PO tries to beat off Self-Defense with electoral change, but finds few takers

The party sees a majority voting system as a means of weakening the position of Self-Defense (Samoobrona), which won 29% in a recent poll, seven percent ahead of the PO. "We will avoid having unreliable people, criminals and madmen elected to the parliament," claimed PO leader Donald Tusk. However, other parties appear rather skeptical of the notion, stressing that such a change would require an amendment to the constitution and could mean a highly fractional parliament. "It's likely that lots of little poviat-based Leppers would enter the Sejm," said Ludwik Dorn of Law and Justice (PiS). (Rzeczpospolita, p. A1) M.K.