- Title: POLAND: POLAND'S OPPOSITION PARTIES CRUSHED THE RULING LEFT IN EUROPEAN ELECTIONS
- Date: 13th June 2004
- Summary: WARSAW, POLAND (JUNE 13, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. SV EXTERIOR OF PLATFORMA OBYWATELSKA OFFICE BUILDING; CROWD GATHERED IN PLATFORMA OBYWATELSKA OFFICE (2 SHOTS) 0.16 2. SV PLATFORMA OBYWATELSKA CANDIDATE PAWEL PISKORSKI SPEAKING; SUPPORTERS CLAPPING (2 SHOTS) 0.28 3. SV CROWD CHEERING AND CLAPPING AT PRELIMINARY RESULTS / CHAMPAGNE; SCREEN WITH RESULTS (2 SHOTS) 0.55 4. MCU (Polish) PAWEL PISKORSKI, PLATFORMA OBYWATELSKA CANDIDATE SAYING: "It's a giant satisfaction for us because we are winning with a very clear score, with a very clear first place, with a double lead over the next party. It's a great score and today is a day for joy. But there is a reflection that this score is won with low outcome and that the next parties behind us are populist parties." 1.22 5. CU/SLV/SVPOSTERS WITH PAWEL PISKORSKI; INTERIOR OF VOTING STATION; VOTE COUNTING, ORGANIZING BALLOTS (5 SHOTS) 1.48 6. MCU (Polish) JOZEF SKRZECZYNSKI, VOTING STATION CHAIRMAN SAYING "The voters came irregularly. There were moments of quiet, and then more people came, like they were coming from the church or from walks." 2.02 7. SV/CU COUNTING VOTES; VOTING STATION CHAIRMAN SHOWING INVALID VOTE (6 SHOTS) 2.33 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 28th June 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: WARSAW, POLAND
- Country: Poland
- Reuters ID: LVADCZ9061IFMI05H5TNAI9OY65Q
- Story Text: Polish left beaten by centre-right opposition in
European Parliament vote in low turnout.
Poland's opposition parties crushed the ruling left
in Sunday's (June 13) European elections, a key test of
strength before general polls due within months.
Vote-day opinion polls found moderate rightists rooted
in the Solidarity movement won most votes but anti-EU
forces also gained at the expense of the ruling
ex-communists.
The pro-EU centre-right Civic Platform (PO) won with 28
percent of the vote, doubling its showing from 2001 general
elections. Its rightist allies won 12 percent.
PO candidate Pawel Piskorski rejoiced at the results.
"It's a giant satisfaction for us because we are
winning with a very clear score, with a very clear first
place, with a double lead over the next party. It's a great
score and today is a day for joy. But there is a
reflection that this score is won with low outcome and that
the next parties behind us are populist parties," Piskorski
said.
Voting Station Chairman Jozef Skrzeczynski, talking
about the turnout, said: "The voters came irregularly.
There were moments of quiet, and then more people came,
like they were coming from the church or from walks."
The ruling Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) saw its vote
plunge to 11 percent from 41 percent in 2001, putting them
in fifth place and making their result the weakest showing
for any governing party across the 25-nation bloc.
The SLD tried to put a brave face on the result, which
was better than some opinion polls suggested after two
years of an unprecedented wave of sleaze scandals, botched
reforms and soaring unemployment.
They insisted they would go ahead with efforts to win
parliament's support for their new Prime Minister Marek
Belka, whose cabinet faces a confidence vote this month.
The vote shows Belka will have little room to manoeuvre
at this week's EU summit set to seal the bloc's first
constitution. The opposition, including pro-EU centrists,
want Belka not to accept the charter as it stands because
it limits Poland's voting power in the enlarged EU.
Pressure on Belka is set to grow because the anti-EU,
Catholic-right League of Polish Families came second in the
vote with 14-16 percent of the vote.
Apart from the ruling left, the big loser of the vote
was firebrand populist Andrzej Lepper, who came third with
14 percent after leading in opinion polls just months ago.
Besides the Civic Platform, two other Solidarity
parties, Law and Justice (PiS) and Freedom Union (UW)
won a combined 16 percent of the vote.
Six weeks after European Union entry and a year after a
historic accession referendum, turnout hit a record low of
20-30 percent at the ballot, which, like elsewhere in the
EU, turned into a protest vote against the ruling party.
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