The situation in Poland is actually not that bad. With an economic growth rate of 2.8 percent, this newcomer to the European Union is performing better than its neighbours in Western Europe. Compared to the other 'newcomers' in Eastern Europe, however, Poland is not doing so well. The economies of the Baltic States are growing three times as fast, and nearby Slovakia is attracting a great deal more investors.
The two main candidates for the Polish presidency - Donald Tusk of the Civic Platform party and Lech Kaczynski of the Law and Justice party - both agree that the weak economy, with an unemployment rate of 18 percent, is the fault of the outgoing government. It was largely made up of former communists, who did little to combat bureaucracy and corruption, or to reduce the national debt.
One might be forgiven for thinking that their two parties agree on the economic course to be followed, but that is not the case at all. Civic Platform and Mr Tusk are supporters of far-reaching liberalisation. However, their ideas about introducing a flat-rate tax, making the economy healthy and introducing the euro as the country's currency as soon as possible did not bring the party the expected gains in the elections of two weeks ago. Despite Civic Platform's lead in the opinion polls, the twin Kaczynski brothers proved to be the main winners, after they chose to push home a particularly moral/Roman Catholic message. This appears to have been more attractive - or less unattractive - to the 40 percent of the electorate that bothered to vote two weeks ago than the message about the need for economic reform.
| Should none of the candidates in Sunday's election gain more than 50 percent of the vote, another round of voting will follow on 23 October. |
In that light, it's no surprise that the campaign for the presidential elections has focused particularly on moral issues. Lech Kaczynski and Donald Tusk have been conducting a public battle over matters such as: which of them is the most fervent Catholic, and which of them cares most for the poor and needy. Donald Tusk even found it necessary to profess his faith in public view by getting married - again - in church some 20 years after he and his wife were wed in a civil ceremony.
Both candidates have almost fallen over one another in their race to express their disapproval of homosexuals, and Lech Kaczynski has even voiced his support for a return to the death penalty - a position which is totally unacceptable within the European Union.
Just days before Sunday's vote, Donald Tusk was still ahead in the polls, but the difference between the two rivals was declining. Supporters of economic reform fear that, just like their German neighbours, most Poles want to see reforms implemented, but may well step back from the brink of change at the last moment and let the question of morality decide how they vote.
Tags: Church, Civic Platform, death penalty, Donald Tusk, EU, homosexuality, Land and Justice, Lech Kaczynski, morality, Poland, politics, presidency, reform , religion, Roman Catholic