National Stadium opened ahead of elections?

Although President Bronislaw Komorowski has not announced the exact date of the election, the Polish Constitution stipulates that parliamentary elections should be held between 6 October and 4 November this year, ahead of the official opening date of the National Stadium.

According to the centre-right Rzeczpospolita daily, however, unofficially Civic Platform has another plan, quoting a civil servant at the Sports Ministry as saying that the date which Tusk announced was given in “order to avoid embarrassment.”

It is thought that the November date has been set so that Civic Platform can claim success ahead of the election if the stadium were to be opened earlier, and to avoid further payments resulting from contractors wanting more money due to an approaching deadline.

The National Stadium in Warsaw was previously meant to have been opened at the end of June, although construction error has put the date back until the end of November.

There is a possibility that the stadium might be opened ahead of time. Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Physical Education and Sports, Ireneusz Ras told the Rzeczpospolita daily that “work is moving swiftly” on the National Stadium, and that it may “well indeed be finished earlier.” (jb)