Sunday, 13 October 2019

The vote is over

Fresh thoughts at the sight of exit polls…

In the era of Internet unofficial results (#bazarek) were circulated over the day. Early in the afternoon they filled with dread (over 55% for PiS), then reports of record-high turnout in Warsaw brought about a surge of optimism. Last two hours before 9 p.m. were a rollercoaster…

I would not get attached to the results, since IPSOS pollsters screwed it up all the way in May 2019 and thanks to large mobilisation in big cities after sunset. PiS might still lose simple majority, but stands little chance to get 60% of seats necessary to reject president’s veto.

I strolled around Natolin between 7:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. and crowds were still wandering to polling stations. The turnout in Ursynów has most likely exceeded 80%. Proud of my neighbours.

Regardless of the outcome, higher turnout signals Poles increasingly wish to participate in democracy and whoever wields power, is more legitimate to do so.

Thirdly, let’s wait for final results, including allocation of seats to the upper house. They will determine the scale of relative victory / defeat of PiS and the opposition. Nevertheless, seat-wise, the ruling party most probably has not made as big progress as it wished and is aware of number of Poles standing up against its rule (just to remind, according to preliminary results it wins 4 more seats in the lower house than it did in 2015).

Who laughs the last, laughs the best.

I have done my bit and contributed to turning down the rule of PiS. My conscience is clear… A broader follow-up next week.

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