POLAND/FILE: Polands two leading parties compete ahead of elections later this month

Record ID: 346316

  • Title: POLAND/FILE: Polands two leading parties compete ahead of elections later this month
  • Date: 10th October 2007
  • Summary: CIVIC PLATFORM (PO) LEADER, DONALD TUSK, ARRIVING ACCOMPANIED BY LEADING PO ACTIVISTS TUSK WITH PO ACTIVISTS (LEFT TO RIGHT) FORMER DEFENCE MINISTER RADOSLAW SIKORSKI, TUSK, WARSAW MAYOR HANNA GRONKIEWICZ-WALTZ PRESENTATION OF PO PROGRAMME GRONKIEWICZ-WALTZ AND TUSK SEATED SIKORSKI BEGINNING PRESENTATION SIKORSKI SPEAKING TUSK LISTENING GRONKIEWICZ WALTZ SPEAKING (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) CIVIC PLATFORM (PO) LEADER, DONALD TUSK, SAYING: "Regarding international matters, I wouldn't want to have similar situations as the last two years, meaning two years of ruining relations with our neighbours and all of a sudden one foreign trip which is supposed to prove that it's not so bad after all." VARIOUS OF TUSK SPEAKING
  • Embargoed: 25th October 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA4YI8XLFSQGQYL431JE8KG0WD8
  • Story Text: Polish political parties rally their supporters, both at home and abroad, ahead of parliamentary elections on October 21st.
    Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski is renewing his vow to fight against a post-communist elite, as Polish political parties campaign in the lead up to a snap parliamentary election later this month.
    Parliament called an election two years early to try to end political turmoil that led to the acrimonious collapse of the ruling coalition.
    The election in the EU country of 38 million is set for October 21.
    The election is seen as a close and bitter battle between the ruling Kaczynski twins and their Law and Justice (PiS) party on the one hand, and the centre-right Civic Platform party, favoured by markets for its pro-business platform and promises to reform central Europe's biggest economy.
    The prime minister is repeating the pledge to fight corruption that helped him and twin brother Lech, the president, into power two years ago.
    "Our enemies led by Aleksander Kwasniewski say that the two years when PiS was in power were just an episode in Poland's history. We are fighting now for it to be a permanent change. Down with the corruption-corporation system!" Kaczynski said at a rally in Warsaw.
    Aleksander Kwasniewski, the former leftist president who has agreed to head a Left and Democrats (LiD) alliance, vigourously criticises the conservatives' stance.
    "I look back at those years before 2005 from the point of view of a common Pole. From a common Pole's point of view because we are a the party of common Poles. We are not ashamed of it, we want to be the party of common Poles," Kaczynski added, while speaking at the rally.
    PiS campaign slogans and televised clips portray Poland as a country ruled by politicians and businessmen alike, who live in a world of rich "gentleman's clubs", whereas PiS listens closely to what the nation has to say.
    Opinion polls show a close race between Law and Justice and Civic Platform, but neither side looks set to win enough seats to rule alone or be able to form a coalition easily. The Kaczynskis have alienated many potential coalition partners.
    Civic Platform wants more market-friendly policies and also seeks to put Poland on better terms with European Union partners after repeated rows under the eurosceptic Kaczynskis.
    "Regarding international matters, I wouldn't want to have similar situations as the last two years, meaning two years of ruining relations with our neighbours and all of a sudden one foreign trip which is supposed to prove that it's not so bad after all," said PO leader Donald Tusk at a meeting in the Warsaw stock exchange.
    Tusk is also hoping that millions of Polish emigrants in Britain will boost his chances in the election. When he visited a Polish centre in Hammersmith, west London he promised well-paid jobs back home if the party takes power after a general election.
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