According to the newspaper, the death of the 88-year-old head of the Catholic Church will likely affect the pace of the election race.
With the Pope’s funeral scheduled for Saturday, April 26, campaign activities ahead of the first round of voting - set for just over two weeks later - are expected to be scaled back or adjusted.
Preliminary statements from campaign staff suggest a pause in major political events in the coming days, with some planned events likely to be rescheduled out of respect for the period of mourning.
“In practice, this means full-scale campaigning may not resume until after the May holiday weekend,” Rzeczpospolita notes.
Poland observes two consecutive national holidays at the beginning of May (May 1, International Workers’ Day, and May 3, Constitution Day, commemorating the adoption of Europe’s first modern constitution in 1791). The long weekend typically sees a lull in political activity.
As a result, candidates will have just two weeks of active campaigning before the first round of voting on Sunday, May 18. If no candidate secures more than 50% of the vote, a second round is scheduled for June 1.
(m p)
Source: Rzeczpospolita/X/@rzeczpospolita