Despite the fact that in Poland more than 12 thousand infected with coronavirus and nearly 600 died from this infection, country in the may 10 presidential elections were scheduled. From March 20 in Poland there is a regime of the epidemic. The government could impose a state of emergency, and this would postpone the vote for a month, and with the support of the Parliament for three years. However, the ruling Polish party “law and Justice” is not interested in procrastination, because in the current crisis, the opposition candidates for President do not have the capacity to conduct a normal election campaign, and the incumbent head of state Andrzej Duda plays the role of “father of the nation” and earns the doubting voices.
it is Known that during major crises, people tend to support the government. Witness the recent polls of the center Estymator for the magazine Do Rzeczy that show now that Duda could win in the first round with 51.7% of votes. It is not surprising that the authorities hold an approved date.
When in early April the Minister of health Shumovsky Lucas explained to the head of the ruling party of Jaroslaw Kaczynski, to blow 30 million of voters on sites during the epidemic – a huge risk, the party came up with a workaround. April 6 controlled the lower chamber of the Parliament (Saeima) approved the amendments to the electoral code that allow you to change the form of holding elections in a situation of an epidemic. Now, if the upper house (the Senate) and, of course, the President will approve this initiative, 25 thousand Polish postmen will have a risk to the health post at 90-100 envelopes a day.
the Catch is that in the Senate in contrast to the Seimas majority, the opposition, and in its interests to do so, to the victorious incumbent may 10 elections did not take place. However, the diet may push amendments by a qualified majority, so the upper house delays consideration of amendments, and, as expected, did not render a decision until may 6, when it will expire put on the law a month. In this case, the authorities on preparation for elections will be only three days. It is clear that in such a short time to perform all the required formalities, and, above all, to compile lists of voters to print ballot papers and deliver them to the addresses impossible.
Therefore, despite the fact that the amendments to the electoral code have not been adopted, preparations for the elections by mail in violation of the law is in full swing. Post office has appealed to the authorities to provide relevant lists of voters. But on the eve of the head of the ten largest Polish cities, including the mayor of Warsaw for Rafal Trzaskowski, the mayor of gdańsk Aleksandra Dulkevich, the mayor of poznań Jacek Jaskowiak, the mayor of Wroclaw Jacek of Strike and the mayor of Lodz Hanna Zdanowski, wrote a letter in which he publicly refused to participate in illegal actions.
“We, the presidents of the largest Polish cities together and unanimously declare that prior to the adoption by the Parliament and the President signed the law on elections in the mail, we are unable to pass the Polish post data of residents,” wrote Hannah Zdanowska in his microblog on Twitter.
My prezydenci największych miast w Polsce mówimy zgodnie, jednym głosem: do czasu przez parlament przegłosowania i podpisania przez prezydenta ustawy o wyborach korespondencyjnych, nie możemy przekazać Poczcie Polskiej danych mieszkańców #lodz pic.twitter.com/TfDXZJXFn6
