Opposition leader Donald Tusk has announced that he will take part in a debate being organised next week by state broadcaster TVP days before parliamentary elections. There had been speculation as to whether Tusk would attend given that the station is under government influence and regularly attacks the opposition.
As well as deciding to participate, Tusk has also challenged his rival, ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party chairman Jarosław Kaczyński, to join him in the debate. However, Kaczyński says he has other campaign commitments that day and will not debate Tusk.
Since the national-conservative PiS came to power in 2015, it has transformed TVP into a party mouthpiece. The station’s programming, including news broadcasts, is used to praise the government and criticise its opponents, especially Tusk.
Since @donaldtusk's return as opposition leader, Polish state TV – a government mouthpiece – has broadcast negative coverage of him almost every day, a study has found.
Headlines included: "Tusk's campaign of lies" and "Tusk’s return pleases the Germans" https://t.co/4DhObmSwVQ
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) August 10, 2021
Until recently, Tusk’s centrist Civic Platform (PO) party had been refusing invitations to appear on the channel. However, last month they announced that they would end that boycott in order to reach a wider audience of voters ahead of the 15 October parliamentary elections.
At a campaign event in the city of Rzeszów yesterday, Tusk was asked by a member of the audience if he would attend the debate being organised by TVP on Monday next week. In response, Tusk confirmed that he would. He also called out Kaczyński, who has so far rejected his rival’s calls for the two to debate.
“Maybe you have the courage to debate me at least on your television station under the wing of your functionaries,” said Tusk, referring to the fact that TVP presenters favour PiS. He added that he “expects various tricks, maybe aggression” to be used against him by TVP during the debate.
Do zobaczenia na debacie, Jarku. Tylko nas nie zawiedź.
— Donald Tusk (@donaldtusk) October 5, 2023
Shortly after Tusk’s declaration, Kaczyński responded during a campaign event he was addressing in the town of Kazimierza Wielka.
“I have just been asked whether I will take part in a debate with, among others, Tusk,” said the PiS leader, quoted by news service Wirtualna Polska. “I already have an announced meeting in Przysucha [that day].” Przysucha is a town of 6,000 people in central Poland.
“What to choose? A conversation with a liar, a person who is completely dependent on others, you know who. Well maybe if it was [a debate with Manfred] Weber. But him [Tusk]? I’ll choose Przysucha,” said Kaczyński.
Manfred Weber is the chairman of the European People’s Party to which Tusk’s PO belongs and PiS has often argued that him – and the country of Germany from which he hails – are the true power behind the opposition. PiS has in the past said it wants to debate with Weber rather than Tusk.
The Polish prime minister has challenged the leader of the European People’s Party to a debate, accusing him of an attempt to interfere with the elections in Poland.
The call came after Weber repeatedly criticised the ruling Law and Justice partyhttps://t.co/mfoTwQbuVY
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) August 8, 2023
PiS has not yet announced who it will send as its representative to the debate, but party sources told Wirtualna Polska that Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki was the likely choice. However, Onet, another leading news website, said that parliamentary speaker Elżbieta Witek is another candidate.
During the campaign so far, PiS has been avoiding joining televised debates. It skipped one held by TVN, Poland’s largest private broadcaster, because it said that the station is biased in favour of the opposition.
The debate on TVP will be co-chaired by Michał Rachoń, one of the station’s biggest stars who has in recent weeks been presenting a documentary series that has suggested Tusk was too soft towards Russia and subservient to Germany during his time as prime minister from 2007 to 2014.
Last month Rachoń interrupted a press conference Tusk was holding outside TVP’s officers in an effort to try to ask him to answer to claims presented on the programme.
Tak Tusk groził Rachoniowi#wieszwięcej pic.twitter.com/8Tle7DK9tY
— tvp.info 🇵🇱 (@tvp_info) September 19, 2023
TVP’s debate was originally scheduled for a prime-time slot of 9 p.m. However, the station subsequently moved it to 6:30 p.m. Some commentators have suggested that this is intended to ensure that the station’s main evening news broadcast can immediately follow the debate and be used to criticise Tusk.
Other than Tusk – who will represent the Civic Coalition (KO) grouping that is dominated by his PO party – the only other electoral committee to confirm who they will send is the far-right Confederation (Konfederacja). It will be represented by Krzysztof Bosak, one of its two main leaders.
According to averages of polls compiled by the eWybory website, PiS is leading with support of around 35% followed by KO on around 29%. Such a result in the election would be unlikely to give PiS a continued parliamentary majority, however.
KO’s potential coalition partners, the centre-right Third Way (Trzecia Droga) and The Left (Lewica), are both on around 9-10%. Confederation, meanwhile, has similar ratings, and may end up deciding who governs if neither PiS nor the mainstream opposition can muster a majority.
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Main image credit: Slawomir Kaminski / Agencja Wyborcza.pl
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.
