• Poland’s politicians battle for votes in UK
  • 10.09.2007
Political parties are getting ready for an election campaign on the British Isles in search of extra votes as an election approaches this autumn.

Professor Krystyna Iglicka-Okólska from the Centre for European Migration Studies of Warsaw University estimates that about one and a half million people have left Poland recently (officially, 600,000 are registered in the UK, 200,000 in Ireland).

“But no one has conducted any studies on the distribution of their support for political parties”, Professor Iglicka-Okólska told gazeta.pl. The Civic Platform (PO) is trying to convince public opinion that young emigrants are their natural constituency, because they are ashamed of what goes on in Poland.

“Emigrants are ashamed of the image of Poland ruined by the latest coalition. We want to turn that frustration into optimism”, claims chairman of PO, Bronisław Komorowski.

In the opinion of MEP Marcin Libicki from the ruling Law and Justice, however, emigrants tend to demonstrate right wing sympathies and they closely follow the developments in Poland.

“That is our electorate”, he argued.

In the search for those extra votes leaders of political parties, such as Civic Platform’s Donald Tusk, will travel to the UK and Ireland in September.

And each has prepared an election package, including promises of less bureaucracy in setting up a business and conducting business activities, a lower cost of credit, etc, but it seems that tax abolition on foreign income will be the