Jarosław Kaczyński made the remark at a meeting with voters in the eastern city of Chełm on Sunday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The leader of Poland’s ruling conservatives Law and Justice (PiS) said: “The next parliamentary elections are approaching. We must realise what is at stake. It’s often said that the next elections are the most important since 1989… This time it’s really justified, because the situation has changed a lot, in many respects, compared with four or eight years ago.”
Kaczyński, who is Poland’s deputy prime minister, stressed: “The issue of what happens next is extremely important today and may decide the fate of our country, the fate of our society, the fate of the Polish people, for a long time to come.”
The Law and Justice leader said: “First, it’s the issue of our security. If there’s no security, if the situation is like in Ukraine, then all the other matters become irrelevant.”
He added: “Second, the issue of the Polish economy, and the related issue of fair distribution. Third, the issue of our sovereignty.”
Kaczyński said that Law and Justice and the United Right camp “are able to ensure national security,” also amid the threat from Russia, whose seriousness he said had been downplayed by opposition parties.
He stressed that national security “is absolutely necessary if we want… Poland to grow stronger and us to prosper.”
The deputy prime minister also said the government would seek to ensure that Poland remained sovereign and that too much power would not be concentrated in the European Union’s executive Commission.
On social and economic issues, Kaczyński stated: “The government’s economic policies have worked and Poland is a much more just country than eight years ago,” the PAP news agency reported.
Poland’s governing conservatives in March launched an effort to win a third consecutive term in power, starting a nationwide tour to rally voters ahead of the elections and promising a raft of new policies “to make Poland stronger and secure.”
The ruling conservatives in 2019 won a convincing victory over opposition parties at the ballot box, securing a second term in power.
They maintained a majority in the 460-seat lower house, but narrowly lost control of the 100-seat upper house, the Senate.
The next general election is scheduled for this autumn. The exact date will be set by President Andrzej Duda, with October 15 the earliest constitutionally possible date, according to news outlets.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.
Monday is day 528 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
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Source: PAP, rmf24.pl