Democracy Digest: Ten Ways to Undermine Polish Election

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For the government, the matter is simple. It wants the election as soon as possible, while incumbent President Andrzej Duda is still the favourite to win and before the coronavirus crisis tanks the economy.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki conceded for the first time that a May 10 election is not set in stone. It might also happen on May 17 or May 23, he told a news conference, adding that a decision would be made "in due time".

Meanwhile, Morawiecki tasked Polish Post with organising a nationwide postal vote for May, even as a draft law that introduced postal voting for this presidential election awaits parliamentary approval. (Approved by the lower chamber, it is still being debated in the upper house.)

Almost everything about this coronavirus election has raised eyebrows, but here are 10 areas of special controversy.

A healthcare professional listens to opera singer Zbigniew Kulwicki during a Concert for Doctors in front of Wladyslaw Bieganski hospital in Grudziadz, Poland, 30 April 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE/TYTUS ZMIJEWSKI

1.

Jacek Sasin, the Minister of State Assets, is coordinating the postal vote without a legal basis. Sasin confirmed in late April that his ministry was already printing ballots, even if the draft law on postal voting — which also gives Sasin a key role in coordinating the organisation of the elections — was nowhere near being approved.

Passed by the Sejm lower house on April 6, the draft law is parked in the Senate upper house for analysis and a separate vote.

In the most likely scenario,...