If it continues to hold, the likely electoral victory of Poland’s opposition last night is good news for all those concerned by the health of Polish democracy. In a recent piece in The Atlantic, Anne Applebaum painted a dire picture of creeping state capture, suggesting that in some ways, ‘Poland already [resembled] an autocracy,’ and eloquently arguing why the election campaign was ‘neither free nor fair.’
She has a point. Yet, notwithstanding the ruling party’s vicious and paranoia-driven campaign, the election was bound to be a highly competitive one. But even if the Law and Justice Party (PiS) won enough mandates to form a government, it would hardly be in a position to place the country on a one-way path to authoritarianism.
Bringing down the temperature in Polish politics must also be treated as a matter of urgency
The rhetoric of ‘democratic backsliding’ in Central Europe conflating the situation in Poland and Hungary has been misleading.
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