Poland Parliamentary elections 2015

Do you run a business.

Under PIS (2 years) 3 audits. Nothing to pay.

Under PO - (8 years) 1 audit. Nothing to pay.

I would have thought even you could understand these facts.


But you shouldn't. You don't live here. You don't pay taxes here apparently. So you have no rights.

PS Wielki: You obviously don't know the process of an audit. For me, it's an aggravation I can well do without. Once every 2/3 years I can accept as normal, but PIS are not normal, and anybody earning more than their "quota" is deemed suspicious. It's back to the bad old days, as every Pole who works for himself will tell you.

I do pay vat when I do shopping here and my family lives here so they pay other taxes.

You didn't answer my question, do you like my vote I dedicated to you? It's not for for PiS that you hate so much it's for Kukiz so I hope you like it.

A wasted vote. Kukiz is a clown and in the UK he would have lost his deposit, as you well know.

Poles love to play with democracy and you seem to think it is a joke. You are basically all out for yourselves, and couldn't give a **** for your country.

Disgusting.

I personally pulled all my convertible cash assets out of Poland simply on the prospect of a PIS coalition. The fact they have an outright majority will spook investors and tomorrow i'd imagine the markets will take a bit of a kicking.

There are a whole range of different issues, not just whether people who have businesses and earn more money can avoid audits. You might have voted against PiS for that reason, but many voted for PiS for other reasons.

Your operation may have become suspect for some reason. Possibly someone -- a disgruntled customer or teacher -- reported yout to the fiscal police.

Very wise. The rest of us, with bricks and mortar, will ride it out.


Nah! In the business community I was nothing unusual. Why do you think the community hates PIS? Of course they are so stupid as to forget the damage PIS did last time, but I'm not. Which is why I don't run a business any more, but work for other nominated people.


So 3 auditsn n 2 years is reasonable?

Cheers Doug, I missed the boat a bit and didn't do it quick enough (late last week) by which time the Zloty had depreciated, but I pulled it out on the basis that PIS would be 10% ahead of PO but wouldn't form a majority. Now I see the exit poll I am glad I did. Tomorrow the markets will be a bit spooked I am sure.

Well, the markets will have their fun. I have oft made more than I earn in a week by playing the currency markets - not that that is a large sum in the scheme of things:) But as I was taught, "Every mickel makes a muckle." :)

PS; i was shocked the other day, being out of the loop, when I had to buy sterling at 5.90. So PIS is good news after all :)

That was my first thought when I heard the results.

Instead of feeling concern for your country and its' people you mean? The future for its' children. Investment? I could go on, but socialism in a poor country promises the old adage of a money tree, right?

Are you going to contribute more to your mother country? No? I thought not.

Look on the bright side, a degraded socialist economy will be cheaper to invest in.
Which explains why the Americans like the idea.

Just read that 66% of the youth have voted PiS, Kukiz and Korwin. It's a lot! ;). I believe that PO and the other losers should carefully analyze why they lost in order to move ahead instead of criticizing the winners.

As I said, I heard that the migrant issue has been a strong factor against PO and I think that the misuse of some 100 million ZL for their stupid referendum was probably also held against PO. Re migrants, let's be serious! For months, EW did not even want 1,900 as per EU's quotas and suddenly after a meeting with Merkel, she has accepted to take in ... 10,000 refugees. What is the logic to change one's mind so quickly? I assume EW got a nice check from Merkel/EU.

Well, no change in my life! The only positive things that I consider is 1. EW out - I really can't stand that cold woman with no empathy to common folks and 2. the Polish government shall give Merkel a hard time, it's about time that the woman gets straightened up.

What a great day for Poland! What a great day to the world!

In just one night, two nations of the G20 (Poland and Argentina) said a big NO to the left wing!

Also the currency devaluation that will happen from now on will be pretty good for the country exportation. So even that apparently bad effect of PiS elections will be better at the long term.


I Think the same. It is time to someone say NO to Merkel's bad actitude over other sovereign nations, saying how many "refugees" they should accept or not.

And for sure PiS will not be weak as PO when defending the sovereignty of Poland.

(By the way, sometimes i think that InPolska is actually two guys, one writes reasonable things like the post above, and the other is another left-wing socialist).

@Levi: No, I am "ONE guy". Yes, I am left wing and always will be as I'm in favor of the "little guy" and not in favor of "bloodsuckers" like Pol3 calls them. I don't like PiS and I don't like PO but since I am a democrat, I must respect Polish voters' choice and I do. I also believe that it is not expats' jobs to "teach locals how to vote" ;). If PiS won, it's because PO has become such a turn off to most Poles and that's it.

No difference in my life as of today on!
(PS: I have experienced several Polish governments including SLD and PiS and they did not affect my life one way or the other).

What counts is what Polish voters think.

The show must go on!

A very good assessment of it here:

politico.eu/article/5-takeways-polish-election-2015-law-justice-civic-voters-kaczynski-tusk-eu-pis-szydlo

@Jon: Thanks! I'll read article

@Levi: if you knew ANYthing re Poland and its politics, you would know that PiS has a left wing economic program and is much more "leftish" than for instance Western European socalled 'socialist" parties but since you don't know... ;). PiS is said to be "right wing" because ot heir stands in societal matters (anti abortion, anti divorce, anti homosexuals, anti everybody and everything).

Yes, a very fair assessment.

"Poland grew 23.8 percent between 2008-2014, and was the only economy in the EU to avoid recession in 2008, which the country last saw in 1992. Civic Platform did a terrible job in selling this economic record and PiS a great one in tapping into persistent discontent."

PO got flabby and complacent, and their campaign was defeatist. Where I live there were hardly any PO roadside posters. It was as if they'd given up. Anyway, that's democracy.

If people think that there's going to be a New Jerusalem in Poland any time soon, they are in for disappointment. Voters may have rejected PO, but very few have any wish for a theocracy. Poland is respected internationally, and not because of PiS. Let's see what the coming years bring, but I expect Kaczynski and his puppet to make the usual hash of it.

"Poland grew 23.8 percent between 2008-2014, and was the only economy in the EU to avoid recession in 2008"

Despite PO and not due to them...

What does that involve? Buying cheaply selling dearly?

Polish growth 1. resulted from EU money and foreign investments and 2. did benefit a few Poles only (most Poles have to survive on peanuts or move abroad).

Is that a bad thing?


I'd say more than a few, and everyone benefits from stability. I've lived in two countries during runaway inflation and economic collapse, and it always hits the poorest hardest. I've never been a PO fan, but I feel bound to give credit where credit is due.

@Roger: of course, no, it's not bad things but what I'm saying, is that it would have happened under any government ;). No, most Poles did not benefit from "Polish growth". Even in Warsaw (I travel all around town every day for work) we can see a lot of poverty. I won't even talk about Polska B, which seems almost untouched in the last 20 years. Sorry, with most people making some 2,000/month (I know that teachers in Warsaw make 2,300 brutto), I won't say that most Poles live comfortably. I own my flat, I'm alone and I need minimum 4,500/5,000 every month to live without worry (I must admit that I spend a lot of time in shopping centers ;)) and I am certainly not rich so when I hear about families living on some 2,000/month, I can only call that poverty because it is and I cannot understand how people "live"...

If people have voted against PO, it is obviously because they are not happy with their situation. No big deal to understand! ;)

I live in Podlasie, and I can tell you that the changes in the last twenty years have been enormous.

@Roger: of course, in some areas, changes are spectacular (once more thanks to EU) but obviously not enough for most Poles. I saw a report on Saturday on Euronews with Poles from Polska B saying that they did not think normal to have to go abroad for bread (I agree) but they had no choice because no job, of if job, it was paid peanuts. Poland is the EU country with the biggest % in precarity. Do you and could you live and raise a family on some 2,000? No, you don't and you couldn't so why should you expect Poles to make it? Are they smarter? Are they magicians?

Also, since I had cancer, I have to buy a lot of medicines all the time and I have realized that over the past few years, NFZ has stopped reimbursing most medicines. I CAN pay but what about Poles who cannot buy their medicines, what are they supposed to do?

As an expat, you are in a comfortable situation (like all of us do otherwise, we would not be here ;)) but don't pretend "all is great for everybody", because for most people it is not and that's the reason why of yesterday's results...

I don't know why we are discussing changes, isn't it normal for just about every democracy to switch over every so many years?

USA: Dem-Rep
Canada: Con-Lib
Should I go on?

What matters is, I sincerely hope that the newly elected representatives succeed in moving the country forward.

At the risk of splitting hairs I'd say I'm not an ex-pat, but I take your point. I live quite comfortably but that's down to me usually working seven days a week. I know that a lot of Poles are having a hard time, and no-one should have to leave their country to go cleaning abroad. I have a friend with two degrees who works a night shift in a UK factory. Anyway, I have to go to work, so take care, and I hope you are well now.

@Polsyr: Of course, it is NORMAL to change every few years but over the recent past, no need to deny that PO has become a turn off for most Poles otherwise it would have been style 52-48, 51-49..... Most of the people I deal with are "PO style" and a lot of them have stopped voting for PO (or stopped voting) as they have become disgusted.

Of course, I wish the new government to succeed as it is most Polish voters' choice.

Well the markets seem untroubled by the PIS majority this morning, I guess the fact a majority was achieved has calmed some investors.

Since PiS have clear majority in Sejm (first time in Poland), some stability is to be expected. If PiS had to form a coalition with let's say... Kukiz, it would be a different matter.