Populist party must see off opposition led by former PM and European Council president Donald Tusk
Voting is under way in Poland’s parliamentary election, as the populist Law and Justice (PiS) government tries to win a third term in office and see off a challenge from an opposition led by former prime minister and European Council president Donald Tusk.
The polls opened at 7am local time on Sunday morning, and voting will continue until 9pm CET, when exit polls will be published that will give a first hint of the results. Polling in the run-up to the vote suggested that the race is too close to call, and the ability for either PiS or Tusk’s Civic Coalition to form a government is likely to come down to the results of other, smaller parties.
PiS has governed for eight years since taking office in 2015, during which time it has been accused of eroding democratic norms in the country. PiS has turned public television into a propaganda arm of the government, restricted abortion rights and demonised LGBT people, migrants and refugees. It has also put Poland on a collision course with Brussels over rule of law issues, which has seen tens of millions of euros in European funding frozen.
Ahead of the vote, PiS has claimed it is the only party that can protect Poland from an “invasion” of refugees. The government has launched a referendum that will run alongside the election, which asks four leading questions, including two on migration. One asks if people agree with “the admission of thousands of illegal immigrants from the Middle East and Africa”. The referendum has been seen as a way to boost turnout among the PiS support base.
The PiS campaign has also focused on the figure of Tusk, claiming he is a foreign stooge looking to destroy Poland on the orders of either Germany or Russia. The PiS chair, Jarosław Kaczyński, described Tusk as the “personification of evil” during the campaign. Tusk has described the election as “the last chance” to stop PiS from doing irreparable damage to Polish democracy.
Polls in the run-up to the election suggested that neither PiS nor Civil Coalition would win enough votes to govern alone, and the outcome could depend on how well three smaller groupings do. The leftwing Lewica and centre-right Third Way have both said they would enter a coalition with Tusk’s Civic Coalition, while the far-right Confederation are a wild card. They have ruled out formal coalitions but may end up as the kingmaker.
It is possible the country could see days or weeks of political uncertainty as one or the other of the bigger parties attempts to put together a workable governing coalition.
Source: The Guardian
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