Brexit-hater Donald Tusk faces humiliation as vote threatens to end Poland's EU membership
Brexit-hater Donald Tusk faces humiliation as vote threatens to end Poland's EU membership
The EU risks suffering a "Polexit" blow with preferred candidate Donald Tusk, who tried to humiliate Britain over Brexit talks, expected to be rejected by Polish voters.
The European Union is facing a crisis and "new Brexit" as opinion polls suggest Polish voters will re-elect their anti-Brussels government for an unprecedented third term as they go to vote today.
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With the latest poll suggesting a 4.5 percent lead for the ruling coalition, the prospect of it winning comes on the back of threats made to Poland over some of its domestic policies.
This includes policies on abortion and migration by the European Commission and European Parliament.
It would be humiliating for former Prime Minister Donald Tusk, the former President of the European Council, who went out of his way in 2016 to embarrass Britain and Theresa May following the Brexit vote.
He is also now leading the main party in the Civic Coalition. It appears that Poles voting today in their parliamentary election look set to give the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) an unprecedented third term in office.
Although the country is deeply polarised politically and many believe it is "too close to call.
A victory for the PiS would come despite Tusk's opposition warning of a so-called "Polexit" putting the country on a path towards leaving the European Union.
The PiS has continued on a ticket of strong immigration controls as well as resisting attempts by the EU to interfere with its domestic policy.
The European Parliament has threatened to vote to withhold funds to Poland and Hungary over a number of issues. Tusk's main pledge has been to accept EU demands on a number of moral issues.
In particular he has promised to relax the strict anti-abortion laws in one of Europe's most Catholic countries, improve rights for LGBTQ+ people, and he has pledge to restore relations with Brussels.
Tusk has strong targeted female voters on the abortion issue saying that the election will “determine for years the position of women in Poland, their autonomy, and their dignity”.
He warned that if he failed Poland would descend into the “Middle Ages when women were subordinate to the men who ruled Poland.
Meanwhile, the Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawieck, from PiS, has focussed o n his record helping Ukraine fight Vladimir Putin's Russian invasion.
But he has also pointed out that his party is strong on immigration and used the current attacks on Israel to justify his refusal to allow Islamic immigrants into Poland.
He warned: "In this great wave of migration there will be Islamic fighters, terrorists, thousands of young men will migrate to Europe."