Will there be a fully-fledged public debate in Poland before the elections?
Tensions in Polish political life are such that even organising a fair and balanced debate is a minefield. Will such a debate take place before the 15 October elections?
2015 general election debate in Poland. PAP/Jacek Turczyk
Although Polish electoral law requires public television to organise a debate before national elections, public debates have become a political minefield.
Polish Public Television (TVP) has announced a debate on Monday 9 October. However, the time of the debate has changed from 21.00 to 18.30 – a move perceived as an attempt to reduce the impact of the debate. The ruling Law and Justice party is ahead in the polls so a poor debate performance at this time could be damaging.
The location of the debate – on the outskirts of Warsaw rather than in the main studios of the station in central Warsaw – has also been commented on as a „damage limitation” exercise. Opposition parties dominate in Warsaw, so they would be likely to have a favourable audience and pro-opposition demonstrations might take place. It has been reported that candidates will not be allowed to interrupt or retort, potentially reducing the „debate” to a series of short speeches.
Private media have also organised „debates” such as this debate, organised by Onet and Newsweek. However, no representative of the government attended the debate and one of the moderators made her political sympathies clear in her introductory remarks – citing mainly weak points of the ruling party.
TVP’s „debate” will also be moderated by a politically active journalist, Michał Rachoń who heckled at a Civic Platform press conference and has been called the „face of government propaganda”.
The importance of debates in Polish elections has been well known at least since the now legendary debate in 1995 between the incumbent Lech Wałęsa and Aleksander Kwaśniewski from the post-communist SLD party. Kwaśniewski’s superior performance paved the way for his election victory.
Donald Tusk, the leader of PO (Civic Platform) has surprised the ruling party by agreeing to participate in Monday’s debate and has goaded Jarosław Kaczyński, „inviting” the Law and Justice head to participate too. However, since Polish political culture does not require parties to declare who would be the Prime Minister in the event of electoral victory, it is not a given that Tusk would most naturally debate Kaczyński. The Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, has declared his participation in the debate.
Besides Mateusz Morawiecki and Donald Tusk, Szymon Hołownia, the leader of Poland 2050, Krzysztof Bosak from Konfederacja and Krzysztof Mai from the „Non-Partisan Local Government” party have declared their participation.
Robert Biedroń from the Left has confirmed that the Left will be represented, but the party has not decided by whom.
Sources: tvp.pl, onet.pl, gazetaprawna.pl, wyborcza.pl, youtube.com/OnetNews
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