Catholics challenged” “

A victory of the parties of the Centre and the Right and the collapse of the Left: the results of the general elections in Poland on Sunday 25 September mark a turning point after four years of government under President Kwasniewski. According to the results, still provisional, published by the national electoral Commission, the PIS, the right-wing “Law and Justice” Party has gained 25% of the vote, followed by “Civic Platform” (PO) with over 23%. The other political parties follow: Samoobrona (13%), Alliance of the Democratic Left (SLD) (less than 11%), the League of Polish Families (less than 8%) and the Peasants’ Party (PSL) with just over 7% of the vote. The right-wing parties also emerged victorious in the Senate, where out of every 100 senators 48 are of the PIS and 27 of the PO. The Alliance of the Democratic Left has only one representative. Meanwhile expectations are growing for the presidential elections, scheduled (barring last-minute changes) for the week from 17 to 24 October. The general elections were characterized, however, by low voter turnout (only about 40%). We discussed the results with Archbishop Slawoj Leszek Glòdz of Warsaw. How do you judge these results? “I would have appreciated a greater number of voters, despite the appeals also of the episcopate. Over half of the electorate in fact failed to turn out to vote. Looking at the results, which reward the parties of the centre right, PIS (Law and Justice) and PO (Civic Platform), in which many Catholics are militants, it seems to me that it won’t be too difficult to form a new government”. These were the first elections after the death of John Paul II. Did a Wojtyla effect perhaps influence the vote? I wouldn’t say so, even though it’s worth pointing out that both the PIS and the PO have roots in the trade union Solidarnosc. The leaders of these parties have long known each other and all come from Gdansk. This makes the process of governability and stability easier”. After 25 years are we now looking at the end of the post-Communist era? It’s difficult to say. Despite the fact that they have undergone renewal, the post-Communists cannot count on the support of the new generations. The future now seems to me that of the centre-right. Historically speaking, extremist parties have never existed in Poland, ever since even before the Second World War in 1939. Poland has especially been characterized by political organizations of the Centre”. Yet the fact remains that the left-wing coalition that ruled the country until yesterday took Poland into the European Union… “The entry into Europe, and I would also add membership of NATO, had been in some way prepared by the parties of the Centre and the Right, strong in their roots in Solidarnosc. Some papers are saying that the anti-European parties won in Poland. That’s not so. Most parties that emerged victorious in the elections are pro-Europe”. What future does Poland have before it? “First, a future of stability, given the result of the elections. The economic programme and the programme of reforms are not (with one or two modifications) all that different from those taken forward by the previous government. But given the closeness of views between the winning parties I believe that a grand coalition will be formed, in which, it is worth recalling, there are many Catholics”. Does the Catholic presence have any significance? “We think of the conception of life, abortion, euthanasia and questions linked to bioethics and the new biotechnologies. Or family policies, in defence of the family as the fundamental value of society. There is identity of views on these questions between all the parties that emerged victorious from the elections: so no to abortion, no to cloning, no to euthanasia and no to experimentation on human embryos… There will be no ‘Zapaterian’ backlash in Poland”.