2023-06-04 19:22:20
The opposition gathered in the square by former premier Donald Tusk, in view of the October elections in Poland. “We are here against cheating and lying, and in favor of democracy.” Lech Walesa is also on stage
The anniversary is of the 1989 election: the first ones that, in Poland, put an end to a regime, the communist one. Half a million Poles, summoned, marched on Sunday afternoon in the heart of Warsaw «for democracy». by centre-right former premier Donald Tusk (in office from 2007 to 2014), expressing dissent towards the incumbent government, led by the ultra-conservative Law and Justice (Pis) party. The center-right of Tusk e of its Civic Platform against the ultra-right, therefore: the elections towards which the largest demonstration in recent history in Poland is heading are those of October, in which Tusk aims to regain leadership of the country. “You are all here because you believe we can win,” Tusk, 66, shouted to his supporters who filled Warsaw Castle Square. “You are all here against the high cost of living, the cheating and the lies. And in favor of democracy, free elections and the EU».
On stage with him, “against the erosion of democracy”, also the former president e leader in Solidarnosc, Lech Walesa. A long absent from the political scene, Walesa said he waited “patiently” for the day when the nationalist party and its leader Kaczynski will have to leave. “Kaczynski, we’ve come to get you. This day has come,” Walesa said.
In the crowd Polish flags, placards against the government, and the most famous slogan of the opposition: eight asterisks in a row, euphemism for the Polish «vaff… PiS». Warsaw local government, led by the opposition party which includes the mayor of the city Rafal Trzaskowski, spoke of 500 thousand people. Other demonstrations were held in Krakow and other cities of the country.
A few days ago President Andrzej Duda, a friend of the government of Mateus Morawiecki and the ruling PiS party, signed a controversial law setting up a special commission for «probing the Russian flu» on the security of Poland. The commission will have extensive powers, including that of banning public office for 10 years to anyone who finds himself making political decisions “under the influence of Russia”: a formidable political weapon to keep opponents of all stripes away from the elections, according to the his opponents.
In polls ahead of the October elections, PiS still leads; but without an absolute majority in the next parliament, also thanks to inflation and degrowth. The second party is right the Tusk Civic Platform. Centre-right against right, in contrast with the political hopes of a conservative wing of the European Populars, who hope in the European Parliament to no longer federate, as is tradition, with the Social Democrats, but with the Conservatives and Reformists (a team chaired to date by Giorgia Meloni) to shift the balance of the European institutions to the right. In Poland, such an alliance is not possible: among the Populars sit the MEPs of the Civic Platform, among the Conservatives those of the Pis. In the afternoon, the support of the official Twitter account of the European People’s Party for the anti-Pis demonstration arrived very quickly and unequivocally: “Europe is with you”.
June 4, 2023 (change June 4, 2023 | 19:26)
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