Don’t go to bed with men who vote far right, left-wing leader tells women

A left-wing leader has called on women to refuse to sleep with men who want to vote for the far right in order to “scare” them into not doing so. He says it is vital that the opposition creates a “democratic cordon sanitaire” preventing the right from winning this month’s elections.

The far-right Confederation (Konfederacja) party has surged in the polls this year, winning support in particular among young men. Given that currently neither the ruling national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party nor the mainstream opposition may win a majority, that could leave Confederation holding the balance of power.

One of those opposition parties, The Left (Lewica), is particularly popular among young women, according to polls. And Robert Biedroń, one of the group’s leaders, has offered them some advice.

“Girls, if a guy tells you he wants to vote for Confederation, don’t go to bed with him. They need to be scared,” he said in an interview with broadcaster TVN.

“Confederation and PiS must be surrounded by a democratic cordon sanitaire,” he added. “We must do everything to push Confederation below the electoral threshold [of 5%], so that Confederation does not enter parliament.”

In response, one of Confederation’s election candidates, Samuela Torkowska, tweeted: “Totally agree! Don’t go to bed with him, go to the altar!”

Confederation is currently polling around 9-10%, according to averages compiled by the eWybory website. PiS is leading with around 36%, the centrist Civic Coalition (KO) follows on 28-29%, and both the centre-right Third Way (Trzecia Droga) and The Left are on around 9% each.

Should neither PiS nor an opposition coalition of KO, The Left and Third Way win a parliamentary majority, either side may need to reach some kind of arrangement with Confederation in order to govern.

Speaking to TVN, Biedroń repeated his group’s previous declarations that they would oppose allowing the far right into any coalition government. For their part, leading Confederation figures have also expressed opposition to the idea of entering a coalition with either PiS or the mainstream opposition.

Monthly average support in polls for Poland’s main political groups (source: wybory.eu)

Yesterday, Biedroń was one of two leaders from The Left to join KO leader Donald Tusk on stage at an opposition march in Warsaw that attracted hundreds of thousands of participants.

The event was “an important moment for the entire opposition”, showing people that “we are cooperating and want to co-create a government after the elections”, Biedroń told TVN.

“I think that opposition voters were waiting for this moment, [for] a clear declaration that we are cooperating, we are walking side by side in these elections, together to win,” he added.

The leaders of the Third Way, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz and Szymon Hołownia, did not attend the march, arguing that it was better for them to focus on winning votes outside large cities. Some individual politicians from Third Way did, however, participate.

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Main image credit: Maciej Wasilewski / 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.