The centrist Civic Coalition (PO) party, the main opposition party in Poland, must seek a new candidate after the resignation of its candidate for the presidential election, a poll largely disturbed by the coronavirus.
Read also: Poland postpones its presidential election in extremis
While his party usually wins around 20% of the vote, Malgorzata Kidawa-Blonska, who is also Deputy Speaker, had seen his popularity drop dramatically after he withdrew from the campaign and initially called for a boycott of the election. scheduled for May 10, due to the coronavirus epidemic. No longer being credited with less than 5% of the vote, she ended up resigning. The PO is expected to announce its new candidate on Friday, the favorites being the mayor of Warsaw Rafal Trzaskowski and the deputy and former foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski. The election was finally postponed until the last minute, and the new date has not yet been decided.
Read also: In Poland, a presidential election without voters
The outgoing president, supported by the conservative PiS nationalist ruling party, Andrzej Duda, is widely favored in the election, but his passage in the first round seems much less likely following the economic crisis caused by the epidemic.
Read also: Poland: four Tajiks arrested for recruiting converts to Islam for terrorist purposes
The cancellation of the election at the last moment, without otherwise declaring a state of emergency, provoked legal controversy and a political crisis. The government would like to set the ballot for June 28 or early July. Mr. Duda's current term ends on August 6.