Polish people cast their ballots in parliamentary polls
People in Poland have started voting in the country’s parliamentary elections, with a conservative eurosceptic party poised to return to power after eight years in opposition.
Polling stations opened at 07:00 a.m. local time (0600 GMT) on Sunday and will close at 09:00 p.m. local time (2000 GMT), while exit polls are expected immediately after the voting ends.
There are 30.7 million eligible voters in the eastern European country, making it the sixth largest electorate among the European Union’s member states.
According to the latest opinion polls, the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party, which is led by ex-premier, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, will secure the majority of votes in Sunday’s elections compared to the liberal pro-European Civic Platform (PO) of Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz.
The polls show that the PiS will be the frontrunner on over 30 percent of the votes, while PO will come second with just more than 20 percent.
“After eight years in opposition, Kaczynski is making a big comeback,” Eryk Mistewicz, a Warsaw-based political analyst, told AFP, adding that “even if he doesn’t manage a majority (231 seats) he will sweep up MPs from smaller parties.”
Kaczynski recently made controversial remarks about the refugees, claiming they could bring diseases and parasites to Poland. Critics said that his comments recalled the era of Nazi Germany.
PiS, which has nominated Beata Szydlo as the party’s choice for the premier, has pledged to oppose the relocation of refugees from the Middle East to Poland.
The party has also vowed to introduce generous family benefits, lower the pension age, impose a new taxation system on banks, cut taxes for small businesses and oppose joining the eurozone.
Sunday’s polls are “about whether liberal democracy will survive in Poland,” Polish Academy of Sciences Professor Radoslaw Markowski told AFP, adding, “If PiS end up governing alone with an allied president, Poland will become another Hungary.”
The elections come as the Polish economy is expected to grow this year and the rate of unemployment in the European country recently dropped below 10 percent.
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