People who listen to Jarosław Kaczyński estimate that they have a higher chance of fulfilling his promises than in the case of opposition party promises that PiS gives certain guarantees in this regard – evaluates Law and Justice’s pre-election statements, sociologist Henryk Domański from the Polish Academy of Sciences in an interview with the wPolityce.pl portal.
wPolityce.pl: The two-day program convention “Programowy Street of Law and Justice” ended with a speech by the president of PiS and very important statements: valorization of the 500+ program to PLN 800, free medicines for children and seniors, and free national roads . How do you rate them from an election campaign point of view?
Prof Hendrik Domanski: This is undoubtedly part of the ongoing campaign. The advantage of PiS here is mainly that it has so far fulfilled its electoral promises as far as possible. This cannot be said by other cabinets that ruled Poland before 2015. Especially the Civic Platform.
First of all, I think that people who listen to Jarosław Kaczyński estimate that they have a higher chance of fulfilling these promises, that PiS gives certain guarantees in this regard. Second, that it is a continuation of the PiS policy that has been implemented quite consistently since 2015.
So PiS is credible in these promises?
It’s not just about social programs, supporting families and tackling social inequalities. These elements of the PiS strategy bring us closer to the European Union, which Kaczyński spoke about and emphasized yesterday.
Those arguments saying that in terms of median household income we have overtaken some countries, such as Portugal and Greece, which seemed impossible until now – at least I didn’t believe it when we joined the EU that it would happen so soon – that’s all there are very concrete things, also in terms of economic successes.
We are dealing with objective indicators. Poland scores very well in terms of the growth of national income. That was also said and emphasized at the PiS convention yesterday. We currently have stabilized inflation, relatively low unemployment, almost the lowest in the European Union. Things like this guarantee that promises are kept.
I think it was about signaling what voters can expect from Law and Justice, to dot the i’s and cross the t’s from the very beginning of this election campaign, which we’re clearly already doing.
How will the opposition react to this?
When it comes to Civic Platform or other opposition parties, they will not be able to catch up to PiS in their promises. If they wanted to offer something, all they could do was imitate PiS.
The PiS president’s speech was certainly the most anticipated, it dynamized this convention at the end of it. However, what would you distinguish as key elements of the “Programowe Hive”?
I think the most important thing that was emphasized even before the convention was that the topics discussed at the convention are the result of consultation with people, with society. It’s not just that PiS came up with something there. Of course, this is not a direct answer to this demand – politicians are there to meet all these needs put forward by different social categories – but, as I said, it is the result of deliberation.
Secondly, this indirectly indicates that PiS has an interest in emphasizing that it is a party that strives to reduce the distance between government and society.
As for the structure of this convention, its form?
It was a modern presentation of his program, mimicking the patterns that can be observed at conventions of parties in Western countries – for example, from the moment the convention was opened by the PiS spokesperson, later through the presentation of the key individuals who were invited with Jarosław Kaczyński.
I mean, for example, Beata Szydło – invited because she is the prime minister, but here it cannot be ruled out that this is the beginning of the presidential campaign.
And as for the election promises, this was all well structured, divided into what we call panels and focused on the main issues that people are interested in. They may not be less interested in the economy because they don’t know much about it, but there was also health, culture and energy security. and defense.
From this point of view, it is difficult to criticize this convention and it would be difficult to expect Civic Platform to offer anything else. Likewise, as it would be difficult to expect from other opposition parties.
spoke with Radoslaw Molenda
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Source: wPolityce