Borys Budka, head of the Civic Platform, Poland’s largest opposition party, said he wanted the Supreme Court to scrutinise the way the election was held.
In Sunday’s ballot, opposition challenger Rafał Trzaskowski, a deputy leader of the Civic Platform, lost by a margin of some 440,000 votes to incumbent Andrzej Duda, who was backed by Poland’s ruling conservatives.
Budka claimed the election was unfair. “The act of voting itself may be conducted properly but, because of the involvement of… the so-called public media, there wasn’t a level playing field” for the two contenders, Budka said in a television interview.
Trzaskowski himself on Tuesday said: “All irregularities have to be explained.”
But he added: “Nobody today wants to question the election result. I myself recognize the outcome of the vote and have congratulated” Duda on his victory.
Meanwhile, the conservative wpolityce.pl website said the Civic Platform was not singing from the same hymn sheet on the subject of the elections.
It quoted Trzaskowski’s campaign manager, Cezary Tomczyk, as saying: “We recognize the election result… the Supreme Court has to rule on the extent of irregularities.”
Elżbieta Witek, the conservative Speaker of Poland’s lower house of parliament, said on Thursday that even though Duda won by a large margin "everyone has the right to protest.”
She added: “I do not think that any challenge will affect the election result.”
(mk/pk)
Source: PAP, wpolityce.pl