As it happened, despite what I observed at Polling Station No. 626 (primary school on ulica Sarabandy), the overall turnout across Poland was disappointingly low at 51% (far lower than the 74% in last autumn’s parliamentary vote). In Jeziorki, turnout was 64%.
Warsaw's Rafał Trzaskowski won 57.4%, a resounding first-round victory for a popular mayor. He was one of four big-city mayors who won in the first round, along with the incumbents in Łódź, Gdańsk and Katowice. Other than Katowice’s mayor, a local independent, these are all Civic Coalition (KO) members.
Kraków, Wrocław and Poznań will require a second round of mayoral elections as no candidate received more than 50% of the vote; the second-round mayoral elections will be on Sunday 21 April.
In a result mirroring October’s parliamentary election, PiS won the largest vote share (34.3%) but lost power overall. KO won 30.6%, Trzecia Droga won 14.3%, Konfederacja/Bezpartyjni Samorządowcy 7.2% and Lewica 6.3%. Trzecia Droga (including PSL, the agrarian party) really should have done better. The brand, now established as a part of the government coalition, was expected to push PiS aside across rural Poland, but failed to do that. Lewica was the real loser of these elections, maybe because so few young people bothered to vote. This will weaken them within the governing coalition, of which they are the junior party.
The next few days will see deals being made between parties at voivodship level to determine who will have overall control of them. Despite winning a higher vote share, PiS is likely to lose power in two or three voivodships, leaving the party with a majority in six of the 16 local parliaments (sejmiki), in the south-east corner of Poland.
Once the deals have been made and the constitution of all local councils is known, there will be a clearer picture as to what effect the local elections will have on citizens' lives on a day-to-day level.
I am a great believer in the influence of local governments in shaping quality of life. Environmental quality (air quality, waste collection and recycling, traffic management, public transport). Poland today has advanced hugely over the country to which I moved in 1997, to the benefit of all in the above regards. I'd like to see better public transport, less dumping of household waste and litter, better air quality (less burning crap to warm houses), and more provision of pavements and footpaths for pedestrians.
Compared to the UK, where local taxes ('rates') are astronomical, Polish land tax is laughably low, although this is augmented by income tax, which is collected locally and remains with the local authority in which you are registered. Corporation tax and VAT are collected and spent at the national level.
Next up will be the European parliamentary elections – I hope these are taken seriously by Poles young and old, and that populism will not be given a free hand because of indifference and complacency.
This time seven years ago:
Conscious prayer
History repeating - or is it?
This time 11 years ago:
Sunshine, snow, April
This time 13 years ago:
In vino veritas
This time 14 years ago:
Are we getting more intelligent?
This time 15 years ago:
Lenten recipe No. 6
This time 16 years ago:
Coal trains, Konstancin-Jeziorna
This time 17 years ago:
Jeziorki from the air
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