Parliament passes controversial enfranchisement law
The controversial enfranchisement bill that promises to give Poles a stake in state assets was finally passed by the Sejm last Friday. But the move could still be scuppered by President Aleksander Kwasniewski, who has the power to veto the move.
"It all depends on what Kwasniewski will do," said Bogdan Pek, a Polish Peasants Party (PSL) deputy. Pek said Kwasniewski had three choices: he could veto the bill, pass it to the Constitutional Tribunal to decide if the law is unconstitutional, or "play the best joke of all, sign it, and win the elections in the first round."
Pek is a strong supporter of the law. "This is the last possibility of giving anything to poor people," he said. "There is no liberty without ownership."
The enfranchisement law was the brainchild of Solidarity Election Action (AWS) deputy Adam Biela and landed in the Sejm for its first reading two years ago. The law's supporters say it would compensate citizens for the wrongs of the communist era. Under the bill, tenants in residential cooperatives and those who rent city or treasury-owned property would have the right to assume ownership of their apartments at no cost. But those opposing the bill say it will cause economic chaos, especially with regard to property rights.
Andrzej Urbanczyk, a Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) deputy, has no doubts that Kwasniewski will reject the bill. "Those close to the president believe the law will be rejected," he said. "I am convinced that the president won't hesitate to veto the bill."
Neither Pek nor Urbanczyk were able to say how many of the Senate amendments were rejected at the Sejm session, though both said only a few were excluded. One of those was the amendment that garden allotments should be part of the property to be enfranchised, Pek said. The allotments are currently owned by garden cooperatives or formerly state-owned companies. Pek said the cooperatives put a great deal of lobbying and pressure on the government to drop the amendment.
"I think users of the garden allotments were hurt (by the Sejm decision)," Pek said. But Urbanczyk is happy with the decision that gardens will still be run by garden allotment cooperatives. "It's good what happened, what the association proposes is better," Urbanczyk said. He added that the association could do a better job managing the allotments.
Urbanczyk said he was hoping for a presidential veto of the bill. He said the current bill is flawed because it is not equitable. He said polls indicated more than half of the population opposes the enfranchisement law.
"What is free is always suspicious," Urbanski said.
Pek said that despite some grumbles about the bill, it would be good for the bulk of Poles. "The great majority of society will take part in the process of enfranchisement," Pek said. He added that so far only 3% of Polish society was enfranchised after being given shares in companies such as Telekomunikacja Polska and Polski Koncern Naftowy Orlen.
"Those people who were enfranchised already won't take part in the enfranchisement," he said.
During the debate, deputies and senators agreed that company apartments as well as those provided by social services and located in historical buildings would not be affected by the enfranchisement law.
Under the bill, employees of state farms will be given land currently owned by the treasury's Agricultural Land Agency (AWRSP). Pek said the agency had more than 3 million hectares of land to divide and give away to farmers. He added that there was also a political dimension to consider. According to the draft on reprivatization, about 2 million hectares of land are to be assigned for reprivatization. If the enfranchisement bill is passed before the reprivatization law, all land will be divided up, he said.
