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Polish Nationalists Vow to ‘Consolidate Power’ in Disputed Vote

Polish Nationalists Vow to ‘Consolidate Power’ in Disputed Vote

(Bloomberg) -- Poland’s ruling party vowed to push on with a plan to hold next month’s election by mail and to “consolidate power” despite concerns that nationalists are using the coronavirus to undermine democracy in Europe.

Opposition candidates, who have halted campaigning, condemn the Law & Justice Party for advancing with the May 10 presidential ballot. With incumbent and former party member Andrzej Duda surging in popularity as a leader of the virus response, critics say the vote won’t be fair and his main challenger has called for a boycott to save lives.

“In line with the constitution, the time for the election is now,” Law & Justice leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski told public radio on Friday. “We must fight the virus and probably a long economic crisis that follows, so we need to consolidate power and that’s what these elections will bring.”

The dispute underscores the decade-long march of populists who are rebelling against the European Union’s democratic values. Earlier this week, Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban secured the right to rule his country by decree, drawing a rebuke from more than a dozen EU states and intensifying concern that leaders with autocratic leanings will use the cover of Covid-19 to seize more power.

A day after the world marked its 1 millionth case of the disease, Law & Justice is vying to push the election-by-mail initiative through the lower house of parliament in a vote Friday. But Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Gowin is set to vote against the bill with several other lawmakers, according to Onet.pl.

“The election can take place at a time that won’t endanger the lives of Poles,” Gowin told Onet.pl on Thursday. That may complicate the vote, as the ruling party only has a five-seat majority in the assembly.

Fear of Abuse

Other countries including Serbia and Romania have already pushed back elections originally scheduled for summer. In Poland, more than three quarters of voters want a delay, a poll showed this week.

Municipal officials have balked at defying the law and not organizing holding the ballot, while the main opposition party said it planned to delay the passage of the vote-by mail legislation by as long as possible.

Their fear is that it may be easily gamed to help Law & Justice, which would also benefit from the measure because its voters are mostly older and live in rural areas and would be more likely to cast ballots. They also say it violates a Constitutional Tribunal ruling forbidding changes to the electoral law so close to a vote.

“In any vote by post, special care must be taken to protect against possible fraud and abuse,” Adam Bodnar, Poland’s human-rights ombudsman, said on Thursday. “Such diligence is difficult if such a fundamental change is to be made literally on the eve of the election.”

On Thursday, EU members including Germany and France urged governments to exercise restraint and respect for the “principles of rule of law, democracy and fundamental rights” when adopting emergency measures to fight the outbreak.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.