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Poland's eurosceptic Law and Justice party (PiS) is on course to unseat the ruling Civic Platform (PO) after eight years in power, an exit poll showed on Sunday …

This Sunday's election result in the race for the Polish presidency will have a strong impact in Europe -- especially if it can help boost momentum for bureaucratic reform and free-market economics. After winning the first round of the presidential balloting, Donald Tusk, of the free-market Civic Platform party, lost in the runoff. His party came in close second in the parliamentary election with a 15 percent flat tax proposal as one of its main messages. But despite the loss, free-market supporters can take some comfort in his showing. Many of the voters who in the end chose Lech Kaczynski...

WARSAW, Poland – Two parties – one pro-business, the other anti-corruption – were favored to oust Poland's ruling ex-communists in a general election Sunday that could determine how quickly the U.S. ally adopts the euro. Also, two brothers – identical twins – are competing on the political stage, one leading the Law and Justice party poised for a good result Sunday, the other a leading candidate in presidential elections Oct. 9. When Poland entered the European Union last year as the bloc's largest country, it agreed eventually to replace the zloty with the EU common currency. To do that, it...

The political descendants of the Solidarity trade union, which set into motion the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the end of the Cold War, are poised to return to power in Poland for the first time in a decade in the political wilderness. Parliamentary elections will be held Sunday, with a presidential vote to follow two weeks later. The parliamentary ballot is expected to mark the end of the Democratic Left Alliance's and close out the career of Kwasniewski. The left-wing leadership likely will be replaced by a pro-market government, as two conservative parties are far ahead of...

Conservatives play welfare card in Polish election 2005-09-19 18:04 By Tomasz Janowski WARSAW, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Poland's conservatives, buoyed by increased support in opinion polls ahead of general elections on Sept. 25, accused the frontrunning centre-right Civic Platform party on Monday of caring only for the rich. The Law and Justice (PiS) party and the Civic Platform (PO), both rooted in the Solidarity movement, were heading for a landslide win over ruling leftists whose four years in power were marred by corruption scandals. Opinion polls show the left will struggle to pass the 5 percent threshold needed to enter...

Poland's Great Right Hope By Tomasz Teluk Published 08/19/2005 Some 15 years after the anti-communist revolution, Poles are turning to the right. This year is politically the most important in the new history of this young democracy. Poland's future depends on the next coalition of parties in power. But only one significant party seems to understand a free-market economy. This is the PO - Citizenship Platform (www.platforma.org), whose leadership includes free-market liberals from Gdansk. Voters will take part in three crucial political events this year: parliamentary elections on September 25, presidential elections on October 9 and, some time after that,...

Two rightist groupings lead popularity polls 11.05.2005 The rightists Law and Justice and the centrist Civic Platform are in the lead of a recent popularity poll conducted by the Rzeczpospolita daily. The poll shows that had general elections been held last weekend both parties would have gained 22% of votes and a total of 246 seats in the Lower House. A possible coalition of the Law and Justice and the Civic Platform could be strengthened by the participation the League of Polish Families which could give the rightists block 307 seats in parliament. According to Rzeczpospolita the strong position of...

The chairman of the most popular party, Civic Platform (PO), and best guess for Poland's next Prime Minister, Jan Rokita has begun to paint a picture of what a government under his leadership would look like-and what he's saying has caught the ear of the business community. Until recently, Rokita was known as the man who coined the unfortunate "Nice or death" slogan, which embodied his controversial hard-line approach to EU negotiations. At the same time, PO has been accused of abandoning its stated pro-market economy values and drifting leftwards. Last week, the potential PM answered that criticism by setting...

Yesterday, Jan Rokita, a leader of the Civic Platform (PO), during a meeting organized by the American Chamber of Commerce in Warsaw, described his future economic policies if he become prime minister. He described himself as a liberal politician who strongly supports free market solutions and stated his government would make tackling the problems of public finance its top priority. Rokita would like to reform state expenditures mainly through reducing public spending in all areas except for health care. Rokita strongly advocated the introduction of a flat tax rate, however, he added the changes would have to be introduced gradually,...

Aug. 3, 2004 21:09 Polish leader: France sees us as threat By ETGAR LEFKOVITS Poland's recent entry into the European Union is viewed by France as a threat to its domination over Europe, and relations between the two countries are likely to remain sour for years, the Polish opposition leader said. "France does not believe it is one of the centers of Europe. They believe that they are the leaders of Europe and that everybody should recognize this," the head of the Polish center-right Civic Platform Party, Jan Rokita, said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post in his office...