Senior conservative politician Elżbieta Witek visited the southern city of Częstochowa as part of her campaign trail on Tuesday, state news agency PAP reported.
Witek, the country’s top lawmaker, told the media that her governing conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party had to contend with “unprecedented challenges,” such as the COVID-19 pandemic, hybrid warfare on Poland’s border with Belarus and Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The lawmaker, who is the Speaker of the lower house of Poland's parliament, stated: “We want a Poland that is strong, sovereign and independent, a Poland that makes its own decisions and determines its future.”
Witek praised government policies in areas such as the retirement age, cash boosts for senior citizens and child benefits.
She urged Poles to vote in the elections, adding: “It’s only up to us to decide what the future will look like.”
Meanwhile, Donald Tusk, the leader of Poland’s main opposition grouping, the centrist Civic Coalition (KO), on Tuesday said that a new government formed after the elections would have to “make up for eight years of neglect, oppression, contempt and arrogance shown by the current authorities towards women," the PAP news agency reported.
Tusk, a former prime minister and European Council president, told a rally in the central city of Łódź that “in 21st-century Poland, women’s fundamental, basic rights and freedoms still need to be won.”
Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk, an MP with the New Left group, told young voters in the southwestern city of Wrocław that left-wing politicians wanted to “build a Poland for young people, their dreams and their future,” the PAP news agency reported.
She reiterated the main pledges of the New Left’s electoral manifesto, including a promise to build affordable housing, ensure cheap dorm accommodation and scholarships for students, better access to healthcare and making abortion legal, among other policy proposals.
Meanwhile, the Third Way alliance on Tuesday called for an urgent reform of Poland’s mental health services, regional broadcaster Radio Gdańsk reported.
The alliance’s Agnieszka Buczyńska and Agnieszka Baranowska told a news conference in the northern city of Gdańsk that Poles needed better access to mental health professionals.
The Third Way vowed to allocate PLN 1 billion (EUR 220 million) for children’s mental health services, among other proposals, including psychological support in every school, a 24-hour emergency helpline and better access to psychiatric care, according to broadcaster Radio Gdańsk.
Sławomir Mentzen, one of the leaders of the far-right Confederation grouping, focused his latest campaign appearance on an upcoming nationwide referendum on issues including illegal migration, the PAP news agency reported.
In an interview with private TV broadcaster Polsat News, Mentzen called the October 1 referendum “insignificant” and a “farce,” which "does not ask us about things that really matter.”
Mentzen told Polsat News that the EU’s executive Commission was seeking to renegotiate the bloc’s treaties, “depriving Poland of veto rights and transferring Poland’s powers when it comes to migration, taxes and foreign policy” to the EU, the PAP news agency reported.
Krzysztof Maj, one of the leaders of the Non-Partisan Local Government Activists grouping, has said that his group wants to win seats in parliament as people “need a normal Poland” and “a breath of fresh air” in national politics, the wnp.pl website reported.
Speaking in Monday’s televised debate with politicians from other parties, Maj said voters faced a choice between “those who already have seats in the Sejm [lower house of parliament] and only fight among themselves, and people with a proven track record at the local level, local government officials, a breath of fresh air in Polish politics.”
Poland to elect new parliament on October 15
Poles will head to the ballot box to vote in parliamentary elections on Sunday. They will elect 460 MPs and 100 senators for a four-year term.
Seeking a third term in power, the governing conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party appears to be running ahead of an opposition divided into separate blocs.
Poles to vote in referendum on October 15
In August, Poland's lawmakers approved a plan to combine parliamentary elections with a nationwide referendum asking Poles whether their country should accept migrants from the Middle East and Africa, whether state companies can be sold to foreign buyers, whether the retirement age should be increased, and whether a wall on Poland's border with Belarus should be dismantled.
The ruling conservatives have encouraged people to cast their ballots in the referendum, while the opposition has asked voters to boycott it, saying the referendum questions are worded in a biased way and contain misleading information designed to boost support for the government.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, Radio Gdańsk, wnp.pl