A new controversial ad campaign by the Law and Justice Party (PiS) accuses Civic Platform (PO) of not keeping election promises and supporting only the party’s friends.

The spot, which was filmed for the purpose of the European Parliament elections on 7 June, defames the leading PO politicians such as the mayor of Warsaw Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, the Treasury Minister Aleksander Grad and former PO senator Tomasz Misiak.

The ad opens with a photo depicting the Prime Minister Donald Tusk, his deputy Grzegorz Schetyna and PO senator Tomasz Misiak, all happy after the PO’s victory in the parliamentary elections two years ago. The off voice says: “Civic Platform promised a better life for everyone but…the only people who have a better life in Poland are… PO’s friends.”

The next frame shows crying shipyard workers who lost their jobs. Then the camera moves to the PO senator Tomasz Misiak and a red stamp on the screen reads: “48 million zlotys from a government contract.” The voice says: “Civic Platform closes down Polish shipyards and fires its workers but helps Misiak’s company earn fat money”.

Tomasz Misiak was indeed involved in a political scandal. As a PO senator, he worked on a special shipyard bill, yet concealed the fact that his company – Work Service – helps unemployed shipyard workers from Gdynia and Szczecin find a new job.  

The spot also shows people waiting for free food packages and the mayor of Warsaw, Gronkiewicz-Waltz from PO. The red stamp on the screen reads: “58 million zlotys premium for Warsaw officials.” The voice says: “While desperate people are fighting for food, Donald Tusk’s friend awards Warsaw officials with gigantic bonuses.”

The last villain in the PiS spot is Aleksander Grad. The voice says: “The government refuses to support collapsing factories but minister’s wife gets a lucrative governmental contract”. The frame shows Grad and a red stamp saying: “50 million zlotys for minister’s wife”.

At the end of the spot there is Civic Platform’s logo with a tongue stuck out and a rewritten PO election slogan saying “A better life for our fiends” (instead of: “A better life for everyone”). The voice asks: “Did Civic Platform keep their promise?”

“It is the voice of hatred and slander,” says Bronislaw Komorowski, from PO, about the PiS campaign. He remarks that the Law and Justice Party is able to use exclusively the language of hatred, because it does not know the language of love.

(mg/mmj)