Opposition parties object to Kopacz vs Szydło debate
PR dla Zagranicy
Alicja Baczyńska
16.10.2015 09:49
Agrarian Polish People's Party, United Left and Kukiz'15 protest party demand Monday's clash between the two key contenders ahead of the parliamentary elections on 25 October be called off.
Beata Szydło (L) and PM Ewa Kopacz (R) are set to meet on 18 October. Photo: PAP/Maciej Kulczyński/Radek Pietruszka
The showdown between Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz, from ruling Civic Platform (PO), and deputy head of Law and Justice (PiS) Beata Szydło, comes a day ahead of another debate, taking in all eight groupings vying for mandates in the 25 October elections.
"There has never been a two-party system in Poland, and Poles have never wanted one, but there are two parties who dream of such duopoly," Barbara Nowacka, leader of United Left, told a press conference held in Parliament on Thursday.
Deputy prime minister Janusz Piechociński, whose Polish People's Party is a junior coalition member to ruling Civic Platform, described the one-on-one pre-election debate "an assault on democracy."
Meanwhile, the heads of two campaign staffs, Marcin Kierwiński (PO) and Stanisław Karczewski (PiS), representing the top contenders in the general elections, see no reason why the clash should be called off.
Public broadcastern TVP shares this view. "It needs to be stressed that the upcoming programme, Beata Szydło and Ewa Kopacz. A discussion on Poland, is not a debate in the light of regulations stemming from the Electoral Code, but rather a current affairs programme," the broadcaster wrote in its communiqué on Thursday. (aba/rk)
Source: PAP