WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Voters across Poland cast their ballots Sunday in local elections in the first electoral test for Prime Minister Donald Tusk's coalition government in nearly four months.
Voters will elect mayors, city councils and members of state parliaments, an important exercise in self-government and one of the great democratic changes Poland made when it emerged from communism 35 years ago. This is one of the achievements.
In total, there are nearly 190,000 registered candidates running for local government positions in the Central European country of 38 million people.
If a mayoral candidate does not receive at least 50% of the vote in Sunday's first round, a runoff election will be held two weeks later on April 21st.
Opinion polls released in the days leading up to the vote showed two major rivals: Citizens United, an electoral coalition led by Tusk's centrist, pro-European Union Civic Platform party, and the National Party's Law and Justice party. It shows that political organizations are in a close race. A conservative party that ruled the country from 2015 to last year.
Several other groups are following the lead of the two main groups, including the Third Way Coalition, the Left, and the Radical Right coalition parties.
Mr. Tusk's coalition, which includes the Third Way and the Left, won together in October's national elections. The result, amid record turnout, ended eight years of turbulent rule by Law and Justice, whose changes to the judiciary and public media were condemned by the European Union as violating democratic standards. It was brought to an end.
Tusk has won a promise to undo many of these changes and is trying to implement that program, but it won't be easy. His attempt to restore the independence of the judiciary will be a long process that will require the passing of new laws.
And promises to liberalize strict abortion laws have been blocked by conservatives in Mr. Tusk's own coalition.
The vote is also a test for Law and Justice, which has won many elections, dominated politics for years, and enjoyed strong support in conservative regions. But its hard-line anti-LGBTQ+ policies and restrictions on abortion rights were rejected by many young and female voters who came to the polls in the fall.
Local governments have played a key role in two major crises in recent years, rolling out vaccinations against COVID-19 and assisting the huge number of Ukrainian refugees who arrived in the country after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Ta.
Candidates include Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, who is seeking a second term for the Task Alliance. Although he is expected to win outright, it is unclear whether he will win outright on Sunday or whether he will have to face a runoff election in two weeks.
The term of office for local government officials was extended from four years to five years by Law and Justice, and elections were also postponed for six months due to concerns that holding local elections together with parliamentary elections would have a negative impact on local elections. It is the longest since 1989. chance.
