Polish opposition holds mass rally in Warsaw ahead of close election

WARSAW (Reuters) – Hundreds of thousands of people held an opposition rally in Warsaw on Sunday, two weeks before an election that the liberal Civic Platform (PO) says could decide Poland’s future in the Union. European and its democratic position.

Opinion polls suggest the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government could win the vote but could struggle to form a majority amid discontent among some over rising costs of living and concerns about an erosion of income. democratic checks and balances.

Warsaw city authorities said around a million people attended the largest demonstration ever recorded in the capital. Public broadcaster TVP, which independent media observers say has become a government mouthpiece under the PiS government, quoted police as saying that about 100,000 people had joined.

The online news channel onet.pl reported that according to its estimates, between 600,000 and 800,000 people attended the demonstration.

Some carried banners reading “PiSexit” or “The cat can stay,” a reference to PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s pet animal.

The opposition hopes the march will galvanize voters to participate in the elections, giving them a chance to get ahead.

“Big change is coming. This is a sign of Poland’s rebirth,” PO leader Donald Tusk told crowds gathered in a central Warsaw square, many of whom waved Polish and EU flags.

Tusk, a former European Council president, has said PiS could aim to take Poland out of the EU, something the party denies, and has cast the elections as crucial for minority and women’s rights.

PiS, in power since 2015, has campaigned on a pledge to keep migrants out of Poland, saying that was key to national security, and to continue funneling money to families and the elderly.

“I want to be free, to be in the EU, I want to have a say, I want to have free courts,” said Hanna Chaciewicz, a 59-year-old dentist from Otwock, a town outside Warsaw.

PiS denies Western criticism that it has subverted democratic norms and says its reforms of the judiciary aim to make the country more fair and free of vestiges of communism, while its changes to public media free it from foreign influence.

But it has yet to gain access to billions of euros in EU COVID recovery funds that Brussels has withheld over Polish court reforms.

“Everyone is investing in jobs, in the fight against the climate catastrophe. And we have been denied this money because someone has decided to destroy democracy in Poland,” said Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, a senior PO member. to those attending the demonstration.

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