Poland's democracy is at risk in next month's elections, say opposition leaders
By Rob Schmitz
"The freedom and democracy that my generation fought for can also be yours if you fight, too," Donald Tusk, candidate for Poland's Civic Coalition, tells university students at a campaign event ahead of the Oct. 15 election. "Without your vigilance, democracy will not survive. And this is not just about Poland." Rob Schmitz/NPR hide caption
toggle caption Rob Schmitz/NPR"The freedom and democracy that my generation fought for can also be yours if you fight, too," Donald Tusk, candidate for Poland's Civic Coalition, tells university students at a campaign event ahead of the Oct. 15 election. "Without your vigilance, democracy will not survive. And this is not just about Poland."
Rob Schmitz/NPROLSZTYN, Poland — A silver-haired saxophonist donning sunglasses and bathed in multicolored spotlights marks the election season with a dose of smooth jazz at a university event in northern Poland, evoking a bygone era of politics when a soon-to-be by doing the same.
The generational divide at the University of Olsztyn is complete when the guest of honor, a blond 66-year-old dressed in a crisp white button-down shirt and blue jeans, takes the stage. The audience of college students erupts into applause for a man they see as the last hope for the survival of democracy in Poland.
University students at the University of Olsztyn cheer as they await the arrival of Donald Tusk, a candidate for prime minister. Rob Schmitz/NPR hide caption
toggle caption Rob Schmitz/NPRUniversity students at the University of Olsztyn cheer as they await the arrival of Donald Tusk, a candidate for prime minister.
Rob Schmitz/NPRTusk, a member of Poland's Solidarity movement in the 1980s, knows a thing or two about bringing down authoritarian regimes, and young Polish voters are looking to him to end the ruling Law and Justice Party's eight-year majority in the Sejm, Poland's parliament, and what they see as that party's steady erosion of the country's democratic institutions.
"I don't think we as a nation can survive another four years of destruction that has been happening for the last eight years," says 19-year-old Laura Gosiewska, who, like many students here, is about to vote in her first national election.
Even though democratically elected, Poland's ruling party is accused of rolling back democracy
For nearly half of Gosiewska's life, Poland's Law and Justice Party has carried out a political agenda aimed at returning the country to its conservative Catholic roots, as well as ensure its own party maintains power for the foreseeable future.
University students Laura Gosiewska and Franciszek Nemczewski at the Campus Polska event in the northern Polish city of Olsztyn. Both say that the ruling Law and Justice Party's policies have pulled their country away from the rest of Europe. Rob Schmitz/NPR hide caption
toggle caption Rob Schmitz/NPRUniversity students Laura Gosiewska and Franciszek Nemczewski at the Campus Polska event in the northern Polish city of Olsztyn. Both say that the ruling Law and Justice Party's policies have pulled their country away from the rest of Europe.
Rob Schmitz/NPRSince it took the helm of government in 2015, Law and Justice has banned abortion, vigorously opposed equal rights for the LGBT community and turned Poland's public media into its own instrument of propaganda, championing the party's vision for the country.
show the Law and Justice party with 35.5% support among voters, just 6.5% above Tusk's Civic Coalition. That's not enough to form a government without a coalition, and no other party is, so far, willing to join Law and Justice to govern the country.Bobinski predicts that neither Law and Justice nor the Civic Coalition will win a clear-cut majority of parliamentary seats after the Oct. 15 election — and that will likely mean a snap election in 2024 between the top two vote-getters.
Even if Law and Justice were to lose, Bobinski says reversing its policies will be tough. That's because Polish President Andrzej Duda, also a member of Law and Justice, will remain, and the constitutional tribunal, a court that Law and Justice stacked with loyal judges, will continue to have the power to block legislation.
"Whatever happens, we're in for a period of chaos," Bobinski says.
Andrzej Bobinski, managing director of Polityka Insight, says Poland will be voting on the survival of its democracy in its Oct. 15 national election. The ruling Law and Justice Party, if given a third term by voters, will further chip away at democratic institutions in the country, he says. Rob Schmitz/NPR hide caption
toggle caption Rob Schmitz/NPRAndrzej Bobinski, managing director of Polityka Insight, says Poland will be voting on the survival of its democracy in its Oct. 15 national election. The ruling Law and Justice Party, if given a third term by voters, will further chip away at democratic institutions in the country, he says.
Rob Schmitz/NPRLaw and Justice says its power comes from the voting booth
Members of Law and Justice, though, don't see it this way.
"The presence of so many opposition parties proves democracy is alive and well in Poland," says Pawel Lisiecki, a Law and Justice member of parliament. "The problem is not authoritarian rule in Poland, but that the opposition against the ruling party is unable to unite."
On the streets in the capital Warsaw, retiree Bogdan Michalski says he's voting for Law and Justice because he thinks the party has overseen unprecedented economic improvement.
"There's a lot of construction, new roads and everything is getting better," he says. "Under the previous government, everything was neglected, and they just pocketed the money. If Law and Justice stays in power, we'll have everything they have in the West."
Except, perhaps, democracy, says former Polish ombudsman for citizens' rights Adam Bodnar. He says that should concern not only Polish voters, but also the rest of Europe and the U.S.
"In my opinion, it would be much more beneficial for the United States to cooperate with a typical democratic government than with a country that is going into some kind of authoritarian direction," he says. Especially one on the border of Ukraine, he adds.
Bodnar, running on the Civic Coalition ballot as a candidate for parliament in Warsaw, says the last thing the world needs is the reconstruction of Europe's Iron Curtain.
Lisiecki disagrees. "No nation in the world is more opposed to authoritarian rule than Poles are," he says. "Every authoritarian ruler in the country's history has ended in a revolt."
