The lower house, the Sejm, on Wednesday gave the final approval to the proposal, rejecting opposition from the Senate, the upper house, in a 234-209 vote, with 10 abstentions, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Poland’s ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party has proposed putting four referendum questions to voters:
1) “Do you support the sale of state assets to foreign buyers, causing the Polish people to lose control over strategic sectors of the economy?”
2) “Are you in favour of raising the retirement age, including the reintroduction of a higher retirement age of 67 years for men and women?”
3) “Are you in favour of dismantling the wall on Poland’s border with Belarus?”
4) “Are you in favour of admitting thousands of illegal migrants from the Middle East and Africa under the mandatory relocation mechanism imposed by the European bureaucracy?”
Polish MPs are due to debate the questions on Thursday, the PAP news agency reported.
'The people have the right to decide': PM
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told MPs on Wednesday: “In matters of national importance, a nationwide referendum is held. The constitution not only allows it, but encourages it.”
Addressing opposition lawmakers, the prime minister added: “In our country, it’s the people ... who have the right to decide the direction of migration policy, economic policy and any other policy.”
Morawiecki said that “giving the people a say in a referendum is what democracy is all about" and parties opposing the vote, such as the centrist Civic Platform (PO), “can in fact be called anti-democratic.”
Earlier in the day, PO leader Donald Tusk, a former prime minister, denounced the planned referendum as “invalid,” accusing the governing conservatives of seeking to “carry out an election campaign funded by state money.”
Morawiecki, meanwhile, argued that "October 15 will be the biggest celebration of democracy in more than 30 years.”
Krzysztof Paszyk, an MP with the agrarian Polish People’s Party (PSL), said the referendum should focus “not on the past,” but on "current issues, such as the import of grain from Ukraine or abortion," public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.
Paulina Henning-Kloska from the opposition centre-right Poland 2050 grouping said the referendum would be used by the ruling party to advertise its policies ahead of the parliamentary election.
Meanwhile, Poland’s State Electoral Committee (PKW) said on Wednesday that combining parliamentary elections with a national referendum was "in line with Polish law," the IAR news agency reported.
Voting in the referendum is not compulsory and the voter’s decision whether to vote is kept confidential, the PKW added.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP
Click on the audio player above for a report by Radio Poland's Michał Owczarek.