Polish ruling party holds key convention as elections loom

The party and its allies as part of the United Right coalition were expected to hammer out an election platform at the three-day convention in the southern city of Katowice.

The event, headlined "Thinking Poland 2019," includes dozens of panel discussions and debates by politicians and experts to sum up the governing conservatives’ more than three-and-a-half years in power and float ideas for the parliamentary election campaign, according to reports.

Immediately after the convention, which started on Friday and runs until Sunday, politicians are expected to hit the road to meet with voters nationwide and rally support ahead of the autumn’s parliamentary vote, state news agency PAP has reported, citing campaign staffers for the Law and Justice party.

Meanwhile, the Civic Coalition, an alliance of Polish opposition groups, has embarked on a crucial vote-getting tour in the run-up to the autumn’s parliamentary election.

The leader of Poland’s ruling conservatives, Jarosław Kaczyński, in early June thanked voters who supported his party and its allies in last month’s European elections and asked for more votes during the national parliamentary ballot in the autumn.

Kaczyński said at the end of last month that his grouping won Poland’s European Parliament ballot with the best showing for any party in any elections in the country since the collapse of communism in 1989.

The governing Law and Justice party garnered 45.38 percent of the vote, while its arch-rival, the European Coalition alliance of opposition parties, scored 38.47 percent.

The vote on May 26 was a key test for Poland’s political parties ahead of national parliamentary elections in the autumn.

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Source: IAR, PAP