The Polish government insists on holding the presidential election scheduled for May 10, despite the fact that most other European countries called off their elections because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“If there are conditions to go to a shop, then there are also conditions to go to a polling station”, said president Andrzej Duda, the incumbent and the favourite to win. Observers warn that France’s recent decision to hold regional elections has doubled its number of cases.
Poland currently has 2,633 confirmed cases of the virus and 45 deaths. However, experts estimate that the real number is several times higher, considering the low testing.
The country’s president Andrzej Duda has been accused by the opposition of conducting an unfair political campaign ahead of the election. In recent days, Duda has visited a hospital, a border post and a factory owned by state-controlled refiner PKN Orlen that is now being used to produce hand sanitizer.
On Friday, Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party has pushed through measures to allow postal voting for people in quarantine in an effort to make sure the election is not postponed. An online petition to postpone the elections now has more than 270,000 signatures.
Earlier this month, Duda signed a 2 billion zlotys ($510 million) bill to fund public television and radio for his reelection campaign.
Polish government insists on holding elections despite concerns
EPA-EFE/Radek Pietruszka POLAND OUT
President of Poland Andrzej Duda speaks during the press conference in the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, Poland, 25 September 2017. President Duda presented his draft legislation to reform the Supreme Court (SN) and the National Council of Judiciary (KRS). In July 2017, Duda vetoed Supreme Court and National Judiciary Council bills voted by the Polish Sejm's majority. Large protests have been held across Poland over rules passed 20 July by the ruling party that would limit the independence of the judiciary.
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