Porn, beer and democracy

Former Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński and his party, PiS, are not exactly known for thier penchant for technology. But some might be surprised to know that the former PM – who has no driving license and shares a bank account with his mother – has his very own weblog, or blog.

Yet despite indulging in this relatively modern form of expression, Mr Kaczyński still managed to show his complete lack of understanding of the world wide web, when on his blog he derided the idea of implementing internet voting in Poland.

Mr Kaczyński said that voting should be a “serious, conscious [activity], demanding a certain effort.” He added, “I am not enthusiastic about a young man sitting in front of a computer, watching films, pornography, sipping a beer and voting when he feels like it.”

Leaving aside the obvious irony of making this type of statement on a blog, let's be clear about one thing: Increasing the ease by which citizens can participate in a democracy is always a good thing. One wonders if in contemplating the young man with his beer and pornography, Mr Kaczyński also took time to consider the invalid who leaves her home with great difficulty or the displaced employee who works far away from his registered home.

Certainly, there are valid concerns about the security of e-voting – but that was not the issue that
the former PM raised. Mr Kaczyński's concern seems to center around a certain “decorum” that he believes voters ought to maintain when voting. This is laughable. After all, there is nothing to prevent any citizen from attending a polling station after having downed several whiskey sours and with a Playboy magazine tucked deftly into his back pocket.

Recent opinion polls have shown Mr Kaczński's PiS party trailing badly, despite heaps of criticism piled on the governing PO party for getting little done. Indeed, PO's support has increased since last October's elections. But PO has offered precious little for voters to support – instead, voters seem to favor PO simply by virtue of their not being PiS.

With the former PM's recent statements, it's little wonder – they show how out of touch he is with the vast majority of Polish society, which is becoming ever more plugged in to the information superhighway at an astounding rate. For years now, Poles have been doing business online, as well as banking, blogging, connecting with friends, sharing photos and even shopping for groceries. That the former PM still sees the average “internaut” as a pimply porn-downloading teen is depressing, and enough to make Poles who find the internet essential to their daily lives seethe.

But therein lies the rub – most of plugged-in Poland already finds PiS' old-fashioned ideas anachronistic, and didn't vote for them in October. PiS' constituency lies with the rural voters who feel left behind by Poland's modernization. But with the internet extending its tentacles ever further into even the deepest Polish backwoods, Mr Kaczyński may soon find that such statements undermine his credibility with his own voters.

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Bloomberg on how PiS plans to screw those Poles who first bought into capitalism.

No early elections?

Zbigniew Religa could be Poland's next prime minister


Warsaw Station has learned that parties currently not in power - Civic Platform (PO), the coalition Left and Democrats (LiD) and the Peasants' Party (PSL) - are working on a proposal for a government of national unity, to be led by famous heart surgeon Zbigniew Religa. Religa is the current health minister and is not affiliated with any party. The proposal would put members of all parties willing to join the national unity government into Poland's various ministerial positions

The proposal will be extended to former members of the ruling coalition - Samoobrona (SO) and the League of Polish Families (LPR) - as well as to the current (quasi-) governing party, Law and Justice (PiS). It is expected that SO and LPR will accept the proposal, while PiS is expected to reject it, making them the sole party in opposition, after 2 years of governing as the party with the largest number of representatives in Poland's parliament.

Who benefits?

The logic goes that early elections could only benefit PiS. Though PO leads PiS in the polls, it is unlikely that they will have enough support to gain a majority of representatives. To do so, they would have to form a coalition with either LiD (offending their anti-leftist supporters) or with PiS (offending their liberal-economic supporters). Also, the polls may not be as reliable as PO hopes. In the 2005 elections, polls famously predicted that PO would win.

If early elections were to occur, Samoobrona and LPR look to be left out of parliament entirely, or, if they stand as a coalition (the appropriately- monikered LiS or "fox"), to be reduced to a minority fringe element in parliament.

LiD could potentially gain seats, but are averse to the idea of the economically liberal PO gaining power - especially if it ends up teaming up with PiS.

Though PiS is likely to lose a few seats in parliament with early elections, it will still hold enough to be an extremely powerful opposition party, especially with Lech Kaczyński holding the presidency. For this reason, and because PiS is expected to be able to bring out large numbers of its rural supporters to the polls, PiS will push for early elections.

A doable deal?

I doubt such an arrangement is achievable, since Polish parties as a general rule are unable to agree amongst themselves for very long. Could opposition to PiS be such a unifying force that nearly all of the parties in parliament could agree to work together? Not for very long, certainly.

How such a political coup could take place without early elections is also somewhat of a mystery - as far as I know nothing like it has ever occurred in modern Polish politics.

But that doesn't mean it wouldn't be a good thing. Poland has been absent of any type of productive politics - horsetrading, compromise, and the creation of policies and legislation that garner wide public support - for a long time. A government of national unity could lead to such a welcome change. It just doesn't seem likely it will ever happen.

Poland's Prime Minister does not have a bank account

He uses his mom's.