“It is true that one of the polls has now shown that KO is one percentage point ahead of PiS, but to be fair, KO alone will not win with PiS and after the election, PiS will be charged with the mission of forming the first government . And the thing is, the three of us win the election and may be on a mission to form a government, perhaps with the left, and who knows what will happen to this Confederacy. I expect another move from the opposition. What about these calculations, especially Prof. Flisa that if three opposition blocs take part in the elections, the majority of seats will be collected if there is no established common ironclad opposition program. If not, I am afraid that after winning the elections we will argue about the program and then about ‘stools’,” said Eugeniusz Kłopotek, former PSL MP, mayor of Warlubie municipality, in an interview with the wPolityce.pl portal.
wPolityce.pl: Were you at the march on June 4?
Eugene Klopotek: I was.
How is your impression?
It was indeed a powerful mass movement. There are skirmishes about how many participants there were. The government website says maybe 100,000. people, and the other side that half a million. I myself analyzed the case in this way – from Plac na Rozdrożu to Plac Zamkowy is about 3.5 kilometers. When the march started at 12 it was me with a group of people from PSL and Poland 2050 – we were not many, together with maybe 500 participants – luckily we were in the shade of the trees in Agrykola. We didn’t leave until 2:30pm. When the megaphone announced that the march would reach Plac Zamkowy, we had just begun. I counted it like this – we walked the entire width of the road and sidewalks, we could fit 50 people in one row, let’s say there was such a row every half a meter, so we could be a maximum of 350,000. people.
It’s still a great turnout.
Yes, but what I fear most is the votes that until recently for the so-called Third Way, they are starting to switch to KO – this is already visible in the new polls. It’s because we can’t make a move so that the three of us sit down and win the election together. It is true that one of the polls has now shown that KO is one percentage point ahead of PiS, but to be fair, KO alone will not win with PiS and after the election, PiS will be charged with the mission of forming the first government . And the thing is, the three of us win the election and may be on a mission to form a government, perhaps with the left, and who knows what will happen to this Confederacy. I expect another move from the opposition. What about these calculations, especially Prof. Flisa that if three opposition blocs take part in the elections, the majority of seats will be collected if there is no established common ironclad opposition program. If this is not the case, I am afraid that after winning the election we will argue about the program and then about the “crutches”.
It is very likely that this is how it will end if the new government has to consist of several parties from the current opposition.
In Piasecki’s Christmas “Coffee on the Bench” I stated that if the opposition goes one bloc to the election, I will get on my bike and go to Częstochowa on a pilgrimage of thanksgiving. If not, I will go anyway, but it will be a pilgrimage of penance for the lack of prudence and wisdom on the part of the opposition. I am in favor of clarity. For several years now, we’ve been saying that PiS should be out of power. Then let’s do it, let’s go to the elections together and let’s do it, and let’s not calculate which is more profitable.
However, PSL and Poland 2050 remind that such unification of the opposition ended in failure in the last European Parliament elections. They also cite the Hungarian example, where the unified opposition lost, and the Czech example, where the two-bloc opposition took power.
Okay, then let’s listen to the voice of the left, Czarzasty, sit down and try to sign a pre-election agreement specifying what issues we want to tackle together after the election. Maybe then it will be easier to meet after this election. However, I still believe that whoever wins the election, that is, whoever wins the election at 21 on Election Day, has the column the highest, which will later be confirmed by the National Electoral Commission, because it is such a formation that the President is tasked with entrusted to form a government. And what? There will be people who like to stay with PiS. There is talk all the time about a possible coalition between PiS and the Confederation, and if PiS still has no MPs, there will be those who will be tempted.
Will MPs representing PSL also be tempted?
History shows that there were also members of the Polish People’s Party, who later changed their party colour. So that there are people who will stay with PiS and then it will be cleaned up.
Did you march together with Szymon Hołownia and Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz?
Yes, but in the further part of the march, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz and Szymon Hołownia moved closer to the front of the march.
The leaders of PSL and Poland 2050 were finally on the rise, but they ultimately did not speak from the podium – there were different interpretations as to why this happened. Szymon Hołownia talked about the fact that the leaders failed to reach the podium in time because they were stopped for talks by the march participants. Donald Tusk himself commented on this translation today, so that somehow 60 other speakers made it to the podium.
They didn’t speak from the stage, I expected that. I don’t know why it happened. But that’s not the point – the main thing is to break the ice. I don’t mean to be mean, but if we keep teasing and calculating, it’s like we don’t want to take over.
However, you certainly see that a joint election start of KO, PSL and Poland 2050 is very difficult to imagine, since Donald Tusk has been advocating for one list for months, and the answer from PSL and Poland 2050 has always been the same, negative.
PSL and Poland 2050 voters do not overlap, they even complement each other, but all this is not enough. KO, PSL, Poland 2050 have to sit down and make a decision together. KO alone will not win the elections, but with the support of PSL and Poland 2050 it can win.
Do you see a realistic scenario where the KO of the Left and the Third Way — you mentioned it — pulls away voters so strongly that the Third Way would not reach 8 percent of voters? votes, and the left 5 percent, meaning that both committees would not introduce their representatives to the Sejm? This is a very favorable scenario for PiS.
Some of our constituents and the left may switch their sympathy to the KO after this march, so that the opposition wins this election. It is possible. So I say again: gentlemen, sit down three of you and get along. And if not, as I jokingly said in another interview, President Kaczyński can sit down and open a bottle of champagne.
Adam Stankiewicz spoke
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Source: wPolityce