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The Polish presidential election, which was to be held next Sunday, May 10, has been postponed to a later date, the head of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party Jaroslaw Kaczynski, and his ally Jaroslaw Gowin, announced this Wednesday , in a joint statement.

The planned elections will not take place and the president of the lower house will announce "the first possible date" for the presidential elections, the two politicians said on Twitter.

However, they have not given any indication on the new date. Under the Constitution and a recent law, it could be rescheduled for May 17 or 23.

The PiS wanted to organize the elections as soon as possible, to guarantee the victory of outgoing President Andrzej Duda, whose image may be affected by the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the Polish economy, according to analysts.

The center and left opposition strongly criticized the PiS position, in a context of health crisis due to the covid-19 pandemic. In response, the PiS proposed voting by mail for all voters.

Criticism also focused on the absence of a democratic debate and electoral campaign, since opposition candidates have been unable to contact their electorate while President Duda has been ubiquitous on public roads during the crisis.

Kaczynski and his ally differed on the date of the elections. Gowin refused to carry them out on May 10, as the first wished, which they do not mention in their joint statement.

"After the date of May 10 has passed, and the Supreme Court's predictable finding of the invalidity of the vote count due to non-celebration, the President of Congress will announce the new presidential election on the first possible date," the statement continues.

The two sides specify that it will be a vote by mail and that Gowin's party agrees to support the law that determines the conditions, while presenting, in consultation with the PiS, reform proposals.

Thus, the ruling coalition manages to defuse a conflict that threatened to provoke the majority to blow up. The Gowin Accord party has 18 deputies in the Diet, while the conservative majority has 235 seats out of 460.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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