The first resemblance of self-government in Białystok was the Temporary City Committee led by Józef Karol Puchalski, established at the end of 1918 and later approved by the Government Commissioner.
The dispute flared up, among other things, over the language of the proceedings as many Jewish delegates didn't speak Polish fluently enough, hence they asked to be allowed to use Yiddish, at least for a while.
Moreover, the Jewish community leaders complained that contrary to earlier agreements - they were passed over when filling managerial positions in the city administration.
On the top of it was the regulation of the Commissioner General of the Eastern Lands of May 10, 1919, on the annexation of 21 nearby villages and summer resorts to the city (the so-called Greater Białystok).
The inhabitants of the annexed settlements were almost exclusively Poles Christian, a thing Jewish community treated as a political maneuver aimed at reducing its electoral chances.
This time, all national and political groups entered the fight for 9 vacant seats in the City Council (in place of councilors lost their mandates during their term).
This became the reason for the dissolution of the Białystok city administration by the Minister of Internal Affairs and the ordering of new elections for December 11, 1927.
In the new Council, the Jewish groups concluded an agreement with the Polish Socialist Party to prevent the right wing from entering the Board.
The president was the retired colonel Michał Ostrowski (commander of the Białystok garrison in 1925-1926),[9] and the vice-president - the Zionist Wolf Hepner.
After 1936, the activity of left-wing parties increased, whose representatives won as many as 16 seats in the elections to the City Council just before the outbreak of the war.
[10] On August 1, 1932, the Voivode Marian Zyndram-Kościałkowski dissolved the City Council, because it was unable to maintain a balanced budget.
[13] The waves of demand for reforming the existing system, which occurred in Białystok in parallel to other cities in Poland could be seen in the growing posture of Solidanosc organization.
Białystok's "Solidarity" tried to gain a foothold in the Municipal National Council (Polish: Miejska Rada Narodowa; MRN).
The session was attended by representatives of "Solidarity" in Białystok: Bernard Bujwicki, Edmund Lajdorf, Jerzy Zegarski and Stanisław Guzowicz.
[14] On August 21, 1989, Jerzy Czaban, who established cooperation with the MRN, took over as president following a recommendation from Janusz Andrzejewski from Solidarity Citizens' Committee.
Before the meeting, councillors participated in a solemn Holy Mass celebrated in the Białystok parish by priest Antoni Lićwinka.
The competitors included Bronisław Niepsuj - an electronics engineer from the Białystok Television Components Plant Biazet, an activist of the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union "Solidarity", interned during martial law, co-founder of a private company, as well as an activist of the Białystok Land Civic Committee.
[14] The commission found that none of the candidates obtained an absolute majority, so a second round was held after which Lech Rutkowski received 29 votes and so the City Council appointed him the president of Białystok.
The newly elected authorities were preoccupied with the stabilizing the sprawling financial deficit, the introduction of rational management principles, the adaptation of the structures and basis for the functioning of the urban economy to the rules of the free market, making up for the backlog in the development of infrastructure and streamlining the work municipal services.
[14] The last municipal elections were held in 2024 and were won by Civic Platform, which holds a majority of the seats in the Białystok City Council.
The current city mayor, Tadeusz Truskolaski, won the elections as the Civic Platform's candidate, however, he has no official connection with the party.