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Thirty million voters are called to the polls in Poland (illustration). Janek SKARZYNSKI / AFP

In Poland, where polling stations for the European elections will open at 7am this Sunday, May 26, the ultra-conservatives of the PiS are neck and neck in the polls with the liberal opposition, the European Coalition.

With our correspondent in Warsaw, Thomas Giraudeau

These European elections are worth testing in Poland. In the fall, the country will vote for the legislative elections, the most important poll. Then in 2020, it will be the presidential election. For the PiS in power as for the opposition, to be in the lead this Sunday is to take the lead before the national deadlines.

To win, the ultra-conservatives of the PiS first bet on broad social promises: family benefits from the first child, 13th month for retirees, tax cuts. The PiS also attacked a LGBT charter signed in February in Warsaw, showing itself as the defender of the traditional family, and Catholic values.

The Church has been shaken in Poland for several months by pedophilia cases. A documentary on the subject recently intervened in the campaign and could penalize the party in power, considered too close to the Church by many Poles.

Faced with all this, the opposition, the European Coalition, has never really succeeded in imposing its themes. Party late in the campaign, it relies on a strong mobilization of anti-PiS. The turnout will surely be one of the keys to the vote. Poles are very Europhile, but they do not move much for the European elections. However, we expect more participation this year.