The party has only begun
The deadline for presidential would-be's to just submit the necessary 100,000 voter signatures, qualifying them to run in the first round of October's elections, passed last week. Now begins the tedious work of verifying that information before the final lineup is announced next month.
Unsurprisingly, President Aleksander Kwasniewski collected a whopping 1.8 million signatures, far more than any other hopeful. In part to celebrate this initial success, last week Kwasniewski's campaign organizers threw a bash for 2,000 young Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) supporters at Warsaw's Stodola student club. The president and his wife were received like rock stars by the young groupies gathered at the club. The wild celebration hit the front pages of the national papers.
At the same time, news broke that a religious organization, The National Institute of Catholic Action, urged Catholics not to support candidates who are declared atheists.
These and other related events are signs that the "party" is just beginning in Poland's third democratic presidential elections. But before the election hoopla explodes and takes on a life of its own, all candidates as well as other politicians returning to the capital from their summer holidays should take a deep breath and reflect on a piece of disturbing news that hit the front pages last week. In July, unemployment levels reached 13.7% the highest level in four years. That means that 2.48 million Poles are without work. Of that number, 43% live in rural areas.
These figures should also help focus voters as they begin scrutinizing the soon-to-be-announced final lineup of presidential candidates. Poles who plan to vote should start preparing hard questions for these candidates to help them determine whose name they tick on election Sunday in October. If voters are struggling with questions, they should look to the Polish Confederation of Private Employers (PKPP) as a model. This one-and-a-half year old organization, made up of roughly 2000 companies/employers from across the country, has come up with a list of 10 questions that its members will put to each of the presidential candidates in face-to-face meetings starting next month. The results will be announced to the public at the beginning of October prior to the elections.
PKPP's approach is a sign that democracy is at work. It's time for all Poles to sit down at the family dinner table and make up their list of questions for the presidential candidates. Overall, the last decade has been one of success for this country. The leaders of the next decade will determine whether the Polish "party" will really take off or end while the night is still young.
