The day the pen was meant to crack

Woke up at half past six, got up, ate a breakfast, did the morning toiletry, donned a face mask and strolled to the polling station number 606 in Ursynów. I turned up there at 7:40 and queued orderly in a long line of voters. I managed to cast a vote 45 minutes later. Everybody appeared to vote early in order to avoid long queues in the afternoon (heat factor matters as well, except for the pandemic). Social and traditional media have reported long queues in several places in Warsaw in the morning, yet this was not necessarily the increased mobilisation, rather bringing forward the moment of voting to morning hours.

The turnout of 24% at noon was record-high for first five hours of voting, yet one must make allowances for heat and pandemic. Fewer people went to the polls in the afternoon, but with the evening onrush, the final percentage of those who have decided to vote, climbed to record-high 63%.

Over the day I hoped the gap between the winner and the runner-up could reach less than five percentage points, far off the actual mark. My hopes were sadly dashed. My guests (today I invited over some people for the first time during the pandemic) and I were more than disappointed andwe took comfort in some wine (therefore the note is posted with delay, lack of hangover after nearly 4 months of abstaining from drinking is a good signal).

Despite the gap between president Duda and mayor Trzaskowski, both candidates will go neck in neck towards the run-off. Mr Trzaskowski will likely benefit from the support of Mr Hołownia’s voters and Mr Biedroń’s voters, partly from Mr Kosiniak-Kamysz’s voters, while Mr Bosak’s electorate might not be willing to back Mr Duda. Strategically, if other political parties are to thrive in democratic system, in their best interest would to prohibit the monopoly of power in the hands of one party.