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Warsaw mayor survives recall vote after too low turnout

PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle 14.10.2013 11:33
Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz has thanked citizens of Warsaw after a referendum attempting to recall her as mayor on Sunday failed after an insufficient number of voters took part.
PAP Bartłomiej Zborowski

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Not enough voters turned out on Sunday to make recall election valid: photo - PAP Bartłomiej Zborowski

"I thank all the citizens of Warsaw very much," the capital's mayor said in a statement on Monday morning, adding that the result was "an expression of confidence" in her office.

"I'll try not to disappoint your expectations. I also understand, however, that the people of Warsaw expect not only large investments in infrastructure but also conversation and dialogue. I will be seeing you again next year at the real election," she said, referring to mayoral elections scheduled for 2014.

The turnout in the referendum, forced by local opposition politicians from left wing and conservative groups, failed to gain a turnout of three-fifths of the number who took part in election for mayor in 2010, which was won by Gronkiewicz-Waltz.

The magic number on Sunday for the opposition group was 29.1 percent, though the election committee announcing on Monday morning that turnout was just 25.66 percent.

The opposition needed 389,430 votes to be cast, with a majority of those calling for Grnkiewicz-Waltz to stand down. On Sunday, only 343, 732 voters went to the polls, say election officials.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who leads Gronkiewicz-Waltz's centre-right Civic Platform party, called for his supporters to stay at home on Sunday and make the vote invalid.

The president of Poland, Bronislaw Komorowski, an ally of Donald Tusk and former member of Civic Platform, also called for voters to stay away.

Leader of the group which sort to unseat the mayor, Piotr Guzial, the left wing leader of the Ursynow district council, said that Civic Platform's call for voters to stay at home was an attempt by the party to "trample democracy".

"Today voters gave Civic Platform a yellow [warning] card," he said after an exit poll was published as polling station closed last night showing that his campaign to unseat the mayor had failed.

Gronkiewicz-Waltz's opponents forced the referendum after accusing her of steep hikes in the cost of public transport, cuts in education and increasing red tape.

Mariusz Kaminski, who leads the Law and Justice (PiS) opposition party in Warsaw, said Civic Platform's tactics "trampled on constitutional principles" and "fell below European standards".

Civic Platform MP Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska told Polish Radio on Monday morning, however, that "a referendum is different from a local election" and that her party had every right to call for its supporters not to take part.

Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz has said she will seek a third term as mayor of Warsaw after winning elections in 2006 and 2010. (pg)

source: PAP/IAR

tags: politics
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