.

Step 1 · election night

Who passed the threshold?

Whoever doesn't pass the threshold won't enter the Sejm.

exit poll at 21:0020:59:57

┈ 5% threshold for parties┈ 8% threshold for coalitions

Does the countdown to the exit poll remind you of New Year's Eve too? The button above the chart starts the countdown.

Step 2 · 41 districts

Every vote counts separately in each district

There's no national pool. Each district divides its own seats.

Once we know who made it into parliament, we can pretty much set the national result aside. From now on only the districts matter…

district-

valid votes-

District vote result

Why 20 seats in Warsaw but 8 in Wałbrzych? - expand

switch the map view

A district's number of MPs is calculated by dividing its population by a single representation quota and rounding - currently - residents per seat. The catch: the current seat numbers were set in 2001 and carried over into the 2011 Electoral Code.
these two maps show real Statistics Poland / Electoral Commission data

Look at the table, not the formulas. I'll point out the largest numbers. The election commission does the same.

Step 3 · D'Hondt - is it that scary?

We divide until the seats run out

The whole D'Hondt method fits in one sentence. We divide each list's votes by 1, 2, 3, 4… - as many times as there are seats, and the largest number in the table takes a seat.

-

seats: - left: -

empty table

		divisor

Seat queue

Seats in the district

Step 4 · who exactly gets in

The list won seats. But who becomes an MP?

A seat belongs to the list, not to a person. If a list wins three seats in a district, they go to the three candidates with the most votes - the order on the ballot has nothing to do with it, only votes.

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list: - seats for the list: -

Step 5 · comparison

Votes versus seats

Click a district on the map and switch the tabs.

Smaller districts - zoomed in (clickable)

one dot = one MP · visible in the seat view

Step 6 · the Sejm

460 dots, 460 MPs

All elected parties from the 41 districts together. The MPs can take their seats.

Your vote

Your vote's journey

As you can see, your vote counts - but how it is counted takes some counting. I hope you made it through all the maps and divisors. I think it's worth it, because knowing how things work helps build trust. Maybe thanks to that, elections will become as sweet as the D'Honut method.

PS. Want to see what would happen if the results were different?
Take a look →

About this page. © 2026 Rafał Stańczyszyn. Design, code and data: Rafał Stańczyszyn. Marmot drawings: Anna Stańczyszyn - all rights reserved, used with the artist's permission. Layout and typography inspired by FiveThirtyEight; the Sejm diagram and district maps follow the conventions of Wikipedia election graphics. Seat numbers and population data come from Poland's National Electoral Commission. Municipal boundaries: National Register of Boundaries (PRG), GUGiK (2024). Electoral districts: Annex 1 to the Electoral Code. Cartographic generalisation by the author.