Index – Abroad – The craziest option on the planet was (not) in Poland

In Poland, presidential elections were scheduled for Sunday after the expiration of Andrzej Duda’s first five-year presidential term, near Governor Law and Justice (PiS), in the summer (the constitution allows for a repeat). However, the situation was stirred by the coronavirus epidemic and then by political maneuvers in recent weeks.

The role of the President of the Republic of Poland in public law is similar to that of the Hungarian: he has no real direct power, his position is mainly representative, but if he uses his constitutional powers, it can be a counterweight to government power. However, there is a big difference: the identity of the Polish head of state is not decided by parliament, but directly by voters. If no one gets an absolute majority of the valid votes in the first round, the candidate who receives the most votes in the second round will be chosen.

The epidemic covered the paper victory

The government of the nationalist-populist PiS is surrounded by huge debates about attacks on the institutions of the rule of law, mainly independent courts. Without a doubt, Andrzej Duda did not prove to be an effective brake on these efforts, which is not surprising since he himself was a member of the party before his election. In 2020, PiS nominated Duda again for the position.

According to the Polish constitution, the presidential election must be held no later than 75 days before the expiration of the term of the current president, specifically until May 23 of this year, and the lower house, the president of the Sejm, called the election before from February 10. By the end of March, nine other candidates had collected the 100,000 signatures necessary for the start, but by then it seemed determined that if Duda could not win in the first round, his final victory would not be threatened.

But the coronavirus epidemic covered everything: it became clear that due to the risk of infection, the choice could not be kept as prescribed. The opposition proposed that the head of state order a 30-day state of emergency on the government’s initiative, and since the constitution allows a presidential election only 90 days after its expiration, it would be postponed until the fall or even as the main party. of the opposition, the Civic Platform. suggested – by May 2021, the presidential election that should change the order of the elections.

The coincidence of the date of May and the pandemic was also a problem because it was not possible to hold electoral demonstrations. Of course, which affected all parties equally, the Polish public service media, who were much more viewed than the Hungarians, pushed Duda’s campaign against the coronavirus as shamefully as MTVA on matters important to the Orbán government. direction.

A choice no one would have gone to

In addition to legal considerations and the inability to campaign, the opposition was fueled primarily by the hope that the economic effects of the epidemic would tarnish the popularity of PiS and Duda, and that as time passes, they may be able to kick the ball.

However, the problem also divided the PiS, with Health Minister Łukasz Szumowski, for example, advocating for an extension of Duda’s mandate for two years so that a decision on succession can be made in calmer conditions, and in return , Doubt would not resume.

In April, however, the Kaczyński had realized that it would not only be good for their judgment and participation to summon millions of voters to the polls despite the epidemic, but in the absence of candidates, even the counting committees would likely they could not run, making the pro-government majority vote by mail.

Public law and spanking logistics

However, the referendum raised public law problems that undermined the credibility of the elections: in 2011 the Constitutional Court ruled unconstitutional if the electoral rules were amended less than half a year before the elections, and in 2017 the PiS closed the correspondence institution existing citing the dangers of fraud. . To make matters worse, the mandate of the President of the Warsaw Supreme Court, who decides on the validity of the election, had just expired in late April, and his successor could be chosen by PiS.

In addition to the constitutional problem, there were also practical problems. The Senate, meaning the upper house, where the opposition has had a limited majority since October, has taken advantage of its opportunities to block the letter-voting law from taking effect for 30 days. With no time to prepare the necessary documents for the vote, the government ordered that they be printed in advance without legal authorization. Additionally, a company that lacked the experience or safety qualification to perform such delicate tasks was entrusted to, causing even more people to roar in PiS.

Election scandal without election

If all that had not been enough, by April 23, the biggest scandal of the elections had dawned. The Polish State Post Office (administered by the government) asked all local mayors and presidents to send an anonymous email, citing a letter-voting law that has not yet entered into force.

The danger of a government link between personal data and political preferences has been reassured: everyone from recipients to opponents to defenders has sworn in a series of lawsuits, citing Polish data protection law and the GDPR.

And that was really the icing on the cake when, on April 29, one of the presidential candidates, Stanisław mutatółtek, showed the press a ballot and other electoral documents that came to him from the press. On the one hand, the law was not yet in force at the time, on the basis of which the ballots and envelopes needed for the election could have been printed, but the leaking of documents also foreshadowed the risk of electoral fraud.

The ruling coalition almost did

In the absence of Senate ratification, the law could only enter into force if the Sejm votes again after May 6. But the mounting scandal also challenged the coalition. The PiS rules alongside two smaller parties, only far from having a majority in the Sejm. The Podrozumenie party has never been enthusiastic about the idea of ​​a May referendum, and the party’s president, Jarosław Gowin, resigned from his position in government. Then on May 6, the Gowins stood up and announced that they would not vote for the law again.

Kaczyński was said to be furious, but he had to let him go. Even that day, he agreed with Gowin on the postponement and issued a joint statement acknowledging that the May 10 presidential election was impossible due to practical difficulties. Consequently, the next day, May 7, the Sejm approved the future letter-voting law, and the Polish National Electoral Commission and the PKW announced the same day that since the body is unable to fulfill its duties in the Current situation, Sunday’s vote will not take place.

It’s far from over

However, this did not mean that Sunday’s election was canceled by anyone. In the public sense

The agreement between Kaczyński and Gowin does not contain a specific date for the presidential election, as the Supreme Court must first declare Sunday’s election invalid. They have 30 days to do so, after which the Speaker of the House of Commons must announce the date of the now-voted presidential election within 60 weeks. The uncertainty in public law is indicated by the fact that reality immediately deviated from the Kaczyński and Gowin scenario: the PKW itself invalidated the vote with a specific interpretation of the powers, to which many say it had no right, for what the president of the Sejm, Elżbieta Witek (who is also PiS, of course) on a new date between mid-June and early August.

The ball bounces off the opposition and a uberegothic candidate

The divided Polish opposition essentially fell into luck: they were given a second chance by not doing the political work, by not lining up behind a common candidate.

however, the ruling coalition does not have such a majority. An opposition president could therefore regret the departures from the PiS rule of law game.

So now the lesson is abandoned, a candidate who seems suitable has already appeared. According to opinion polls, by the end of the campaign, Szymon Hołownia, independent of all opposition parties, had become the most popular presidential candidate. Of course, this only means that, according to the latest polls, he is still 17.5 percent behind Duda, which is still close to 50 percent.

Hołownia a Wikipedia pages According to the Hungarians, he was a surprisingly colorful personality: he was a journalist for twenty years, working for the most important Polish newspapers (for example, Gazeta Wyborcza, Rzeczpospolita, Newsweek Polska, Wprost). Known not only as a journalist, but also as a writer and television personality, he is backed by very serious national, African and Asian charitable work. And if that wasn’t enough, he entered the Dominican order twice, but eventually jumped before being ordained a priest because he met his later wife, who is a fighter pilot in the Polish Air Force.

Sources: Our article is primarily based on Vox Populi’s Sunday blog post, and we also use articles by Gazeta Wyborcza and Rzeczpospolita.

(Cover image: On Presidential Election Day, the Democracy Protection Commission (KOD) hosted an event that mimics an election in Krakow on May 10, 2020. Photo: Beata Zawrzel / NurPhoto / Getty Images Hungary)