Polish opposition leader wants early elections

Asked in an interview with the private RMF FM radio station if he believes early elections can take place, even though the Law and Justice (PiS) party won a landslide election victory in October, Petru said: “I want to work on that, so they take place [...] The sooner the better.”

“Empires usually fall at the peak of their glory and this is precisely that moment in PiS,” he added.

The conservative Law and Justice has faced a barrage of criticism over controversial changes it has introduced to the media and judiciary. PiS has denied claims that it is undermining democracy in Poland.

Meanwhile, Nowoczesna has climbed rapidly in the opinion polls and some observers have touted Petru as the real leader of the opposition in Poland.

At the same time, the Civic Platform, which led a coalition government for eight years until losing the 25 October general election, has been faring poorly.

Petru, a well-known economist, has also been a prominent figure in anti-government protests in recent months.

Asked how he could overcome PiS’s parliamentary majority, Petru said: “I know one thing: there is not full unanimity in the way PiS thinks, for now there is only a dictatorship. The dictatorship of the head of Law and Justice [Jarosław Kaczyński].

“But it is not possible for this dictatorship to last three-and-a-half years” until the next scheduled parliamentary elections.

Petru’s Nowoczesna party has emerged just 3 percentage points behind the governing Law and Justice in a recent opinion poll.

According to the survey, which was carried out by Millward Brown for TVN, Nowoczesna would garner 27 percent of the vote if a general election were to be held this month, while Law and Justice (PiS) would win with 30 percent. (pk)

Source: www.rmf24.pl