Poland’s conservative Law and Justice party (PiS) is insisting the presidential election should go ahead as planned on May 10 despite calls from opposition politicians to postpone election due to the coronavirus outbreak.
That is the right call.
Opposition politicians are demanding the election be postponed because they say their campaigns are being affected by the coronavirus crisis. They complain that the current situation favors the incumbent, President Andrzej Duda.
Some opposition parties believe a state of emergency should be called or a change the constitution is necessary to secure a postponement—the same constitution that has for years supposedly been sacred to them.
The May 10 date should be respected unless the situation turns into a cataclysm that would fully justify declaring a state of emergency. So far, all we have is an extraordinary situation which could have happened at any time. Major events such as the coronavirus outbreak can always influence voters one way or the other. Sometimes these events benefits those in power and other times those in the opposition.
It is entirely possible that the epidemic may weaken by May, at which time voters may focus more issues such as taxes, migration, and defense, which are the type of concerns that will factor in the election no matter what the state of coronavirus is in the country.
For now, the situation we have today is a test for both the president and all other candidates in the running.
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