WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s ruling social gathering chief mentioned Friday that Polish voters might be requested to determine whether or not they assist the sell-off of state-owned enterprises in a referendum, saying it will be about “whether the wealth of generations will remain in Polish hands.”
The transfer got here because the conservative ruling social gathering, Law and Justice, stepped up its assaults on the primary opposition chief, Donald Tusk, forward of parliamentary elections within the fall, which the president scheduled this week for Oct. 15.
Law and Justice has for a while expressed a want to maintain a referendum on the subject of migration alongside the election.
Critics view the plans to carry referendums on such emotional points as an effort by the ruling social gathering to mobilize its conservative base as its seeks an unprecedented third straight time period. The social gathering is main within the polls however can’t be assured of an outright majority.
Law and Justice social gathering chief Jaroslaw Kaczynski mentioned Friday that the social gathering now plans a couple of referendum query.
Kaczynski, who can be the deputy prime minister, made the announcement in a video posted to X, the platform previously generally known as Twitter. He mentioned the primary referendum query would say: “Do you support the sell-off of state-owned enterprises?” The graphic confirmed the query as it will look on a poll, with a pink X showing within the ”No” field.
He then linked privatization efforts to Tusk, his fundamental competitor, a former prime minister who leads the pro-business Civic Platform social gathering. Civic Platform, a center-right social gathering, ruled from 2007 to 2015. The social gathering is now working on the head of a four-party electoral coalition known as Civic Coalition that features the Greens and socially liberal events, and has shifted considerably to the left.
Law and Justice has lengthy tried to painting Tusk, a former president of the European Council, as a politician who serves the pursuits of Germany, the Western neighbor who inflicted atrocities on occupied Poland throughout World War II however which is now an ally in NATO and the European Union.
During a gathering with voters final month Kaczynski mentioned: “Donald Tusk is a true enemy of the Polish nation! This man should not rule Poland. Let him take his politics to his Germany, and let him do harm there, not here.”
Opponents of the ruling social gathering denounce the way in which it makes use of state sources, together with public TV, to demonize its opponents, significantly Tusk, who was an anti-communist activist earlier than the autumn of communism in Poland and who portrays himself as a Polish patriot.
In his new video, Kaczynski mentioned the referendum was aimed toward placing choices within the arms of Poles.
“For us, the voice of normal Poles is decisive. The voice of foreign politicians, including Germans, is of no importance, that is why in key issues we want to appeal to you directly, in a referendum,” Kaczynski mentioned.
“You decide whether the wealth of generations will remain in Polish hands,” he mentioned.
Critics denounced the referendum as hypocrisy. Some famous that the ruling social gathering, identified by its Polish initials PiS, has itself offered off state property, together with a part of the state oil firm Lotos, on phrases considered as unfavorable to Poland.
“This referendum is one big PiS scam,” mentioned Malgorzata Kidawa-Blonska, the deputy parliament speaker. “They sold Lotos to the Saudis for a song, and now they will brazenly ask Poles what they think about it? Liars and manipulators.”
The every day paper Rzeczpospolita argued that the ruling social gathering was damaging its personal marketing campaign by drawing consideration to the Lotos sale. It additionally identified that previous privatizations of communist-era firms introduced funding and raised the technical degree of Polish enterprises.
“It is thanks to privatization that we are a rich country today,” financial journalist Krzysztof Adam Kowalczyk wrote.
Edit Zgut-Przybylska, a political scientist and sociologist who’s a visiting fellow on the CEU Democracy Institute, mentioned the Polish referendum echoes referendums held by Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has used them to mobilize assist for anti-migrant and anti-LGBTQ+ insurance policies amid a bigger erosion of democracy.
“It has the same populist purpose: to consolidate power by polarizing society with panic-mongering disinformation,” she mentioned.
“While Orban is depicting Brussels and Soros as the corrupt enemy, the Polish government claims the opposition is collaborating with Germany to undermine the ‘will of the people,’” she argued, referring to the billionaire investor George Soros. “The overarching goal of the Polish referendum is to exploit anti-German sentiments and identity-based anxieties centered around migration.”
According to a report from state radio, Law and Justice intends to publish extra movies containing referendum questions within the coming days.
Polish authorities had beforehand introduced plans to place the problem of an EU migrant relocation scheme to a referendum to coincide with the parliamentary election.
The decrease home of parliament is because of take up the problem of the referendum at a sitting subsequent week, in response to the state information company PAP.
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