By Joanna Plucinska
WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland’s main opposition grouping threatened on Tuesday to block planning for a delayed presidential election after the ruling coalition proposed a bill to allow both voting in-person and by postal ballot in a drive to organise the vote quickly.
The presidential election had been due to take place on May 10 but planning for it collapsed at the last minute over rifts within the coalition and with its opponents over how to hold the vote amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The ruling nationalist Law and Justice party (PiS) wants to hold the election as soon as possible, fearing that its ally, President Andrzej Duda, risks losing his leading position in opinion polls as the economic fallout from the pandemic worsens.
The new legislation is unconstitutional as it gives too much power to the PiS-nominated speaker of parliament, Elzbieta Witek, to set the electoral calendar, Jan Grabiec, a spokesman for centrist opposition party Civic Platform (PO), told Reuters.
PiS blames the opposition-controlled Senate, the upper house, for scuppering the May 10 vote as it chose to take the full 30 days permitted to analyse legislation that would have allowed the election to go ahead by postal ballot only.
PO threatened to use the same delaying tactic again in the Senate if the new proposal were not amended to hand more power to the electoral commission to organise the electoral calendar.
PiS needs opposition support to ensure the electoral commission has enough time to organise the vote safely.
DELAYING TACTICS?
“If these changes run counter to the constitution, then I doubt the Senate will accept it at lightning speed, just like with the last proposal… which eventually led to the ruling party’s need to cancel the election,” Grabiec said.
The new PiS legislation seeks to mirror opposition-backed proposals for a “hybrid” election that combines voting in-person and by mail.
But PO said the new rules would still allow PiS to rush through the elections and set a calendar that was favorable to its needs. Opposition parties have previously called for a months-long delay in the election to allow time for the coronavirus pandemic to be fully brought under control.
“The governing party’s rush to hold the election as quickly as possible is very dangerous,” Grabiec said.
The electoral commission on Sunday gave parliamentary speaker Witek 14 days to set a new election date, which must be within 60 days of the announcement.
PiS has said it hopes the election can take place at the end of June or in July.
(Reporting by Joanna Plucinska; Editing by Gareth Jones)
