Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski votes in Poland’s local and regional elections

(7 Apr 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Warsaw, Poland - 7 April 2024
1. Rafal Trzaskowski, Mayor of Warsaw, entering polling station
2. Trzaskowski registering to vote
3. Trzaskowski surrounded by journalists
4. Various of Trzaskowski casting vote
5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Rafal Trzaskowski, Mayor of Warsaw:
"Well, it's fundamental (voting). First of all, because that's the next step in winning democracy and bringing back the rule of law after we won the general elections. But also, local elections are really incredibly important because most of the important decisions are actually taken on the local level in Poland. That's why the importance of this election is absolutely crucial."
Reporter question: And are you going to run for the presidential election next year?
SOUNDBITE: (English) Rafal Trzaskowski, Mayor of Warsaw:
"I mean, I'm focusing only on Warsaw. That's what interests me and especially today. I mean, this is a piece of democracy and let's hope that the turnout will be as high as possible."
6. Trzaskowski surrounded by cameras
7. Trzaskowski leaving

STORYLINE:
Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski voted Sunday in Poland’s local and regional elections, calling the ballot an important stage in the country's efforts to fully restore democracy.

The 52-year-old, who belongs to Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s pro-European Union party, is running for a second term.

The election is the first electoral test for the coalition government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk nearly four months since it took power.

Voters will elect mayors as well as members of municipal councils and provincial assemblies, an important exercise in self-governance that is one of the great achievements of the democratic transformation that Poland made when it threw off communism 35 years ago.

In all there are nearly 190,000 registered candidates running for local government positions in the central European nation of 38 million people.

Opinion polls released in the days ahead of the vote showed the two largest political formations running neck-and-neck: Tusk's Civic Coalition, an electoral coalition led by his centrist and pro-European Union Civic Platform party, and Law and Justice, a national conservative party that governed the country from 2015 until last year.

AP Video by Rafal Niedzielski


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