Poland stares at political crisis amidst pandemic

Political crisis looms over Poland as the Polish Senate rejected a government proposal to hold Presidential elections on May 10 through postal ballot due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff, Michal Dworczyk, has stated that an early parliamentary election is now inevitable.

In this matter, the final decision rests with the lower house of the Parliament where the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party has a frail majority. The rejection of the government proposal was an anticipated one. Those in the PiS coalition had objected to the decision of holding the election in May.

While talking to the press, Dworczyk stated that “We hope that there will be enough lawmakers who…will adopt the draft bill. However, one also has to consider options in which the bill is not backed and then we will have to deal with a very serious political crisis,” and that the scenario for an early election was still on the plate.