Stark choice for voters in Poland
CRITIC: ‘DEMOCRACY OR AUTHORITARIANISM AT STAKE’ Vote ‘most important’ since fall of communism.
Poles began voting yesterday in a polarising election the governing populists look set to win after a flurry of welfare giveaways and attacks on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights and western values, but their majority could be at risk.
The opposition received an unexpected last-minute boost when author Olga Tokarczuk, a known government critic who won the Nobel Prize for Literature on Thursday, urged Poles to choose wisely “between democracy and authoritarianism,” calling the vote the “most important” since communism fell in 1989.
In office since 2015 and led by ex-premier Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the right-wing Law and Justice (LJ) party has sought to mobilise poorer rural voters by coupling family values with a popular new child allowance, tax breaks for low-income earners and hikes to pensions and the minimum wage.
Widely regarded as Poland’s powerbroker, Kaczynski has also stoked deep social division by attacking sexual minorities and rejecting Western liberal values, all with the tacit blessing of Poland’s influential Catholic Church which holds sway over rural voters.
Supported by outgoing EU Council President Donald Tusk – Kaczynski’s archrival – the opposition Citizen’s Coalition (CC) draws mainly on urban voters upset by the LJ’s divisive politics, judicial reforms threatening the rule of law, graft scandals and monopolisation of public media.
Condemning the anti-LGBT drive and close church ties, but sharing the LJ’s welfare goals, the left is set to get back into parliament after a four-year hiatus.
Kaczynski has capitalised on a populist backlash against liberal urban elites.
His party’s bid to build a welfare state is addressed to Poles who feel they have reaped little benefit from the explosive growth and unfettered free market drive after communism fell.
Analysts suggest that generous social outlays have also made the LJ a “Teflon party”, cushioning its reputation amid a string of high-profile graft scandals involving senior members.
The CC chose Malgorzata Kidawa-Blonska, the 62-year-old deputy parliamentary speaker, as its candidate for premier.
Experts warn that a strong LJ win could allow it to push through more judicial reforms likely to stoke conflict with the EU.
Joblessness in the country of 38 million people is at a record low of some 5%. – AFP