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Poland to hold parliamentary elections on October 13

06.08.2019 20:15
Polish President Andrzej Duda on Tuesday decided the country’s parliamentary elections will take place on October 13.
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After four years in power, Poland’s ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party will be bidding for a second term following its landslide win in the national elections of late 2015.

Law and Justice is ahead in the opinion polls while the opposition appears divided.

In an interview last week, Duda said he was in favour of holding the elections to the upper and lower houses at the earliest possible date in order to keep campaigning short.

“An election campaign is never a calm period by its very nature, it's always a time of political clashes,” Duda said.

Poland’s biggest parties are bitterly at odds with each other while political divisions in society also run deep.

Law and Justice is expected by many to clinch another term in office, boosted by its generous welfare spending, Poland’s strong economic growth and historically low unemployment.

The governing party is leading in the polls despite frictions with the European Union over controversial reforms of the Polish judiciary which have seen Law and Justice accused of violating the rule of law -- charges which it denies.

The party’s four years in power have also seen it clash with Brussels over migration and environmental policy.

(pk)