With 90% of the vote counted, it's clear the democratic opposition in Poland just defeated the national-conservative autocratic ruling party.
I know that there are a lot of terrible things happening right now, but this, finally, is actual good news:
🎁 article (accessible for 14days):
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/10/poland-parliamentary-election-autocracy-tusk/675656/?gift=vgGG9ZUNBmD_We5Zd_3wgFvDxUYDbfq_BpYdQk2s_pY&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
Poland held elections to its parliament in September 2005. Its lower house, the Sejm, is elected proportionally from closed lists. The Senate is elected in two- or three-member winner-take-all districts. While this feature of Senate elections should discourage small parties from running candidates, more and more parties contest elections with each passing cycle. Despite a relatively high threshold of 5% to enter the Sejm, small, ideologically similar parties proliferate, and coalition-building remains a challenge. This paper looks the intersections of Poland’s electoral system and party behavior, coalition-bulding, and turnout. It also considers the potential implications of a change to the formula used to allocate Sejm seats.
Thanks for posting this link to Anne Applebaum's article.
The Polish election offers a glimmer of hope when there is so much darkness in so many other places.
"Nothing is inevitable about the rise of autocracy or the decline of democracy. Invest your time in political and civic organization if you want to create change, because sometimes it works."
(Anne Applebaum)
@nicholasbuzzred - democracy: it’s about not tolerating others speaking for you, for others and having all who speak for themselves be heard.
That’s respect.
That’s how we learn from each other, help each other.
That’s the point.
yarko
EllenMarch2
Ben
the roamer
ArtBear on Firefish
ansible42
NicholasBuzzred