Poland’s political opposition called for a repeat of Nov. 16 local elections and for the State Election Commission to be fired after its new computer system prevented it from tallying the ballot on time. Voting results for Poland’s 16 regional assemblies can’t be determined within three days of the vote after a technical error prevented the printing of totals from individual precincts, the commission said late yesterday. Exit polls by Warsaw-based researcher Ipsos showed the opposition Law & Justice party took 31.5 percent of the vote, compared with 27.3 percent for the ruling Civic Platform, scoring its first victory since 2005.
Law & Justice’s leader, former Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, said in a Nov. 16 speech that there were irregularities in the vote. Former Justice Minister Jaroslaw Gowin, of the opposition Poland Together party, demanded yesterday that the elections be annulled and repeated. Law & Justice’s 2015 presidential candidate, Andrzej Duda, said the election commission should be dismissed.
“Instead of safeguarding elections, the commission has completely disrupted them,” Duda said today in a televised appeal to President Bronislaw Komorowski. “Decisive action is needed because this threatens our democracy.”
Full Article: Polish Opposition Calls for Local Vote Rerun After Tally Glitch – Businessweek.