Poland postpones Sunday’s presidental election due to Covid-19

Poland has postponed Sunday's presidential election due to the Covid-19 pandemic, after weeks of political rows and fears of electoral chaos.

The ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party said late on Wednesday that June was the earliest possible new date for the poll. Until Wednesday PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski had insisted on Sunday's election, by universal postal vote, at which his protege Andrzej Duda was likely to secure a second five-year term.

Challengers criticised this strategy, saying PiS was putting political gain ahead of public health amid Covid-19 restrictions that made it impossible for them to campaign. As incumbent, however, Mr Duda has featured regularly in television news reports on Poland’s battle against the virus.

An election Bill, rushed through the lower house of parliament, was voted down by the upper house on Tuesday. On Thursday the government had hoped to use its parliamentary majority to push it through regardless. That plan was thrown into doubt due to the opposition of Jaroslaw Gowin, head of a small party allied with PiS in power.

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On Wednesday evening Mr Kaczynski framed the postponement of the vote – a rare political defeat – as a legal matter. Because of an “anticipated decision by the supreme court to invalidate the election”, he said, “the speaker of the parliament will announce new presidential elections on the first possible date”.

Legal tricks

Opposition politicians have accused Mr Kaczynski and Mr Gowin of using legal tricks to avoid disaster. Instead of cancelling the election, it will now simply not happen. Then the election will be ruled invalid by the courts, allowing the Sejm parliamentary speaker – a PiS member – to announce a new date.

Mr Duda’s term expires on August 6th but it is unclear if a later date will ease confusion and legal doubts over the election, particularly if the government insists on proceeding with a postal vote. It previously abolished voting by post, then reinstated it and rushed to create a new electoral register for the postal vote.

That sparked a data protection row and an incomplete data set that excluded many voters, including non-residents. As election day loomed, with continued chaos over whether all registered voters had received their ballot papers by post, special voting boxes were erected outside traditional polling stations to allow the election proceed.

Some 15,000 Poles have to date been infected with Covid-19, according to official figures, while about 700 have died.

Last month the European Parliament passed a resolution describing the push for Sunday's vote as "totally incompatible with European values".