His postponement was requested by the opposition because of the coronavirus pandemic. The presidential election in Poland scheduled for Sunday has been postponed. The poll scheduled for May 10 will not be held, and the president of the lower house will announce "the first possible date" for a new election, said in a joint statement on Twitter the leader of the ruling party Law and Justice (PiS) Jaroslaw Kaczynski and his ally Jaroslaw Gowin, of the small party Porozumienie (Entente).
No indication of the new date has been communicated. According to the Constitution and a recent law, it could be either May 17 or May 23.
Opposition critics
The PiS has so far wanted to organize the poll as quickly as possible, to, according to analysts, guarantee the victory of outgoing president Andrzej Duda whose image is likely to suffer, in the longer term, from the impact of the pandemic on the Polish economy. But the centrist and left opposition fiercely criticized the PiS position for reasons of public health. PiS responded by proposing postal voting for all voters.
Critics also targeted the absence of a democratic debate and an electoral campaign. Opposition candidates were denied contact with voters while President Duda was still very present in public life.
A postal ballot
"Once the date of May 10 has passed and the finding, predictable, by the Supreme Court of the invalidity of the poll due to failure to hold, the president of the Diet will announce a new presidential election at the earliest possible date", continues the statement by Jaroslaw Kaczynski and his ally.
The two parties specify that it will be a postal ballot and that Jaroslaw Gowin's party undertakes to support the law which specifies the conditions, while presenting, in consultation with the PiS, proposals for amendment. Thus, the ruling coalition manages to evacuate a conflict that risked causing the breakup of the majority. The Entente party has 18 Diet deputies, while the Conservative majority has only 235 seats out of 460.
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