3CityApache Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 Pawel Kukiz, still performing punk rock musician, and a leader of a movement gathering people disappointed with so called "political system", got more than 20 percent votes in the first round of the presidential election in Poland. Here's what Reuters says about it. It would be just a minor oddity, he didn't make it to the second round of the election after all (two major candidates, current president and one of the leaders of the main opposition party, did), if it wasn't for the fact, that he is the man who will practically decide who would be the next president of Poland, assuming people who voted for him would vote in the second round as he tells them to. Well, what an interesting country I happen to live in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyenon15 Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 We had an actor president. Punk rocker would be cool though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 It would be just a minor oddity, he didn't make it to the second round of the election after all (two major candidates, current president and one of the leaders of the main opposition party, did), if it wasn't for the fact, that he is the man who will practically decide who would be the next president of Poland, assuming people who voted for him would vote in the second round as he tells them to.I don't follow Polish politics as much as I probably should, but I'm going to assume that the reason Komorowski came second to Duda was that Kukiz split the more left-sided vote and now that he's out, Komorowski should gain a sizeable advantage from voters returning to keep the more conservative dude out. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but while hardly ceremonial the President is a lot less important than the Prime Minister in Poland, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3CityApache Posted May 11, 2015 Author Share Posted May 11, 2015 I don't follow Polish politics as much as I probably should, but I'm going to assume that the reason Komorowski came second to Duda was that Kukiz split the more left-sided vote and now that he's out, Komorowski should gain a sizeable advantage from voters returning to keep the more conservative dude out. That's not exactly the case I'm afraid. Kukiz atracts people simply outraged by politicians and disappointed by politics in general, from both left and right. Polls show that he took votes from Komorowski and Duda in quite similar proportions. But his followers are mostly pissed off by current government, which is represented by Komorowski, more or less. So it is predicted, that majority of Kukiz' followers will stay at home during the second round or they'll vote for Duda. The only hope I see for Komorowski is if some of the second half of the population, that didn't vote at all, will change their minds and finally vote for the lesser evil one more time. But it will be a tough race and Komorowski's campaign staff is jokingly horrible, so if I'd have to place a bet, I'd bet for Duda's win. As for the President's importance in Poland, you're quite right, of course, though the President has some tricks up his sleeve to make life difficult for the government, if he represents another political option, mainly the veto, which needs a 3/5 majority to be overcome in Parliament. But more importantly presidential election is broadly seen as just a prelude to a general election campaign, which will take place in autumn this year. If Duda becomes a President, it would be a clear sign PiS (the main, conservative opposition) is likely to get also majority of Parliament seats, which would mean the first change of power in Poland since 2007. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 I really dislike PiS. I may be just tainting them with the memory of the Kaczynskis but they strike me as not very nice people at all.Who are you behind in this one, if anyone?And what happened to the current government? I always saw Tusk as quite a capable leader from my limited observation but he seemed to be pissing people off and then of course he fucked off to Europe and left it to... someone, I guess? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruin Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 I'd vote for a Greg Graffin/Mike Ness ticket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3CityApache Posted May 12, 2015 Author Share Posted May 12, 2015 I really dislike PiS. That makes two of us. They're ridiculous, but more importantly, they're also dangerous. Who are you behind in this one, if anyone? I voted for Komorowski. He's a bit too conservative for my taste, but he's ok as a President. Of course I will do it again in the second round. And what happened to the current government? I always saw Tusk as quite a capable leader from my limited observation but he seemed to be pissing people off and then of course he fucked off to Europe and left it to... someone, I guess? Well, he is, in both cases. And so is his successor as prime minister, Ewa Kopacz. But since they rule for so many years now (the longest streak of the same party ruling since 1989), more and more people feel they grew arrogant, which is probably true, given the presidential election campaign they totally neglected. Most people don't care about improving economic factors, GDP growth (fastest in the European Union) and so on, they complain that they still make less money than people in Germany or UK, about relatively high unemployment rate, as a matter of fact there's lots to complain about. I'm actually quite surprised that PO still has about 30 percent of supporters in our population. But if nothing changes, they're going to lose general election in a few months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wicked Woodpecker of West Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 And now ruling party MPs and liberal intelectuals are acting like P.Kukiz movement was all guys in Braun uniforms.I have the feeling they're really want Komorowski to lose 2nd stage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Filippa Eilhart Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 unsurprisingly, Kukiz won by a huge margin in the foreign votes in the UK and Ireland. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3CityApache Posted May 12, 2015 Author Share Posted May 12, 2015 I must admit it did come as a mild surprise to me, but then again, perhaps if you watch from the distance you don't see anything peculiar in the potential picture of the president of your country dressed in a leather jacket, with the cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth. And with only one demand: to change the national electoral system to introduce single-mandate voting regions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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