Thousands of supporters of a conservative opposition party in Poland marched on Saturday to protest the results of recent local elections, which party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski says were falsified. The November elections were marred by problems, with a computer glitch delaying results and many ballots declared invalid because voters apparently were confused and marked them incorrectly. However, there is no indication they were falsified. Kaczynski’s critics accuse him of making false claims about the election outcome to motivate his base ahead of national elections next year. His supporters marched in Warsaw under the slogan “in the support of democracy,” chanting “repeat the elections.”
Kaczynski’s party, Law and Justice, won the most votes in recent elections but got fewer seats in local assemblies than the governing Civic Platform due to the way seats are apportioned. Exit polls had shown Law and Justice with a larger margin than it ended up getting.
“The current authorities have begun a media campaign against everyone who says that falsification occurred,” Kaczynski told protesters in a speech, calling this a “disgrace.”
Law and Justice led the government from 2005 to 2007, with Kaczynski as prime minister for part of the time. Kaczynski has failed to win any national elections since then.
Full Article: Thousands Protest Election Results in Poland – ABC News.