• October 10, 2012
  • 235

Vilnius-Trakai single-member constituency: “fratricidal” fight?

© DELFI (A.Solomino nuotr.)

In the Vilnius-Trakai single-member constituency there are five Poles running for a seat: Jarosław Narkiewicz, Aleksander Popławski, Stanisław Tarasiewicz, Jan Sadowski and Ałła Dekan. Some candidates call it the breaking of the Polish electorate; others oppose and argue that Polish voters can have various political views.

Jarosław Narkiewicz from the AWPL party (The Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania), who won a seat from the Vilnius-Trakai single-member constituency in the previous parliamentary election is sure that in this way Lithuanian parties want to gain single votes of the local Poles. “Lithuanians do not think that those candidates will win, but it is a way of distracting Polish voters from AWPL and drawing them towards the Lithuanian lists. I see it as an action made in favour of other parties.”-emphasized Jarosław Narkiewicz in his conversation with PL DELFI. The Poles who run for seats from lists of other parties do not agree with this opinion.

Breaking of Polish electorate?

Narkiewicz thinks that the fact that Poles run from other parties’ lists leads to breaking the Polish electorate. “Of course it is a way of breaking up the Polish electorate. Some parties try to attract Polish voters using the Poles on call. Why “on call”? Take Tarasiewicz: once he was on the liberal party’s list, now he is running from the list of “YES” Association”- said the MP.

Stanisław Tarasiewicz, a journalist, who also tries to win a seat from the Vilnius-Trakai region, starting from the “YES” Association (Sajunga TAIP) believes that there is no breaking of the Polish electorate, because there is no Polish electoral monolith whatsoever. “The fact that in Vilnius-Trakai region there is the biggest number of Poles running for an office from different parties is not something unusual, because among the voters Poles are also the most popular group there. Previous results showed that the voters there have different political views. That is why in this region one time it was the socio-liberal candidate who won, in another case- Labour Party’s one and the previous time- AWPL’s representative. Will he win again? We will see, because during my conversations with voters I have not heard, so far, even one positive opinion about this MP. There were many negative ones. Therefore, all conversations about breaking the Polish electorate should be treated like a substitute topic that appears because of lack of arguments”- commented Stanisław Tarasiewicz in his conversation with PL DELFI.

Voter will decide

Some of the Polish candidates from the outside of AWPL do not believe that they will win. Ałła Dekan from the Liberal Movement (Liberalų sąjūdis) is convinced that Narkiewicz will win the election. “I think it will be so. It has not been the first time that he runs for a seat, so they will probably choose him,”- she said to PL DELFI.

And Tarasiewicz, differently that Dekan, is more optimistic. “In this constituency everyone fights for votes of different people- I seek for the support of so-called traditional electorate, the liberal one and the young one. Other Polish candidates, including the representative of AWPL and “The Road of Courage” (Drąsos kelias), fight for the votes of so-called protest electorate, and nationality has no meaning here. Who will win- the voters will decide, and maybe even the weather, because the moods of people depend on it, too”- pointed out the candidate. Dekan said that she also feels some support of the voters. “When I talk to them, they say they will vote for me. It is difficult to tell if it is honest.”- said the representative of the Liberal Movement.

Out of 11 candidates, 5 are Poles

PL DELFI reminds that in Vilnius-Trakai single-member constituency there is 11 candidates and 5 of them are Poles: Ałła Dekan (Liberal Movement), Jarosław Narkiewicz (AWPL), Aleksander Popławski (“Order and Justice” – “Tvarka ir teisingumas”), Jan Sadowski (“Republican Party” – „Respublikonų partija”) and Stanisław Tarasiewicz (“YES” Association).

Jarosław Narkiewicz currently represents the Vilnius-Trakai region in the Seym, and Aleksander Popławski was chosen an MP from this constituency in 2000. Popławski was then starting as a social-liberal representative, during the term of office he moved to Zuokas’ Liberal Union of Lithuania and then to Rolandas Paksas’ party. In 2004 he did not manage to be re-elected to the Seym.

Source: http://pl.delfi.lt/aktualia/litwa/wilensko-trocki-okreg-jednomandatowy-bratobojcza-walka.d?id=59730747

Tłumaczenie Emilia Zawieracz w ramach praktyk w Europejskiej Fundacji Praw Człowieka, www.efhr.eu. Translated by Emilia Zawieracz the framework of a traineeship programme of the European Foundation of Human Rights, www.efhr.eu.

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