9 votes

Incumbent Polish president Andrzej Duda narrowly beats Trzaskowski in presidential vote

Posted by Kuromantis
Tags: poland, politics, andrzej duda, rafal trzaskowski, elections, presidents, source.bbc
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53385021

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Title
Poland's conservative President Duda re-elected
Published
Jul 13 2020
Word count
785 words

2 comments

  1. Silbern
    Link
    That's quite an overstatement right there. If you win by barely 1%, that doesn't signify widespread consensus, that signifies a very close election, and given the stark differences in candidates,...

    Mr Duda's victory shows there is a strong electorate for social conservatism and generous state hand outs. But the closeness of the vote also suggests that many in Poland are uneasy about the government's attempts to introduce a more illiberal democracy.

    That's quite an overstatement right there. If you win by barely 1%, that doesn't signify widespread consensus, that signifies a very close election, and given the stark differences in candidates, a very polarized society. It reminds me a lot of what's happening here in the US, and it would be similarly misleading to say Donald Trump has broad support (though maybe more so here, given his absolutely dismal approval ratings - I'm not sure what Duda's are).

    Also worth noting to me that despite having proportional voting, popular vote, and everything else, it hasn't saved Poland from an aggressive populist either. Potentially a sign that regardless of how we structure our voting system, polarization will continue to be a problem if the other end of the spectrum is an authoritarian fuckwad.

    4 votes
  2. Kuromantis
    Link

    The National Electoral Commission said Mr Duda had won 51.2% of the votes.

    It is Poland's slimmest presidential election victory since the end of communism in 1989.

    Mr Duda's win is expected to lead to further controversial reforms to the judiciary and continued opposition to abortion and gay rights.

    During the campaign Mr Duda came under heavy criticism after he said LGBT rights were an "ideology" more destructive than communism.

    The opposition Civic Platform (PO) group - which backed Mr Trzaskowski - told Reuters news agency it was collecting information on voting "irregularities" after the polls closed on Sunday, including reports of Poles abroad not receiving their voting packages in time to take part in the election.

    More controversially, the PiS has said it wants to complete its overhaul of the judiciary - a policy criticised by the EU and many other international organisations for undermining the rule of law in Poland. That signals more tension with Brussels.

    The PiS may want to use Mr Duda's victory to pursue greater political control of local government and the private media.

    But passing legislation to limit foreign ownership of critical private media is difficult under EU rules and risks antagonising Poland's chief ally, the US, as one of the country's most popular broadcasters, TVN, is owned by an American company.

    Mr Duda's victory shows there is a strong electorate for social conservatism and generous state hand outs. But the closeness of the vote also suggests that many in Poland are uneasy about the government's attempts to introduce a more illiberal democracy.

    "Just like Orwell's Ministry of Truth, PiS media promoted the cult of Duda, slinging mud at Rafal Trzaskowski." But, "despite the machinery of lies, the democracy camp proved that one half of society thinks: 'NO, we have had enough!'"

    In neighbouring Slovakia, the Aktuality.sk website says Mr Duda's victory will tempt the ruling party to "see just how far they can go".