Poles expect stability as votes cast in national election

Record ID: 1436556

  • Title: Poles expect stability as votes cast in national election
  • Date: 13th October 2019
  • Summary: WARSAW, POLAND (OCTOBER 13, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PALACE OF CULTURE AND OLD TOWN BUILDINGS PEOPLE REGISTERING FOR VOTE AND RECEIVING BALLOT PAPERS BALLOTS BEING CAST PEOPLE PASSING BY POLLING STATION SIGN SHOWING DIRECTION TO POLLING STATION PEOPLE REGISTERING FOR VOTE MAN CASTING VOTE BALLOT PAPERS BEING CAST MAN HOLDING BALLOT PAPER WAITING BY VOTING BOOTH PEOPLE ENTERING POLLING STATION SIGN ON DOOR READING (Polish): "DISTRICT ELECTORAL COMMISSION NUMBER 18" ELECTORAL COMMISSION EMPLOYEES REGISTERING VOTERS MEN SITTING IN VOTING BOOTHS MAN CASTING VOTE WOMAN LEAVING POLLING STATION (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) PENSIONER FROM WARSAW, URSZULA BUKOWSKA, SAYING: "It is hard to say. Life is like a sine wave. I would like to see the continuation of what's been done so far so that we see some peace and order, the stability, some predictability and stability. " (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) 68-YEAR-OLD PENSIONER FROM WARSAW, RAJMUND WASIARZ, SAYING: "There is no comparison to the previous years. It has been the best time for Poland now, the best in 30 years." VARIOUS OF VOTER ENTERING POLLING STATION VARIOUS OF OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT ON WALL IN POLLING STATION WOMAN CASTING VOTE VARIOUS OF STATUE OF MERMAID OF WARSAW VARIOUS OF STADIUM WITH POLISH FLAG WAVING ON TOP EXTERIOR OF CHURCH WITH PALACE OF CULTURE IN BACKGROUND
  • Embargoed: 27th October 2019 08:33
  • Keywords: election in Poland Polish Sejm parliament election in Poland PiS Law and Justice Civic Platform PO
  • Location: WARSAW, POLAND
  • City: WARSAW, POLAND
  • Country: Poland
  • Topics: Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
  • Reuters ID: LVA001B0XJM87
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Poles headed to polling stations on Sunday (October 13) expecting stability as the country holds an election that is likely to hand the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party a second term in office.
    "I would like to see the continuation of what's been done so far so that we see some peace and order," a pensioner Urszula Bukowska said after casting vote in one of the polling stations in Warsaw.
    PiS is expected to win more votes than it did in 2015 and may get enough parliamentary seats to continue to govern alone - but the shift in the political climate that it has presided over in the past four years has polarized the country.
    One of the foundations of the PiS' success is the way it has tapped into anger among the poorer Poles who had missed out on prosperity since the collapse of communism in 1989, mixing nationalist rhetoric with a vast welfare program that an economic boom has allowed it to implement.
    Opposition parties and Poland's European Union partners say the outgoing government has undermined the independence of the judiciary and the media and made Poland less welcoming for sexual and ethnic minorities.
    The surveys show PiS winning 40-46% of votes.
    That may give the party an absolute majority. But it might need to form a coalition, which would raise the possibility of the far-right Confederation - one of three smaller groups that might garner the 5% of votes needed to enter parliament - becoming part of the government.
    (Production: Malgorzata Wojtunik)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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