Poles to go to parliamentary elections in October

(Patria) - The Polish president announced that the country will hold its parliamentary elections on October 15. President Andrzej Duda said in a statement published on X, formerly known as Twitter, that elections for the 460-seat lower house of parliament, the Sejm, and the 100-seat Senate will be held on October 15, AP reports. Lawmakers will be elected for a four-year term, and the party with the most votes will be chosen to form the next government.

Polls show Law and Justice, the conservative party that has ruled Poland since 2015.
year, heading into the election as the most popular party, but likely to fall short of a full
parliamentary majority. They hold a slim lead over a centrist bloc, Civic Coalition, led by Donald Tusk, a former Polish prime minister and former president of the European Council. Support for Tusk's party has grown in recent months, but largely at the expense of other opposition parties.

The election campaign begins amid growing concern in Poland over the presence of Russian-linked Wagner mercenaries in Belarus, where they have arrived in the thousands since a short-lived mutiny in Russia in June. Tensions have also been rising with ally Ukraine, on the country's southeastern border, over grain imports and historical memories of past ethnic conflict.

The ruling party is seeking to portray itself as strong on national defense given the
upheaval across its eastern borders. It has ordered more troops to bolster security on the
border with Belarus and plans a large military parade on the August 15 holiday next week to showcase new military equipment as it modernizes its defense.

Polish leaders have visited Kyiv multiple times to support the war effort. But recently they have
taken a more confrontational stance with Ukraine as a far-right political group critical of aid to Ukrainians, Confederation, has been rising in opinion polls.

Poland's geographic position and support for Ukraine and its acceptance of a large number of Ukrainian refugees have drawn two visits from Joe Biden to Poland since Russia's invasion in February. The praise Warsaw has received for its help to Ukraine has allowed the government to avoid some of the criticism it has faced in recent years over Western concerns that its approach to the judiciary, media, and LGBTQ+ people and other minorities represents democratic backsliding.

The party has gained popularity with many Poles for its conservative values and increased state aid for the elderly and families with children. At the start of its first term, they introduced a monthly cash payment of $123 per month for each child under 18. President Duda, who aligns with the party, on Monday signed a law increasing that monthly payment to $196 per month, starting next January. While popular with many, the policy also has its critics, including economists who claim the cash payments have helped fuel double-digit inflation, and business people and young people who dislike funding others with their taxes.

Criticism of such policies is also a factor behind the growing popularity of Confederation, whose members include far-right nationalists and pro-business libertarians. Some members of the group have pushed the slogan “Stop the Ukrainization of Poland.”