More than 3,000 Polish people living in Iceland have been registered on the electoral roll for presidential elections in Poland. Last year’s general elections saw a great difference between the votes counted here and the overall results.
According to Polish ambassador to Iceland Gerard Pokruszynski, more than 3,000 people have registered as voters at the embassy, which is more than the 2,656 who voted in last fall’s parliamentary elections. The deadline to register with the embassy is June 25th. “There is considerable talk about the election among Poles here,” Gerard told Fréttablaðið.
Andrzej Duda, presiding over the Law and Justice party, and Rafal Trzakowski, the Civic Platform’s nominee, are expected to advance to the second round of elections. There are three other strong candidates who are supported by the parties currently in the Sejm: Robert Biedron for the Leftist Spring Party, Krzysztof Bosak of the far right National Movement, and Wladislaw Kosiniak-Kamyz representing the Polish People’s Party.
Elections were originally scheduled for May 10th, but were postponed due to the COVID-19 epidemic. Initially, the elections were scheduled to continue as planned, but criticism both domestically and abroad pressured the government to postpone them. On June 3rd, Sejm Marshal Elżbieta Witek ordered the first round of the elections to be held on June 28th, and scheduled the second round, if necessary, on July 12th 2020.
The extent of participation in the election is uncertain. However, according to a poll, over a third of voters oppose the agreement to hold elections this summer. It is worth noting that the results of the last parliamentary elections among Polish people in Iceland were considerably at odds with the overall results. The Law and Justice Party gained only 17 percent of votes in Iceland, but won the majority in Poland. Time will tell how the results of this election will compare.
As ever, those looking for more information or advice should go to the Icelandic Government’s excellent COVID-19 help page.
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