Poland: Over 60s Can Vote By Mail In Presidential Election

Voting is only supposed to take place in several weeks, but Poland is already taking precautions with a view to the presidential election so that voting is possible despite the coronavirus. The country on Saturday allowed citizens over the age of 60 and those in quarantine to vote by mail for the election supposed to be held on May 10. The power holds that the presidential takes place on this date, but the head of state admitted that it risked being postponed.

President Andrzej Duda, who is running for a second term, reaffirmed on the public television channel TVP Info that he "hoped" that after Easter the Poles would find "normal life" and that the conditions would be met to vote. "But if it happens that the epidemic rages and that we still observe the same discipline and the same limitations as at present, I think that the date of the election can prove to be untenable", he added .

Poland, with a population of 38 million, currently has more than 1,400 cases of SARS-CoV-2 contamination and 16 deaths. By way of comparison, more than 2,800 cases were listed in France and 12 people had lost their lives because of the Covid-19 when Emmanuel Macron announced on March 12 the continuation of the first round of the municipal elections which took place three days more late.

The Polish opposition insists that the poll be postponed until the fall, the measures against the pandemic making the electoral campaign impossible, which does not prevent President Duda, from the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, to multiply public appearances.

An adjournment would not be favorable to Duda

A recent poll found that 72% of Poles were in favor of postponing the poll, but the PiS-dominated parliament changed the electoral code before dawn on Saturday. The opposition denounces a violation of the decisions of the Constitutional Court, according to which any modification of the electoral code must intervene at the latest six months before the vote.

The Senate, where the Conservatives do not have a majority, could reject the modifications to the electoral code, but the lower house could approve them definitively so that they could be promulgated by the outgoing president.

The powerful PiS chief Jaroslaw Kaczynski and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki have repeatedly stated that they see no reason for an adjournment. Meanwhile, former Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, now head of the European People's Party (PPL), said that "only a madman or a criminal" could offer people the chance to vote in May.

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Most commentators say the conservative government believes that a vote in May would improve the chances of Andrzej Duda, currently at the top of the polls, while the adjournment of the poll in the fall risks playing against him.