More than half a million people have registered abroad to vote in Poland’s election on Sunday, as the ruling Law & Justice party hopes for an unprecedented third consecutive term in power.
More than 608,000 overseas voters are reported to have registered to vote by the midnight deadline, a record number in the country’s history.
“Four years ago there were 314,000 [voters registered abroad]; at the moment there [are] 560,000,” the Polish foreign minister, Zbigniew Rau, said during a press conference.
Poland has a large overseas diaspora, with 5 million Polish citizens estimated to live abroad. In the previous election in 2019, Poles abroad were more likely than those living in the country to vote for the opposition, with Civic Coalition (KO) gaining 39% of the overseas vote, but only 25% of the votes overall.
First elected in 2015, the rightwing, populist and socially conservative PiS is facing a stiff challenge from opposition groupings led by the former prime minister and European Council president Donald Tusk. Polls suggest the race will be close.
Kasia Grzelak, an art teacher from Newcastle who has lived in the UK since she was seven years old, said she was casting her first vote in a Polish election because the stakes appeared so high.
“I’ve never voted in a Polish election before, this will be my first time,” said Grzelak. “This election feels more important. I’ve had family members messaging me to register.”
Grzelak said she would be voting for the opposition centre-right Civic Platform (PO) led by Donald Tusk, who has said he will legalise abortion on request up to 12 weeks of pregnancy if he is elected as prime minister. Poland has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe.
“They’re the lesser evil,” she said. “The main reason I’m voting is because PiS limited abortion rights. It’s very terrifying for young women now. Having family there, I see so much fear around pregnancy. I think it’s appalling. So I will be voting for a party that I think will amend that, and that has better ethics.”
Speaking on Tuesday, Rau said that such was the demand, the number of overseas electoral commissions had had to increase by 70% to meet the “democratic needs of Poles”.
In January, the government passed a controversial bill that obliges overseas electoral commissions to submit their counts within 24 hours or have the votes dismissed as null and void. These time limits do not apply to electoral commissions based in Poland, raising concerns that the bill is an attempt to limit the number of opposition votes.
Poland’s commissioner for human rights, Marcin Wiącek, said the bill was unconstitutional and violated electoral law, which he said did not “differentiate the right to participate in elections depending on the place of residence”.
Ewa Pospieszyńska, who has lived in the UK since 2016, said she was worried about the new law. “I’m scared my vote won’t count. I even considered travelling back to Poland,” she said. She had looked for a London commission with the lowest number of registered voters to minimise the chance her vote would be nullified, she added.
This will be Pospieszyńska’s third time voting abroad, but she said this election felt more important. “We’re expecting a hung parliament. It’s really important to decide who will enter a governing coalition,” she said. “I’ve been going out of my way to encourage people to vote. I’ve managed to get at least five of my friends to register for sure, but I’ve been messaging everyone.”
The PiS campaign, much of which has been focused on the claim that it is the only force able to take care of the country’s security, suffered a setback on Tuesday when two top military commanders, including the chief of the general staff, tendered their resignations.
“It is a symbolic decision. They decided to take this step just before the elections to show that they do not have confidence in this political class,” the former foreign minister Jacek Czaputowicz told news portal Onet.pl.
