The 13 percent vote share of Grzegorz Napieralski (right) in the first round of presidential elections in Poland last Sunday is now crucial in deciding who will win the second round in two weeks time. But will he recommend voting for Komorowski or Kaczynski?
The third placed candidate in the first round of presidential election last Sunday, Grzegorz Napieralski, says the two remaining candidates’ positions on a quick withdrawal of Polish troops from Afghanistan, IVF treatment, a raise in the minimum wage and Poland signing the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights will be crucial to his decision on who to support in the elections’ second round on July 4.
Napieralski’s 13.68 percent vote share will be looked upon eagerly by the two candidates left in the race for the presidential palace, Bronislaw Komorowski, who received 41.54 percent of the vote in the first round and Jaroslaw Kaczynski, five percent behind on 36.46 percent. Napieralski’s recommendations to his voters has become a crucial factor in determining who will be the next president of Poland.
Napieralski denied, however, that he will be seeking a position in the cabinet, possibly deputy prime minister, in the Civic Platform led government, in exchange for support in the election. For now he is only interested in policy, he claimed.
"These are the issues on which I spoke about in the election campaign and I would like to talk about them, and not the portfolio of deputy prime minister,” said Napieralski, the leader of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD).
He said that if invited he will be prepared to talk with Kaczynski and Komorowski. He emphasised, though, that he did want to see the return of the ‘Fourth Republic’, meaning the policies of the conservative government in 2005-07 led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s Law and Justice party.
Left Round Table
Deputy leader of the SLD, Katarzyna Piekarska said yesterday that the election on Sunday had strengthened the position of the left in Poland in general, after years in the political wilderness.
She suggested a ‘round table of the left’ to unite its various factions in the local elections later this year. "We need a round table, which would unite this side of the political scene. Greens, the Women's Party, Labour Union, trade unions, it's really a very large group […] which has a chance to fight for 20 percent of votes in the local government election," Piekarska told the PAP news agency.
On who to support in the second round on July 4, SLD’s Jerzy Wenderlich said this was a dilemma for the left as Komorowski and Kaczynski are very similar on “IVF, the church and abortion”. (pg)