This Sunday responsible Poles of legal age are going to make their way to the voting booths. The two prime candidates for the position of President are Bronislaw Komorowski and Jaroslaw Kaczynski. If we look at statistics the other eight candidates don’t stand a chance. The race is on between the two PO and PIS candidates. Who to vote for?
It’s a tough question. Listening and watching their campaigns makes my stomach turns. My trust in Polish politics is limited. After three years living in this country and taking an interest in politics I am shocked as to the behaviour of many of the politicians here and the rules that apply to them. From what I can see is that there aren’t rules. Candidates who should be removed from politics immediately are allowed to run for President. Lies, bribery and charges seem to be irrelevant here. I try to keep a positive outlook on all this but at times it does get difficult.
I’d like to see Poland become the country that it can be. To prosper and grow. To give equal opportunity to all its citizens. To develop the agriculture, tourism and construction industries. There are so many opportunities and talents that are wasted due to a lack of knowledge, resources, support or all of the above. It’s a shame because the potential is there. Poland is a beautiful country.
Poland requires a leader. Komorowski and Kaczynski as leaders are questionable. They are the only two candidates that are the most appealing and suitable but not necessarily ideal. They have their strengths and weaknesses but I don’t think that their abilities weigh up to the requirements of this country’s needs at the present time. Poland needs someone who isn’t just going to be charismatic and persuasive with the public. Poland requires a President who can make independent decisions irrespective of which party he belongs to. A President who will be able to assess the current situation in Poland and make educated and logical decisions in relation to education, the health care system, welfare, infrastructure and the future of the country. Someone who will put the people’s needs first, and their own second.
In order for Poland to become the best it can be, the country is going to require a strong leader with good intentions. A leader who can make those intentions into reality. Both candidates have made promises about what they intend on doing once they are in the Presidential seat. However, these are just words, and history tells us that during the campaigns, many of these words are empty.
I hope that every Pole that is legally allowed to is going to vote on Sunday. I think this election is one of the most important ones in recent years, especially due to the recent tragedies in Smolenski and with the floods. The people need a President who they can rely on and trust not only in times of tragedy and sorrow, but also in times of prosperity and change for the better. A President who will stop looking at the past and start thinking about the present and beyond.
Voters need to look at this objectively and without emotion. The future of Poland will be determined by the result of these elections. It’s a shame that we don’t have a leader who we’d like to vote for without a doubt.
As a Canadian living in Poland, I'm glad I don't have the option to vote. This place represents all that is bad about democracy, boiling things down to a two party duopoly in which the majority of people will vote for the "least bad option".
ReplyDeleteThe tragedy in Smolensk sickened me, however, the manipulation of the event transforming Lech Kaczynski into a martyr made has made me even more ill even though it was predictable at the time: http://theendisalwaysnear.blogspot.com/2010/04/past-in-polands-present.html
If I were you and had decided to vote, I'd vote SLD - Grzegorz Napieralski.
Yes, people will vote for the 'least bad option' which is a shame, including myself but that's because I am totally against one of the candidates getting elected.
ReplyDeleteI've been living here for three years, and I continue to be bewildered by what goes on in the political arena. Poland might have hope with the next generation of politicians.
When I first came to Poland, I was shocked at how backwards one of the major parties was (I'm assuming we're talking about the same one, ducks and all that). Yet the longer I've been here the more I think I've grown to appreciate those homophobic childhood actors. Don't get me wrong, I'm against almost every social policy stance they advocate, but if the country had put the other major party in charge of both the Sejm and the presidency I think Poland would've felt the financial crisis more than it did as the country would've been completely sold off to the financiers in London, New York and Berlin.
ReplyDeleteTake a look at some of the plans that the PO has for the country before deciding they are the least bad option and I'll repeat again, give the SLD a second thought instead of settling for the least bad choice.
Rather interesting article in Spiegel the other day, seems Jaroslaw has flip flopped on the one issue I respected him for (the anti-G20):
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,701103,00.html
Thanks for the link. Interesting article. I can’t believe that someone can make such a huge transformation in such a short time regardless of the events which unfolded on April 10.
ReplyDeleteJK mentions some worthy goals, however I find it hard to believe that he has other intentions which have gone unmentioned throughout his campaign. Can he really leave the past behind and move towards a sustainable future? I suppose we’ll find out if he wins.
Napieralski is young and this could be both a pro and con to his chances of becoming elected. He did perform best in the debate last week but that’s not enough to win him enough votes. I’d like to see a younger politician in the Presidential seat, one who hasn’t been poisoned by the Communist era but this is unlikely to happen, at least at this moment, due to PO and PIS dominance.