At least where there is no second circular of elections for mayor, mayor or president, we can take a minute distant from the campaign. If an interest in elections, as the incorrigible Democrats want, is to be a turnout, then the 1 from the local elections would point to the average attention that self-government issues rise among us. A small over half of the voters, at the turnout of about 75 percent only six months ago, express the intuitive belief of Poles that these elections were little important. [1]
Less turnout than in national elections is not news. On average, in the 3rd Poland participates in the selection of local somewhat more than 45 percent entitled to vote, while in parliamentary and presidential average more than 50 percent. Once, in 2006, liberal media managed for the first time to stimulate the voters collectively to vote after a year of PiS regulation and then attendance was higher than a year earlier in the elections for parliament and senate. This time it was the another way around. The PiS was just removed from power, so it was harder to mobilize people around anti-script slogans. Moreover, in the local elections, the turnout is exceptionally higher in the countryside (in all another 1 it is the another way around), which even bonus PiS. The absence of crucial changes in support for individual parties over the last six months may prove that they have their bases of devoted supporters and that no scandals, programs or media will importantly change that. It's just that each of these groups dug into their positions.
And after all, the PiS has lost public media, plunged into interior disputes, and the erstwhile nymb of a clean-handed party, which has been challenged for many years, has been subjected to further attempts by the authorities, investigative commissions and prosecutors. On the another hand, the PO gained even greater media advantage and an crucial image for voters (at least electoral, with the administration it can be different). Despite this, both parties stopped on their autumn ceiling of support. In total, the consequence indicates that the PO-PiS duo is doing well.
With advanced attendance there are usually proportionally more guided by superficial slogans and momentary emotions, as well as the election run itself. This, on the another hand, was highly unfreezeful and conducted rather discreetly. Even in many large cities, it was possible to get the impression that democratic rivalry was not held there at all, and that real, competitive political life could not be found. It's like the villagers are giving up their business to others.
The essence of self-government
The democratic strategy of Greek policies the size of the smaller cities of contemporary Poland was right to exist, and thanks to them democracy gained permanent fame, for example, for reasons specified as that everyone participated reasonably actively, socially and with harm to their own interests in the management of the city, besides straight by holding office. Of course, the degree of complexity of the planet is now incomparably greater than before and it is hard to postulate the rotation of authoritative positions at any level, but any truths concerning community, politics and man stay unchanged. A sustainable and coherent community can only be achieved if citizens feel rooted in a community and their participation in it means a joint effort. It is hard to accomplish it in the current migrations of Poles from village to city, from cities to suburbs, from provinces to metropolitan areas, etc. And any effort to increase the participation of residents in the improvement of their communities, specified as the participatory budget or citizens' draft resolutions, is just accruing.
Today, more frequently than from ancient Greeks, we derive the thought of self-government (not only of local self-government, but besides of professional or worker self-government) among others from Catholic social science. Pope Pius XI in the Encyclical Quadrgesimo Annadefined the essential thought of subsidiarity as a request that the social structure of the higher order should not carry out tasks that can execute the social structure of the lower order. "The injustice, social harm and disruption of the strategy is to take distant smaller and lower communities from those tasks that can be fulfilled and passed on to larger and higher communities[1]It’s okay. ” This was a informing against propriety at the central (state) level of tasks performed locally or from the bottom up, as well as the service of people in fulfilling their professional and life responsibilities. This was not only to do paternalistic work for people in providing them, for example, with public services, but to encourage participation in community life, including local ones. It is besides worth drawing attention to the rule of subsidiarity, which recommends that the lower-level communities be supported by the abovementioned so that they can carry out their tasks. However, this is not an end in itself. In the light of the Church's social teaching, the primary nonsubjective is to organize collective life to service man, satisfying his material, intellectual, moral, spiritual and spiritual needs. Hence, not always, and not everywhere, this lowest unit is to have the most competence.
In addition, however, at the occasion of elections and the last weeks, a fewer another myths should be dealt with, which have grown around local government The talk of apoliticalism, world-view neutrality, as well as a democratic, competitive and open fight for power. In addition, the story of the national or Community right (not without the participation of the right hand) has been mitologized over the years as a centralist, distrusting local community and grassroots movements. And it should be able to formulate a counteroffer for a liberal-left agenda.
Apolitical Myth
First of all, we sometimes hear that local governments stay distant from politics, and that voters in local elections sided over political disputes and selected candidates free from organization affiliations. Meanwhile, in Warsaw, Łódź, Poznań and many another cities, the advanced PO representatives have frequently held power for many years, and even during the run they do not hide their organization colours, while the PiS wins 1 3rd of the vote in rather local elections to the councils of the counties. However, local government officials sometimes impose specified a communicative that it is good that they can have government support, as it will be easier for them to get things done, to push them through.
Moreover, voters seem to buy it. Since the PO did not harm the reprivatisation scandal, to put it mildly, the tiny scale and strength of the action, and the measurement of the investment "span" of the capital of the 40-million-dollar country is the footbridge across the river, erstwhile the second metro line has already noted a fewer years delay. In the face of a reasonably real win by Rafał Trzaskowski for a year in the presidential election, it is reported that it is assumed in the PO that now they can put in his place in Warsaw City Hall truly anyone. In fact, with the PO stamp in the flap, it is easier to win not only in Warsaw, but besides Krakow, Gdańsk or Łódź.
The political entanglement of self-government has another dimension. crucial for the well-being of tiny communities, cooperation on the local-government lines sometimes depends profoundly on the political proximity between the ruling country and the authorities in a given city or region. A fresh study by the Institute of Public Finance shows that the municipalities governed by the right at the time of the Law and Justice Government received more than twice as much subsidies as those governed by the opposition or sympathetic to it.[2]. It is easy to see the phenomenon of clientelism towards central authorities, as if it were fewer in municipalities and cities. In addition, it is crucial to keep in head the regional government authorities which are built into our system. It is limited, but sometimes has certain effects. This brings the temptation to send specified a signal to voters – it is worth voting for those who have good relations with the government.
In addition, the political dimension of the elections strengthens the Warsaw- and mostly agglomeration-centric approach to the elections in mainstream media, where 1 can get the impression that the elections are held only in large cities – Warsaw, Kraków, Łódź, Wrocław, Gdańsk, Poznań. This is frequently followed by the authorisation for a diffusion-polarisation improvement model, which will be referred to below.
The story of world-view neutrality of self-government
Similar to the above myth, which we are frequently fed by rulers and the media, is the expected world-view neutrality of local power. But even if individual says that road or infirmary renovation has no ideological color, even the precedence of tasks already reflects the views of the rulers. Not to mention aspects of governance, specified as agreeing or opposing certain political manifestations and another gatherings, supporting multi-children families, LGBT-free zones, backing in vitro or not, etc. For example, erstwhile in 2015 migrant entrepreneurs stormed the borders of Europe, the presidents of the largest Polish cities (Warsaw, Wrocław, Łódź and Białystok), mostly from the Citizen Platform environment, signed an appeal in which, contrary to the interests of Poland and Poles, they declared accepting refugees. Then in 2021, erstwhile most Europeans were painfully and sometimes tragically, like in terrorist attacks, feeling insecure in the streets of their cities, they were inactive wrong, declaring inactive unlimited and unconditional assistance to refugees[3].
We will surely not hear one more time after the change, made possibly overnight, the post-political slogans "Let's build schools, bridges, let's not make politics", known to us from the close past. As shortly as the anti-script and billing emotions run out. Thus, it will proceed to be for local governments to distribute grants according to the key of political and ideological sympathy, to conduct cultural and historical policies more actively or less, and for large cities to become forerunners of progress, trends, closer to large cities from the west and the planet than fellow citizens from the Polish province.
The story of momentum to power and money
We sometimes think of the power of almost all level as fulfilling the dreams of a local activist or a politician who would yet want to make a real decision (they are, too). The administration of a commune or city appears as the embodiment of sleep and the desire of many. Meanwhile, in the last election in all 5th municipality, only 1 candidate for mayor or mayor came forward, showing the deficiency of willingness and attractiveness of these positions. It is unpopular to say that Members' and Senators' salaries, but besides councillors and mayors' presently stand in minus from average earnings in comparable liable professions. However, this is inactive associated with many privileges and prestige, but without changing this situation let us not anticipate people with ambition to start to grasp politics.
A local committee at the level of a tiny municipality can in fact set up and accomplish comparative success in local elections a well-organised group of activists, if it comes to good time and susceptible ground for political interests. However, it inactive remains a tiny economical interest. The councillors are underpaid, although they inactive have their social functions. A problem for the day-to-day activities of authorities and many another local institutions (for example, cultural institutions – museums, theatres). Similarly, local government officials are underpaid. It looks worse in the region complex administration, which is subject to the ancients. Even if the counties were to make sense of existence, a change of thought about the state and the authoritative apparatus should be more crucial after the election run than the acquisition of EU grants.
There is another problem with the improvement model of Poland. Namely, what will happen to Polish local governments after the expiry of the EU fund stream? This will happen 1 day, and it may sometimes be felt that it is the only thought to function. We know that this gap will not be filled with either own funds or state subsidies, and the public-private partnership has been pushed out by grants before it has developed for good.
Just as the administrative strategy in Poland is not easy to understand, so these elections are always a major logistical challenge for political parties, but besides for voters. A complex administrative system, overlapping in any areas 3 levels of self-government, in the background of the government administration in the voivodship, united at any levels and unfused administration make a hard mosaic of power. The media besides do not aid in dissolving its competences, due to the fact that erstwhile you take a taxi in Warsaw, you can sometimes hear that Kaczyński is liable for traffic. It may most likely be about Lech, the president of Warsaw from 2002 to 2005, who died in 2010, who had been working for 19 years.
Despite this, self-government is for the parties hundreds of institutions to fill, provincial companies and an component of endurance of hard times of opposition. This is where the opposition organization can be built, prepare to retake power, and in the absence of an extended network of think tanks send to their activists, who until late held various functions at government level.
The triumph of the PiS?
Also in this context 1 should look at the euphoria in the PiS, which prevailed after the 9th consecutive victory. The radiant grin of Jarosław Kaczyński pointed to the weight of the stone that fell from his heart on election night. The background created by prominent PiS activists in people specified as Jacek Kurski, Mariusz Kamiński, Joachim Brudziński shows that there will be no reflections, interior reforms or even more generational changes. Furthermore, the PiS structures, which have proven their worth in regional bastions ( Lublin, Świętokrzyskie, Podkarpackie) but besides in powiat Poland (in the elections to the councils of the PiS powiats won 1 3rd of the vote, more than the governing coalition jointly taken), can prove to the organization board that matters are going in the right direction. The problems, of course, stay the same as at national level: the deficiency of coalitions and the effective surrounding of the PiS with a sanitary cordon. But adequate to regulation in respective voivodships.
The Confederacy in turn maintained the consequence of the election to the parliament in hard competitions for them, and both parties besides feel Schadenfreude Because of the failure of the left.
Is the end of post-communism?
Hope is given by the weakest consequence of the left, united in years, i.e. post-communists and the fresh left with Together, and in any places starting together with alleged urban movements. It may be besides early to announce that on 7 April 2024 post-communism ended in Poland, but all the problems of this formation were highlighted in the campaign, elections and even more in the post-election period. The left has no contact with the social masses, what we knew and before the election. For a moment, however, it seemed that it might be interesting for example in Warsaw, where Magdalena Biejat bit Trzaskowski, but even after the election of fresh Left activists, they said that they did not lose from PO. This may mean a permanent drift towards a consumed Tusk appetizer or a organization of 1 group of subjects, which would make it a mirrored reflection of a part of the right hand a year ago.
Renewed Confederation
Let's go back to the right side of the political scene, where for the first time in a long time PiS had competition in self-government. And what's more, he's a rival with a greater coalition capacity. Even if the coalition with the Unpartisan Local Governments has not been a success to measurement expectations, it shows the dediabolization of the Confederate and any political maturity and the realism of its leaders. Krzysztof Bosak
During the election evening, he emphasized that the mediocre consequence in cities is not a surprise, and the base for his organization (he did not add, but as for PiS) are smaller centres and villages. erstwhile again, the map of support for this formation has a darker colour in the east of the country.
It must besides be said that the Confederacy programme should not be just a political offer for self-employed young people who are selfish about the community, who want carnival and consumption. They are cared for (though frequently purely rhetorically) by almost everyone, and the causative force of the 3rd Way, as it spreads in the ruling coalition, is greater in crucial subjects for this group. If the Confederate is to enter into a dialog with the widely understood Polish province, then it must know and respond programically to its demands, namely those for which public services, good schools, clinics and hospitals are important, and decent pensions, even if these institutions cost. So not lowering the income of the NFZ or voluntary ZUS as a way to plow it should be a precedence of the organization of the Polish province. Public transport and the fight against transport exclusion are besides crucial in this province, whose right to have an SUV will not solve, and this fresh electorate will not afford it anyway. It's yet world-view issues and getting in the first line in a cultural war that may be ahead of us.
It's besides a question of any political pragmatism. due to the fact that in the face of the change in the TD, for the support of entrepreneurs, besides tiny ones, respective parties are already seeking. Despite good results and even better polls, it may so turn out that the current "development model" of the party, based on a successful transmission, will run out. Of course, there is simply a firm and fair support for the protests of carriers or farmers. But be careful not to fall into the right but reactive negation. The offer should so be affirmative and wider, and comparatively easy-to-speak elections to the European Parliament should not obscure the request for programme and political work in the directions indicated above.
Right and Local Poland
This may be even opposed to the model of diffusion-polarization development, and the centres of improvement are to be only large cities. The model rightly criticized during the period of the PO (and PSL, i.e. the provincial party) was not effectively broken during the PiS period. However, the right-wing program for cities should not be just reactionary. These are not only 5 wege (and so post) and opposition to partially reasonable demands regarding collective transport, concrete, automobiles or urban greenery. For example, the right should rethink and imitate the strategy of housing municipal policy. frequently in the past so unfair and inhuman. The right from the left and the liberals had a different approach to security. Ba, it utilized to be the flagship slogan of PiS, and Lech Kaczyński, among others, won in Warsaw in 2002. present there may not be as many insignificant crimes as there were in large cities, and our sense of safety has increased, but the neglects of civilian protection are much more relevant. Both of these issues should be among the foundations of the local government programme.
We should besides tame the right-wing elector in the planet of urbanised and tomized urban piers, with the imagination of a 15-minute town that carries roots, as we have late written in our pages.
Like the rhymes with it, but besides with the escape from the aforementioned agglomeration model, the slogan of deglomeration Largo sense.
SEE ALSO: Degglomeration as a doctrine of improvement | CMG
In an even broader sense, it could mean decentralisation of offices besides at the level of voivodships or powiats. Not everything needs to be concentrated in regional capitals.
Regional policy is inactive an issue of infrastructure and even of linking tiny villages and towns to a local agglomeration or between middle-sized cities. The second leaves a lot to be desired in respective places, although competently (and this is the weak point of our administrative strategy in practice) goes beyond 1 municipality. It is about projects that are more ambitious than the ridicule already common and the aforementioned Warsaw footbridge.
These are crucial challenges, and if you look at the run of the local government right, you can see opposition to lockdowns that are not there, and in the state in practice there has never been, and the fight against parking spaces that are missing in both mediate and tiny cities. In a word, the right is fighting the chocholas created by itself. After all, introducing your own agenda at the level of the voivodship, region or cities is simply a good school of management and implementation of public policies in practice, besides as an example for others and a model for the full country.
[1] Pius XI, Encilika Quadragesimo Anna, n. 80.
[2] Mr Skwirowski, Thus the government supported its local governments, “Republic’2024, No 78 (12839).
[3]Presidents of the Polish Metropolitan Union declare their willingness to aid refugees – Radio Poznań (radiopoznan.fm).
