President-elect Duda to vote in referendum

In an interview for Kraków Television, he said that it would be absurd to stay at home considering that its great importance as an element of direct democracy has recently been belittled and that “I myself”, as he put it, “have called time and again, on the government and the president to change their stand on the referenda and citizens’ proposals in general”.

In the September referendum, Poles will be asked whether they approve of introducing single-member constituencies in elections to the lower house of Parliament, if they are in favour of changes in the current system of financing political parties from the state budget and whether they are for introducing a presumption in favour of the taxpayer in disputes over the tax law.

President-elect Duda told Kraków Television that in his view “the very notion of single-member constituencies is often used in a highly populist sense”.

“I am in favour of a public debate on the matter based on merit, with experts presenting a comprehensive assessment of how the system functions in such countries as the United Kingdom,” Duda said, stressing that single-member constituencies are not bound to bring about beneficial changes in the political scene under all circumstances’.

The president-elect reiterated his support for maintaining the present system of financing political parties from the state budget. “It is a more transparent situation if the parties do not have to lobby for financial support from, say, business corporations, […] as he who gives the money has some expectations,” Andrzej Duda said.

A programme has been announced of the inauguration of President Andrzej Duda next Thursday, 6 August.

At 10:00 am he will take the oath in the presence of the National Assembly, that is the lower and upper houses of Parliament – the 460-seat Sejm and the 100-seat Senate. He will then make an address to the Assembly and lay flowers at the plaques commemorating Polish parliamentarians who perished during World War Two and those who were killed, along with the president and other high-ranking officials, in the plane crash in Russia in April 2010.

From the Parliament, the President and the First Lady will proceed to St John’s Cathedral to take part in a holy mass. (mk/rg)