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Political
Support for Polish opposition rises above ruling party in poll
Support for Poland’s main opposition Civic Platform (PO) party rose above the level for the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) in a poll for the first time in nearly two years, a survey by Kantar Millward Brown published on April 26 shows.
It is the first poll since May 2015 to show the populist and nationalist PiS trailing. The ruling party's advantage over the centrist PO and other opposition parties has been on the decrease recently, especially after the ruling party’s humiliating failure in March to block the re-election of Donald Tusk for a second term as head of the European Council.
Meanwhile, PO appears to have benefitted from a recovery in support since protests in parliament in December led by Nowoczesna - which led opposition parties in polls last year - collapsed. The poll’s result suggests renewed bipartisanship in Polish politics, with PiS and PO enjoying a combined 30pp lead over six other parties.
In the Kantar Millward Brown poll, PO has 31% support, 2pp ahead of PiS. The self-proclaimed anti-system group Kukiz’15 has 10%, followed by centre-left SLD at 6%. Nowoczesna has seen support collapse to just 5%. In Poland, a party needs to scoop at least that share of the vote to enter parliament.
The Agrarian PSL, libertarian Freedom, and social democratic Together, are all at 3% in the poll. US-owned broadcaster TVN commissioned the poll, which was carried over the phone on a sample of 1,001 people. Phone polls typically yield much different results from the ones done face to face, such as an earlier April poll by the same pollster, in which PiS had 38% of support, versus PO’s 19%.
Media freedom in the Visegrad and Baltic states largely went into reverse in 2017, the latest World Press Freedom Index released by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on April 26 showed.
Estonia was the only one of the seven states to avoid falling down the ranking, which was headed by Norway. Sticking to the Baltic Sea, Finland’s fall from top spot for the first time in six years was due to meddling by the prime minister – an unsavoury episode that reflects a generally bleak picture in the 2017 report, which details intense pressure applied on the media by states, business interests and criminal groups.
"The 2017 World Press Freedom Index reflects a world in which attacks on the media have become commonplace and strongmen are on the rise,” the report reads. “We have reached the age of post-truth, propaganda, and suppression of freedoms.”
The fall in media freedom is particularly notable in European democracies, RSF says. However, North Korea remains at the bottom of the ranking.
Within Visegrad and the Baltics, that honour goes to Hungary for yet another year as the country fell a further 4 places to 71st. “Viktor Orban has steadily tightened his grip on the media since his re-election as prime minister in 2010,” the report reads.
The shutdown in October of liberal newspaper Nepszabadsag is noted as a low point within the past six years. Meanwhile, figures close to the PM continue to buy up media assets. “The rapacious appetite of the ruling party has no limits,” the analysts sum up.
Poland, which has followed the Orban blueprint closely since the nationalist PiS government took over in late 2015, suffered the biggest fall in this year’s index. The country has dropped seven positions to the 54th spot because, as RSF states, the government has put the freedom of the media
Press freedom on the wane in Visegrad and Baltics, warns RSF
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