Presidential elections and debates 2015 Poland

They use that desperately as their meaningless main 'crutch' relentlessly as if carries some weight here.
I live here, you don't so my words trump yours even if I am not Polish and you are but weren't born here. Pfft !

That material has been worn out long ago.
When I get my Polish citizenship because of ancestry I will be proud to vote in Poland.
And guess who I would vote for in 2015.


HA, so you admit to being an Aussie citizen and not a Brit ! Finally it comes out.
See, I knew there was some good in you.


I have a dual citizenship so what about that ?

So would you then stop voting in US elections? People should vote for the person they want to be their president. If they want their president to be the President of Poland, they should vote in the Polish presidential elections; if they want their president to be the President of the USA, they should vote in the US presidential elections.


Not the words, the knowledge.


I've never denied having more than one citizenship.

Do you have more then one citizenship though ?
That's the question.

Presidential elections......

Fortunately it's a non-executive presidency so if the Dud won, he couldn't do any real damage, and if President Komorowski wins, we'll have a president from the ruling party which keeps things sweet and simple.

...if President Komorowski wins he'll continue rubber-stamping PO ploys like raising retirement age, increasing VAT, bulgralising OFE (Open Retiremetn Fund), etc., etc.
An oppositon president woudl keep the anti-Polish legislative madness in check.

With any luck he'll certainly continue to support the elected government rather than be at loggerheads.

Interesting that you call the Polish government anti-Polish.

A president who continues to support the oldboy crook & scam clique is hardly an encticing proposition. Suddenly signing things that had been shelved for months. pulling 100,000 youth jobs out of a hat, going about with a female prompter to tell him what to say to crowds -- that is hardly a head of state anyone would want around much longer. Fresh blood is needed. The PO has gone stale and is now only concerned about keeping its fatcats in power. The high-sounding rhetoric is only window dressing. They're quite good at that! But they can start packing their bags, because the autumn Sejm election will put an end to their 8-year monopoly. PiS in coalition with the Kukiz grouping may well have a constitutional majority that will keep the Tuskites and Millerites from causing any more damage. All those with things on their conscience should tremble as the Fifth RP approaches!

I don't think we'll see a 'fifth republic' or even a fourth. The last time anyone tried it there was not only no support, but also great antipathy.

Largely the fault of hte PO hate factory. That they are good at, I must admit. Like Putin calling Free Ukraine a "bunch of fascists".

So essentIally, you have a very low opinion of Polish voters and at the same time describe the Polish government as anti-Polish. Not much logic there, unless you genuinely believe you know what's best for people and they themselves don't.

Utter nonsense - I may not have a vote, but after paying tax and ZUS for 23 years, and contributing to GDP, I for one am well entitled to comment - rather more so than some Plastic Pole in Chicago who votes for PIS, but has never visited his aged grandmother in Solina.Although as Jon says, these votes shouldn't affect the result, the principle is populist as per the Polish way, and should not be allowed to stand.

No, only a low opinion of the scam & crony party -- PO. Voters are only human and can therefore err like when they vote for the oldboy-scam artist menagerie.

That doesn't make sense, as usual. I get the impression that you'd be happier without opposition parties, as it was in your glory days, and for the president not to be elected but to be appointed, perhaps by the church.

No, it was due to the way that Polish people voted, just as Polish voters will pick the next president of Poland. Or does a guest in Poland know better than Poles what is best for Poland?

It's the expats in Poland that are the know-alls and try to tell Poles how to live and what to think. The election showed that expat-style leftism,libertinism and the lot are out. But for some reason the expats are still all for the lunatic fringe of Polish society which includes the Palikots, the ex-commie SLD and Greenies. The ultra-nationalists and korwinites are also lunatic-fringe groups. The reason for that is they do not feel the TRUE SPIRIT OF POLAND. Only someone raised in that atmosphere knows what that means. Explaining it to guests and outsiders is a waste of time because they have been raised and steeped in a totally different system of likes, dislikes, values and anti-values.

:) :) Since when do expats have a say about how Poles should vote and live?

What expats did was to perhaps assist in build up the economy in Poland. You became a part of EU and experienced economic growth due to the fact that multinationals came to Poland. With that expats came and those expats told you how they would like their company to be run in Poland. If you don't like those expats to be in your country, don't expect any EU sponsoring and just go back to living like you did before 2004.

Don't like it? Tough........

Dunno how expats interact with real Poles, but if PF is any indicaiton, they seem to be constantly in the Dutch Uncle role, teaching, instructing and spreading their one-sided views. Maybe they don't do that in real life and only get their jollies off on the forum.

So why do you comment on something you know nothing about?

I don't think he meant the small percentage of expats who have companies in Poland, he was rather talking about the majorities who work as a language teachers.

If that 50% actually voted, then PiS would never win an election.

Regardless of what You might say about them, PiS voters are fanatical to the point of behaving as if it's a cult. They will always vote regardless of the weather or time of year.

i like her



Magdalena Ogorek

Poles, what are her chances?

I like her suggestive name, but sadly no chance this time.

Her chances are zero. She is a hard linr communist from thr communist party (SLD). After sixty years slaughtering merciless the polish population, it is even RIDICULOUS the Communists think that Poles with give them another chance for they put in power their dictatorship plans again.

She had less than 3% of the votes. One of the small votations ever for the left.

Differently than France or entire Latin America (my country included) were a dumb youth doesnt know what means socialism/communism and them vote for them, the Poles have their mind fresh about the horrors caused by the reds.

One of the most shocking experiences that i had in my life was when visited KGB headquarters in Vilnius. It is almost as sad as Auschwitz, and even a adult men will be with his eyes tearful when see what happened there.

If you think that SLD is a hard line communist party, you have a very limited understanding of politics.

If you think that modern progressive politics have much in common with Stalinism, then not only do you have a limited understanding of politics, but you also appear to have the reasoning skills of a child.

Not that I voted for Ogórek, but you honestly seem to have no idea what you're talking about.

Polonius3, your spiel about some mythical, ephemeral Polish spirit that no one can understand unless they've been steeped their entire lives in the stench of bigos while wearing their dresy and living in a Gierek-era concrete ******** of a building is so ridiculous as to trump any mediocre, hamfisted Polish "kabaret" in terms of humour. Keep up the good work; you're rapidly turning into my favourite comedian.

Tracksuits and Soviet-designed prefab blocks, zapiekanki (pseudo-pizza), bary mleczne (cheap commie-era eateries), Donald brand bubble gum, Pewex and budki z piwem (beer stands) are not what the SPIRIT OF POLAND. But trying to explain it to someone who regards the very concept as mythic or ephemeral is truly a waste of time.

Polonius what's wrong with zapiekanki and bary mleczna? I had zapiekanki and went to a bar mleczny a couple of times while on holiday in Krakow.

I wouldn't say zapiekanki are speudo-piza, they are more like bagles. The bary mleczne do decent food for a cheap price, it's useful to have them. Particularly when most restaurants [in Krakow at least] seem to be aimed at tourists and are very expensive.

this discussion is off-topic

Who according to you won the presidential debate?

I think supporters of Duda will say he did and supporters of Komorowski will say he did. Neutrals should answer this question. My opinion is biased.

As far debate etiquette goes though, Duda overran with his time on quite a few occasions, sometimes going well over. Later on, Komorowski had a tendency to interrupt Duda an awful lot during his time. I felt Komorowski was the more aggressive of the two and I'm not sure that will work to his advantage here. I think Duda was a bit too general so people may think he lacked substance, but f they want some change, any change, the only choice they have is to vote for him.

Although he go off ot a slow start, Komorowski came well prepared, showed growing determination as the debate progressed and led to a smashing finale, He often impolitely interrupted Duda and caused consternation when he left his debater's circle and reached over to Duda to the dismay of the two moderators (who possibly thought things would come to blows), but he only handed Duda a sheet of paper to prove a point. Despite some curve balls pitched by Duda (sorry for the Americanism!), Komorowski took them in his stride and came up with hard-hitting ripostes. Attempting to debunk Komorowski's claim of rejecting radicalism, Duda recalled that Komorowski in his youth had wanted to murder a rank-and-file militiaman (communist policeman). Komorowski replied he had been engaged in the struggle against communism and had entertained different foolish ideas under the guidance of his then mentor Antoni Macierewicz, stressing that he was currently Duda's "party comrade". "I have gone to confession and divested myself of radicalism and I wish you the same," he added. Each debater pointed out his rival's changing views, inconsistencies and unkept promises, but all in all Komorowski came out on top. The incumbent who had been frequently thrown off guard during his crowd mingling on the streets had obviously boned up for the clash, even though he frequently had to glance at his notes. Duda had no notes to lean on but apparently had a bad day. Before the contest TV pointed out that in presidential debates substance (merit) counts for about 7% of the success. It is presentation and body language that play the major role in winning over voters.

After this debate the PO guy must be 10 to 1 on with the bookies.
it was embarrassing and luckily shows PIS as the joke that they are :)

Relax everybody and carry on as before :)