Although the number of infections and deaths is much lower in Poland than in many western European countries, the pandemic has caused unprecedented confusion over whether to hold presidential elections this month.
According to Polish law, the first round of the election is scheduled to take place on Sunday, with Poles going to voting stations despite the coronavirus restrictions. Postal voting would be available to the over-60s.
The governing Law and Justice party has proposed holding a postal-only presidential election as a safe and legal way to hold the ballot this month. With only four days left, the lower house of parliament, the Sejm, is due to vote on the proposal later on Wednesday or on Thursday.
If parliament rejects the postal-only election then, by law, Poland is heading for a traditional election on Sunday. But that is not likely to happen. The state electoral commission has said the election cannot be properly organised in time.
So there is likely to be some form of postponement. The postal-only proposal, if passed, allows for the election to be held on May 17 or May 23.
Other potential solutions would postpone the election to a later date. One long pushed by the opposition is for the government to impose a state of natural disaster, which automatically bars any elections, and would put off the ballot until August at the earliest.
One of the reasons Law and Justice wants to hold the election in May, despite the pandemic, is because it calculates that its ally President Andrzej Duda, could win in the first round. If the election is postponed for months, President Duda’s chances could be diminished by rising unemployment and an overall gloomy economic scenario.
