PM Kopacz: 'Polish democracy not threatened'

Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz. Photo: PAP/Jakub Kaminski

''No one, especially politicians, can claim that Polish democracy has not been functioning,'' Kopacz said in a televised address broadcast on Thursday evening.

Her comments came after repeated claims by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of oppositon party Law and Justice, that the results were falsified, even though Law and Justice won the highest percentage of votes in elections to regional assemblies.

The delayed release of the results in the 16 November elections followed computer glitches that sparked a series of protests.

Sunday's second round concerns mayoral elections and votes for other heads of local administration where candidates did not win a 50 percent majority.

''On Sunday, we can prove that Polish democracy is stronger than political wars and stronger than rows,'' Kopacz said.

''Only you can deny that very dangerous thesis, that today Poland closer to Belarus than the West,'' she added, alluding to Kaczynski's remarks that Poland's political reality is heading in the direction of its eastern neighbours.

Of the 1584 posts in local administration that were voted for on 16 November, 890 of these are going to a second round, in those instances where no candidate secured 50 percent of the vote.

Only the two candidates who received the most votes will take part in the final leg, and in the mayoral elections, key cities as of yet undecided include Warsaw, Krakow, Gdansk, Wroclaw and Poznan.

An opinion poll has indicated that in most of the big cities, currently serving mayors will hold on to their posts, although Poznan could be an exception. (nh)

Source: IAR/PAP