Opposition leader and former European Council President Donald Tusk has organised another anti-government Million Heart March – just two weeks ahead of the nation’s parliamentary elections – after at least 300,000 participants attended the last march in June.
The rally is expected to gather at the Warsaw’s streets thousands of opposers of the current Law and Justice (PiS) party. The June march, organised on the anniversary of the breakthrough election that effectively ended communist rule in Poland, gathered 300,000 to half a million participants, according to various estimates.
“Whenever people stand together and are not afraid to tell this government what they think about it (…), we then feel that the day of change, which is necessary to save Poland from this dark night, is coming really, really soon,” Tusk said.
The marchers’ main goal is to repeal the PiS government in the elections on 15 October. PiS has ruled in Poland for two consecutive terms since 2015. The event’s name refers to the red heart, which became a symbol of Tusk’s election campaign.
Announcing the march in July, Tusk explained the rally is aimed at demonstrating weeks ahead of the election that there are more “good, courageous, and determined people” that “won’t let evil run rampant at the highest levels of power, but also in our everyday life,” as quoted by private TVN24 broadcaster.
He urged everyone to take part, regardless of their views, stressing that the upcoming parliamentary election would determine what Poland would become in October.
Tusk’s Civic Platform (PO) and PO-founded election bloc, the Civic Coalition (KO), accuse PiS of dismantling the rule of law in Poland, violating judicial independence and media freedom, and restricting women’s rights but further restricting the already strict abortion law, among other things.
PiS, on the other hand, blame the opposition for its alleged will to bow to the EU schemes and accept thousands of illegal migrants but also privatise the state-owned companies and increase the retirement age if it comes to power.
Tusk, who co-founded PO in 2001 and served as prime minister from 2007 to 2014, is the longtime heavyweight rival of PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński. Consequently, a large part of PiS’s election campaign focused on attacking Tusk.
PiS is on the best way to secure its third term in power, with the support amounting to 39%, according to the newest poll by Social Changes Institute for pro-government wPolityce.pl. KO comes second with the support of 30%.
(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl)
Read more with EURACTIV
Slovak government prevents majority of EU funds from going unspent
Source: euractiv.com
