Local elections - anyone care to comment?

What do the results tell us? The screen suggests PiS are ahead. Is that correct?

Yes:

1. PIS - 31,5%
2. PO - 27,3%
3. PSL - 17%
4. Nowa Prawica - 4,2%

Attendance - 46,4%

Is that 'the share of the vote' overall across the country? Because, of course, in many cities including here, PO have swept to victory by a massive percentage. The turnout of 46.4% is surely quite low too, isn't it?

I would say for local elections it's pretty average, for major elections you would expect a bigger turn out but this isn't such a big deal in most peoples minds (even though, in the small scheme, local elections actually affect your life more than national ones).

Yes, I quite agree, indeed! Thank you Cardno, & thank you Looker.

The President of Warsaw (from Platforma) has apparently got a second term of office

Would you care to comment on that? Is that something you would have expected or do you feel it was time to give someone else a chance?

The city's improved during her term of office but she's far from perfect.

At least it isn't PiS.

Thanks Jon, it'll probably never be PiS there or here if I understand things correctly about this country (but of course I might be totally wrong as a foreigner with only a slight grasp of things here, if that!). My guess is that the less privileged or less prosperous areas have the greatest number of PiS votes in them. Wrocław seems to be pretty prosperous judging by the new cars on the road here (on tick or not I don't know) and the mega busy malls.

According to surveys, they're smaller towns, less well educated, less affluent, older demographic with some exceptions - they have something of a power base round Krakow.

interesting!

Tradition - a bit like the UK with the LibDems in Cornwall or some cities not voting for the party you'd expect.

Here is how professor Jadwiga Staniszkis (my favorite political analyst) comments the results of the local elections:

- This is because people are tired of PO and also because of the hopeless campaign led by the new prime minister Ewa Kopacz under the "Closer to People" (Bliżej Ludzi") banner. And people do remember the ever worsening health services and higher prices of pharmaceuticals.

- The increase of PO's results in opinion polls just after the departure of Donald Tusk for Brussels must have been misleading for them - said Jadwiga Staniszkis. - Such an increase also resulted from the joy that Tusk was not here any more - added the sociologist who for long has been known as a PiS, be it critical, supporter.

wiadomosci.onet.pl/kraj/wybory-samorzadowe-jadwiga-staniszkis-komentuje-slaby-wynik-po/0ppnt

PiS chairman Jarosław Kaczyński said that if it were not for the so-called "Madrid affair", the election result of PiS would have been even better.

Anyway, I am surprised that the result is so good even with their Madrid scandal. But I am glad that Adam Hoffman would no longer be preaching his tirades on TVN about how bad his political opponents are, suggesting that he himself together with his PiS colleagues are angels who fly over Poland keeping a watchful eye on the PO politicians and their sins.

Some rather petty, dismissive comments of the election results from the usual suspects. But then again those on the Left have never been fans of true democratic values and practices.

Rare that a party in office does well in local elections after so long.


Some of Macierewicz's antics could also be off-putting.


Too much negative campaigning and 'obozy'. A bit of unity and positivity would be good from any party.

I don't think these local elections reflect the national mood. Actually they never do, because local issues dominate. Look at the number of big cities where the independent city presidents renewed their mandate. Also 17% for PSL....that does not reflect their votes in national elections.

Myself I voted here in Warsaw Bielany for a local party which focuses on local problems. For all other positions I voted Green, because I do think PO and HGW could do a much better job - look how they handle the reprivatisation (not to speak of the controversy her husband finds himself in regarding this matter), but also didn't want to vote for these PIS morons, so I decided just to be cross.


warszawa.gazeta

If you see the results in Warsaw, it is clear that in quite a few districts local committees are getting a lot of votes, which I think is really great. They know the local issues and problems.

Now PO just need to kick out their own , far worse version of Hoffman, Niesiołowski, and things can even out.

Have you folks been hearing about the mess with PKW in the news? Apparently there are still some votes to be counted, and this is causing suspicions of foul play.

Care to inform us if you voted and if not...for which reason?

About PKW, this is a question of plain incompetence, nothing more. They were so stupid to install a new computer program six months before the elections. That's asking for guaranteed trouble.

And according to today's newspapers they were hacked as well...


This is good news, as is PSL doing well.

Well there you go, so the suspicions were correct.

Quite. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that they'd never even run a simulation.

There look to be some interesting run-offs coming up too - it will be interesting how that pans out.

Votes still being counted in some areas. It's funny that PiS get so much criticism for wanting these elections to be re-done, even though they won them. PiS see injustice and want it rectified even if that injustice may have benefited them. You think PO or some other party would do the same?

PKW, who ran the election IT system, should be blushing.

Rerun called for by PiS party despite their good performance (so perhaps they think they may do even better if Poles went to the polls again?)

Of course they very well know that the constitution does not allow this.

Since when has the constitution stopped them calling for things? During their brief time in office they even wanted to scrap it and replace it with one of their own...

The constitution prevents a rerun when something like a technical failure occurs? Are you sure about that? Sounds unlikely. Common sense would surely say that technical failure prompts something to be done again.

8800 people voted for PSL, this traditionally farmers' party in Gdynia, a town of two hunderd fifty thousand inhabitants. Four years ago, they only got 800 votes in the local election. Even the PSL itself has been unable to explain this 1100% increse of votes.

8,800 of votes in a town of 250,000 is not that strange, but a 1100% increase over 4 years with no particular reason for that may sound a bit suspicious.

And surely anything that sounds like a glitch or software bug or other technical failure can legally prompt a recount or rerun. So, for all parties to be sure of their mandate, perhaps a rerun or recount is the best thing? Of course, the expense is considerable, but one can't (or shouldn't) put a price on democracy.

Technical failure resulted with counting votes late and announcing results later then usual. People voted already and their votes could be counted - even manually. No need for new election. Any complains as for the results/procedure etc can be dealt by court locally as it was done in previous elections.

This would be normal in most places - in PL, people love a procedural scandal.


Exactly, however PiS are so vexatious they'll try anything...