Donald Tusk and wife Malgorzata
For the complete report from the EUobserver.com click on this link
Polish elections remain unpredictable ahead of Sunday vote - by Lucia Kubosova
This Sunday the biggest of the new Eastern Block member states that joined the EU in 2004 with 38.2 million inhabitants, Poland is holding its seventh parliamentary election since the fall of communism in 1989.
Mr Kaczynski's key rival in Sunday's elections is Donald Tusk, the leader of the pro-business and pro-European Civic Platform (PO), who is promising to improve Poland's problematic relations with other EU countries and bring along stability after months of political turmoil. Mr Tusk has also said he will cut down red tape for businesses, introduce a 15 percent flat tax and improve the country's absorption of EU funds. If the brothers lose, it may be because Tusk manages to unify Poles who have grown tired of the stridency -- directed at German politicians, former communist informers, gay-rights campaigners and many others -- that's become a Kaczynski hallmark, said Bogdan Wojciszke, a professor at Warsaw's School of Social Psychology.
``The Kaczynskis have significantly strengthened this sense that the world is unjust,'' he said. ``This just sustains a harmful and debilitating myth. The coming vote will show how many Poles prefer the myth to stay alive and how many want to opt for reality.''
New polls conducted by PBS DGA and the Center for Public Research both show the Platform with 39 percent of the vote and Law & Justice with 34 percent; a third poll, by Gfk, put the Platform lead at three percentage points. Either party would require a coalition with smaller parties that exceed the 5 percent threshold for representation in the parliament.
Note EU-Digest:Poland under the leadership of the twin brothers Jaroslaw Kaczynski and Lech Kaczynski has not only ridiculed Poland on the international scene, but also worked as a stumble block in relation to the advancement of European unity.
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