The televised debate, broadcast by TVP and Polsat, was viewed by 10.5 million people, with supporters of both candidates claiming victory in the 80-minute encounter on Sunday evening.
Komorowski gave “catastrophic” performance?
According to Dr Wojciech Jabłoński, a political scientist from Warsaw University, Bronisław Komorowski – who is fighting for a second term as head of state in the election on 24 May – concentrated too much on his political history, saying that “voters won’t be satisfied with just his CV”.
“Putting up someone who is not a political fighter and does not know how to communicate on TV was bound to end the way it did,” Jabłoński – who is a specialist on political marketing – quipped, adding that “I knew this debate would end badly for Komorowski, but not this badly”.
“We didn’t hear a single coherent message from Komorowski, who attacked Law and Justice, while there was noone from Law and Justice present. There was no concern for citizens, just a diatribe about Law and Justice,” he underlined.
Jabłoński mooted that the very idea of the meeting was a bad one, saying that Komorowski entered the game too late after he had rejected earlier proposals for a televised debate.
“Anyone who understands the rules of political marketing knows that begging for a debate in a situation where previous calls for one were dismissed is a bad idea, all the more so when you’re diving in the polls,” Jabłoński claimed.
Duda “surprised” by Komorowski’s preparation?
Meanwhile, according to Associate Professor Ewa Pietrzyk-Zieniewicz, also a political scientist from Warsaw University, “President Bronisław Komorowski could have been the more convincing candidate than his counterpart Andrzej Duda”.
According to Pietrzyk-Zieniewicz, Komorowski was well-prepared and for the first time in the ongoing campaign managed to lay out his concept of the presidency.
“It’s difficult to say whether the debate was groundbreaking, but if President Komorowski wanted to present himself throughout the campaign like he did in the debate – be well prepared and keeping his cool – then [his overall result] would today be different,” she said, adding that the incumbent’s campaign is to blame for his slide in the polls up until the first round of voting on 10 May.
While Komorowski was well prepared for the debate, Pietrzyk-Zieniewicz said that “in light of what the president said, [Duda] came across as a person who is emotionally xenophobic”.
“[Andrzej Duda] seemed to be surprised by the well-preparedness of the president, who firstly was not scared of difficult questions, but secondly replied with the perpective of the years of experience spent in politics and thirdly made fewer election promises,” she suggested, adding that “on the back of this, Duda came over the poorer than his campaign team may have expected”.
Second round ahead
Despite who may have claimed victory in the debate on Sunday night, a second televised stand-off is billed for Thursday, broadcast by TVN.
However, the real winner will be decided on Sunday 24 May, when Poles vote in the second round of the ballot to decide who will become president for the next five years. (jb)
Source: PAP