If you’ve been paying (very very close) attention to the
BBC or my beloved NPR, you’ll have noticed that we had elections this past
Sunday in Poland.  Out with the old super
conservative PM Jarosław Kaczynski!  In with
the new...center conservative...PM Donald Tusk...

Woot.

The voter turnout Sunday was the highest for
parliamentary elections since the end of communism in 1989, at 53% – much
higher than anyone expected.  Precincts
in Warsaw and Gdańsk actually ran out of ballots because of the unusually big
turnout.  On election day, Gazeta
Wyborcza, the leading nationwide paper, left 60% of the front page blank to
symbolize the percentage of the population whose voices were not heard at the
last election. 

Kaczynski has taken the stance that public television ended
his prime ministership.  TVP ran an ad campaign
to encourage young people to “Get out to vote – go change Poland.”  According to Kaczynski, “The ‘go out to vote’
part was fine – but the ‘go change Poland’ thing was a clear suggestion that
they should vote against the government.” 
(source: the beatroot)

Um...yeah.  Clearly
the ad campaign was the problem, and nothing he has done in the past two years
had an effect on the elections.  It was
even Kaczynski who called for re-elections in the middle of his term, in a grab
for more power in the parliament (more Law & Justice seats).  This after a disastrous stint in playing the “incestuous
political bedfellows that make NO SENSE” game.

I’m not entirely clear on all the politics, or what the
new regime will bring.  But a few things
seem to be for sure:

1. Did you know that the Polish president is the
   ex-prime minister’s twin brother?  Oh
   yeah!  So Tusk will be working with the
   other Kaczynski, a Mr. Lech, who will surely make parliament a loving and
   nurturing place for him.  Can anyone say “veto”?
2. Tusk’s party, the Civic Platform, is short of a
   majority in parliament, which means it will be making nice with the Polish
   Peasants Party, which is just another example of the “incestuous political
   bedfellows that make NO SENSE” game.
3. Tusk and his party has claimed to be all about
   pulling out of Iraq, so that’s one to the ovaries to the home States.
4. Tusk is all about pro-EU and pro-business; less
   governmental intervention; equalizing the effects of the change from communism
   to capitalism, which screwed over a whole LOT of people; and enticing young
   Poles to return from richer European countries. 
   He also seems not to be a Jew-hater (plus) or a religious fanatic
   (double plus), but the ‘mo issue is not looking so good.  I will probably be hearing about Konstanty
   Gebert complaining to the PM again, for having to miss Shabbos services because
   he felt compelled to march with the gays for their rights.  Ah, the man could make me a Jew.
5. Tusk is a politician.  Dude, he actually says shit like, “I'm the
   most happy person on earth today, not because after a big effort of many people
   we won — of course, that is satisfying — but I'm (the) most happy person on earth
   because today I met fellow Poles on the street, in the polling stations, who
   were smiling, who said with their eyes that tomorrow is going to be a better
   day.”  (source: NPR)  Just reading it makes me want to wash my
   mouth out with sand and soap.

The lack of coverage of Polish news and politics in American
and international media is due to an ambivalence on the part of outsiders.  It’s Poland. 
Who cares?  Poles often ask me
what Americans think of Poles and Poland, because everybody has an opinion
about Americans and America, of course. 
My stock answer:  “Well...Americans
don’t exactly think about Poland...at all...”

If you’re at all curious, the beatroot runs a great English-language
blog.  Even if he’s not an
environmentalist, he does make funny jokes, like “What do the Kaczynskis do on
a tennis court? They play volleyball!” Come to think of it, he probably didn’t
make that one up.  And also, he only used
it under pressure, while everyone was waiting for the results of the elections
(they were delayed for over three hours.)

Next up: the mayor of San Francisco (who reminds me of
Bateman from American Psycho) gets re-elected! 
The Democratic and Republican primaries! 
Tell me it ain’t Giuliani! 
Politics totally raises my blood pressure!