Well libertarianism seemed to die pretty quickly there...
Hahaha!
From the point of view of a person that has lived in Russia and in America - the "wild" differences between PiS and PO are truly staggering.
1) Both PiS and PO are resolutely pro-EU. There are no serious personalities discussing a Polexit, or Orban style confrontation with Brussels.
2) Both PiS and PO are among the most pro-NATO parties on the continent. Nobody is questioning Article V, but instead everyone competes with the other based on how good their relations are with Donald Trump. A shift between these two parties represents a total foreign policy nothing burger, as they are both super Atlanticist.
3) Heavy taxation and social spending are bipartisan. Despite being a supposedly "conservative" party, PiS historically spends like a drunken sailor. PO at the same time does not even bother to challenge them, and treats things like 500 and pension expansion as an electoral reality.
4) Cultural policy is more differentiated by posture and tone, rather than actual substance. Yes, PiS has taken a harder line on abortion, judicial reforms, media policy, and LGBT stuff. At the same time - neither party proposes legal abortion on demand like in Western Europe. Both parties are culturally Catholic and neither challenges the role of the Church in society. PO may frame itself as "tolerant" or "liberal," but it clearly rules out radical secularization.
5) As everybody here understands, the real story here is a decades long competition between two very flawed men. At its core, it's not about policies but personalities. Kaczynski versus Tusk. Old resentments over Smolensk, state media, the judiciary, and institutional control.
As I told Kania - nothing will change. This is intra-elite factional war. It's not a class war or ideological struggle. It's about who administers the Brussels money, and not whether to take it or not.
Poland is not turning into Hungary, and neither is it turning into Sweden. Relax Poles!
Contrast this with Russian or American elections, where you can get a guy that decides to pull out of NATO and tariff all of America's friends, or a dude that decides it's a good idea to invade Ukraine. And even in these countries... elections don't really change much!
What worries me, as I said before, is the very American 50/50 split and how people are discussing the election.