Reactions to Sunday’s presidential debate, broadcast on Poland’s public broadcaster, TVP, suggest the confrontation did not constitute a breakthough for any of the candidates.

Four of the main candidates met in the TVP studios on Sunday: Bronislaw Komorowski (Civic Platform), Jaroslaw Kaczynski (Law and Justice), Grzegorz Napieralski (Democratic Left Alliance) and Waldemar Pawlak (Polish Peasant’s Party).

According to Dr. Bartlomiej Biskup, a political scientist from Warsaw University, the debate itself was unexciting, but not at the fault of the candidates, underlining that the way in which the debate was conducted was flawed, as it did not allow for interaction between the presdential hopefuls.

Bartlomiej Biskup told Polish Radio that the candidates were well prepared, describing the strong side of each hopeful: Pawlak’s witty remarks, Komorowski’s attention to numbers, or Kaczynski’s calm approach to in vitro fertilisation.

Jacek Wasilewski, a doctor at the Warsaw School of Social Sciences and Humanties, lamented the fact that there was no interaction between the candidates, adding that their answers to the questions posed to them were directed at viewers of the debate.

According to social psychologist Tomasz Lysakowski, the most convincing candidate at the debate was leftist candidate Grzegorz Napieralski, whose message was the clearest, adding that Komorowski was the loser in this respect. (jb)

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Source: IAR

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