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July 13, 2020 - 4:00pm
The re-election of Andrzej Duda as President of Poland by the narrowest of margins showed a country split almost down the middle along practically every index. According to provisional results released by the Electoral Commission, Duda, supported by the ruling conservative Law and Justice Party, received 51.2 per cent of the vote, to Rafal Trzaskowski’s 48.8. It was one of the closest results in a Polish presidential election on a turnout that, at practically 70 per cent, was one of the highest.
Duda’s re-election is a huge disappointment for supporters of Trzaskowski, the liberal mayor of Warsaw, who had hoped that his victory would start to return Poland to the largely progressive path it had been on in the years immediately before and after it joined the European Union in 2004. It means that the conflict with the European Union over changes to the country’s judicial system — which are seen as potentially politicising the judiciary — is likely to continue, as will pursuit of the traditional “family values” agenda, which limits LGBT rights and outlaws gay marriage.
The electoral map of Poland nonetheless offers some signs of hope for the nearly half of the country who support change. The country was almost evenly split along practically every indicator: the more traditionalist east of the country against the western part; the countryside against the cities, and the over-40s against those under 40 (especially those under 25). But the two halves were more finely balanced this time around than at the presidential election five years ago and the age break-down suggests that in five years’ time, if not at the parliamentary elections in 2023, there could be a liberal victor.
Another plus from Sunday’s result might be the turn-out. While the 70 per cent was hailed by Duda as giving him a convincing mandate, it also showed that Polish voters have not lost faith in the political process. The closeness of the result also makes it less likely that there will be pressure for early parliamentary elections to capitalise on the conservatives’ victory. Early parliamentary elections, if the Law and Justice Party again came out on top, could have meant the conservatives retaining both executive and legislature for the next five years.
And while relations between Warsaw and Brussels look set to remain fractious, it is just possible they may be less fractious than before. One reason is that the UK’s departure from the EU leaves those countries, such as Poland, unhappy with what they see as interference from the EU, without their biggest ally. Another is the prospect that relations between “old” and “new” Europe could start to settle down.
It is sometimes not appreciated how differently the two parts of Europe see the European Union and its institutions. While “old” Europe sees the EU as a guarantee of peace and for that reason worth the small sacrifice of sovereignty that membership entails, the “new” Europeans saw — and still see — the EU as a guarantee of their individual nationhood and security, and suspect anything that impinges on their restored sovereignty. How soon — or even whether — the view of the EU from Warsaw comes closer to the way it is seen from Paris or Berlin is in question. But Poland’s next generation, who overwhelmingly opposed Duda, will have the answer, and this year’s results suggest that the President elected in five years’ time will be theirs.
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SubscribeOr, the Polish people take a good hard look at what is going on in the so called liberal states to their west and say to hell with that.
Traditional family and Christian values versus grovelling on your knees, cancel culture, chicks with dicks, rampaging Marxist revolutionaries; a society lost and unmoored from reality?
Beautifully expressed and so true.
51.2% against 48.8%? Countryside against the cities? Over-40s against the under-40s? Oh yes, and: ‘the age breakdown suggests that in five years’ time […] there could be a liberal victor’. Racking my brains as to where I’ve heard such wishful thinking before…
“The electoral map of Poland nonetheless offers some signs of hope for the nearly half of the country who support change.”
Ah yes, that liberal, progressive wet dream rears its head again. I’m bored with this guff. No one one has the faintest idea what the future will bring. Only one thing is certain, the future will be full of surprises.
You’ve got to admire the unadulterated lefty bias of this author, who scoffs at traditional family values and conservatism, whilst lamenting the loss of that huge, (nay, gigantic,) portion of the population who need gay marriage. Or could it be that all free-thinking people are just sick and tired of globalism, and everything it stands for?
Perhaps the author might be correct in Poland’s case, but it’s incredible how often people gloat about the upcoming triumph of a particular brand of politics because it is supported by young people.
Do they really not understand that young people are – unless I’ve missed some major scientific breakthrough – going to succumb to the ageing process, just like their predecessors did?
By their logic, all conservative parties should have ceased to exist within two generations after they were founded.
The “Liberals” have got to ditch their support for the Old Comrades and German interests!
Vowing to stop construction of the major airport in central Poland, designed to serve the whole country … on the grounds as Trzaskowski said that “We have Berlin” is lunacy. A supine approach to promoting German interests at the expense of Poland’s??
Similarly with the Vistula canal, which will give the port of Elblag free and easy access to the sea instead of a long detour through Russian waters – Trzaskowski is against, because he wants to butter up Putin!!
Mary writes that “the UK’s departure from the EU leaves those countries, such as Poland, unhappy with what they see as interference from the EU, without their biggest ally”. One issue where this is particularly likely to play out is adoption of the euro. The UK was much the largest economy in the EU that was not part of the euro area. Now it is gone, Poland is much the largest economy of the countries that remain, with a real GDP more than double that of the next largest, Sweden. With the exception of Denmark, none of these have the same Masstricht Treaty exemption that the UK had; they are also supposed to adopt the euro sooner or later. Bulgaria, which has had a currency board with a euro peg for some time now, entered ERM II on 10 July 2020, so within two years, Poland is likely to be the largest of just seven EU countries left that are not part of the euro area. The pressures on Poland to meet the conditions required to join the ERM II could be intense, and would imply not just a loss of sovereignty in terms of monetary policy, but also in the conduct of fiscal policy. Whether the gains would be worth it on the other side maybe depends on your view, not only of the euro, but of the general conduct of monetary policy by the ECB.
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What word or words did I use that require approval?
Pretty much every comment needs approval, Terry. I wouldn’t want about it.
OK….I read it twice. I am assuming that Mary os either gay, or was once a man.