MOSCOW (Sputnik), Daria Chernyshova — The Poles will elect 460 lawmakers to Poland's lower house, the Sejm, and 100 to the upper chamber, the Senate, for a term of four years. The parties need to pass a 5-percent threshold and coalitions – an 8-percent threshold.
The election is seen as a standoff between the two largest parties in Poland, the eurosceptic Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc, or PiS) and the Civil Platform that has been in power since 2007.
STANDOFF BETWEEN LARGEST PARTIES
PiS advocates for keeping the country’s national currency zloty instead of shifting to the euro. The right-wing party does not want Poland to accept migrants and says the financial aid should be offered to refugees in the Middle Eastern camps. It also seeks the deployment of more NATO and US troops on Poland's territory.
The Civic Platform was originally established by former Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who departed to the post of the European Council president last year. The party says Poland should adopt the euro and welcome refugees fleeing from the Middle East and North Africa. The Civic Platform wants Poland to have a stronger position in the European Union, as well as an increased presence of NATO and the US military.
Polls suggest that the Law and Justice, which has been in opposition since 2007, will win. A survey by IPSOS released Thursday finds Law and Justice at 38 percent and Civic Platform trailing at 24 percent.
Last November, Law and Justice finished just ahead of Civic Platform in a nationwide electoral contest for the first time in 10 years. A PiS candidate Andrzej Duda then went on to win the presidency in May election.
Mateusz Piskorski, the head of the European Center for Geopolitical Analysis, told Sputnik that in the upcoming elections, a large part of the voters represents a so-called negative electorate. It means that many of those who will vote for the Law and Justice would do so to remove the Civic Platform from power, and not because of sharing their views, he explained.
EU IN DANGER?
Since the Law and Justice opposes tighter political integration in the European Union, Britain's aim to renegotiate the terms of its EU membership could find support in Poland’s new government in case PiS wins the election.
Mateusz Piskorski told Sputnik that the Polish policy toward the European Union would be maintained even if the eurosceptic Law and Justice party wins.
WOMEN FIGHT FOR TOP SEAT IN GOVERNMENT
Three women in Polish politics will fight in the upcoming vote for the position of the country’s prime minister. To keep the job, current Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz of the ruling Civic Platform will have to win over Beata Szydlo from PiS, and Barbara Nowacka, leader of the United Left.
Kopacz has become the country’s second female prime minister after she took the job last year.
The number of women in the Sejm has increased by more than 80 percent over the past 20 years and now amounts to over 100. Despite the increase in numbers, however, only one in four members of the parliament is a woman.
