Kaczyński plans “army” to “protect elections” and “new rules for counting votes”

The leader of Poland’s ruling party, Jarosław Kaczyński, has announced plans to create a new “army” that will “protect elections” as well as to introduce new rules for counting votes. He claims that the opposition may otherwise seek to disrupt and dispute next year’s elections.

“We have to create an election protection corps because the other side has already announced that it will want to make a big scene during the elections, that if there are unfavourable results it will not recognise them,” Kaczyński told a meeting of supporters in Pruszków. “We must have such an army and I am asking you to get involved.”

Moreover, “new rules for counting votes are needed so that it is very difficult to change something” and “we will introduce these in a law”, announced Kaczyński, who holds no government position but as head of the ruling national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party is Poland’s de facto leader.

“We need our representatives in every district [electoral] committee, who will be there from early one morning until early the next morning, to post up [results], to watch the whole time and have the determination to defy,” said the PiS chairman.

Kaczyński previously outlined the idea at another meeting earlier this month, when he called for “an army of tens of thousands of people” to “guard the elections in every constituency”.

Poland already has a statutory system of election overseers and observers. However, following Kaczyński’s remarks earlier this month, a leading figure from his ruling coalition, Adam Bielan, told Wirtualna Polska that “no party in Poland makes full use of this and we want to change that”.

While opposition parties in Poland have regularly raised concern at the erosion of democracy under PiS, including with regard to the electoral process, it is unclear what Kaczyński was referring to when he talked of opposition announcements to “make a big scene” and “not recognise unfavourable results”.

Kaczyński’s current tour of Poland to speak with PiS supporters has seen some of his events met by aggressive anti-government protesters. During yesterday’s meeting in Pruszków, Kaczyński continued his party’s recent criticism of the European Union and Germany.

“We see in the EU that they want to create a single state under the leadership of Germany,” warned Kaczyński. “For Poland, this means that, when this plan is implemented, we will cease to be a sovereign state.”

Kaczyński also announced that the government would ensure that “electricity for each family, each household, [remains] at a fixed price, the current price” and that managers at state-owned companies would not receive bonuses this year.

Parliamentary elections are scheduled to take place in autumn next year, at which PiS will be bidding for an unprecedented third term in power. Opinion polls suggest that, while PiS remains the most popular party (with around 36% support) it may not be able to obtain a ruling majority.

Main image credit: Jacek Marczewski / Agencja Wyborcza.pl

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.