A common aversion to existing charities or the request for a political breakthrough can prompt local committees to join the most exotic coalitions. Even if voters were to consider it a proverbial pact with the devil or to abandon their ideals.
The common road is an election committee in Gdańsk consisting of Nowa Lewica, Poland 2050, the Gdańsk Association of Residents, the Tricity Driver Initiative and the Better Gdańsk movement, created de facto from people forming the structures of the left. In this year's local elections, they plan to throw a gauntlet to the election together with the Civic Coalition group All for Gdańsk (WdG) centered around the presently in office President Alexandra Dulkiewicz.
The erstwhile SLD, and now Nowa Lewica has not had representatives on the board of the capital of Pomerania for respective years. The last and then only councillor elected for a four-year word on the list of the Democratic Left Alliance was Jolanta Banach in 2010. For the last 10 years, the City Council of Gdańsk has been dominated by the Civic Coalition, Law and Justice and the association All for Gdańsk due to the dissipation of smaller election committees and the advanced real threshold caused by a complex d’Hondta systemwhich rewards larger groups. In large cities, exceeding the 5% threshold does not warrant a mandate, only taking into account the possible allocation of seats. Who yet joins the city council decides to spread the numbered votes in the districts.
“Location on the lists is not adequate after all”
Former Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Policy in the cabinet of Leszek Miller Jolant Banach is presently the head of the Gdańsk structures of the fresh Left and the co-decision figure in this year's local elections. At the gathering of the board of Gdańsk's fresh Left, the president announced the close talks of a joint start with Everything for Gdańsk and Poland 2050. The implementation of the concept of going to the local elections as Coalition on 15 October (KO, Nowa Lewica and Poland 2050). Jolanta Banach was to take the place in the largest constituency on the list behind the president, who was theoretically and statistically the first to take the mandate if Aleksandra Dulkiewicz had obtained a presidential re-election, as all polls indicate.
However, a fewer days later there was a conference inaugurating the creation of the Common Way and, separately, announcing the start of the WdG with the Civic Coalition. In an interview with journalists, president Dulkiewicz informed that the planned start in the Coalition on October 15 proved impossible due to the fact that “the list is inactive few”. The joint launch offer was besides to be unattractive for Polish 2050 activists, which contributed to breaking negotiations. Hence, the decision of the fresh Left to take off with the Simon Holownia group and city movements. The coalition among the structures and any possible voters raised doubts.
Confederate driver
At the head of the Gdańsk Association make Residents (GTM) is Łukasz Hamadyk. It is simply a erstwhile City Councillor of Law and Justice and a erstwhile Confederate candidate to the Sejm. In last year's parliamentary elections, he won 1514 votes, but did not get a mandate of an MP.
"Many views and attitudes of the Confederate were close to me, long before cooperation was established. Finally, I am in the right place to talk and think in my own way, where activity is not a defect, but the attitude of combating systems, pathologies and being yourself in the fight for the wellness and life of residents and simply guarding the interests of residents is simply a natural thing," said Łukasz Hamadyk during the run in conversation with the portal Tricity.pl.
The GTM president held the mandate of the PiS councillor in 2014-2018, from which structures were subsequently excluded as a consequence of an interior organization conflict. During his word of office, he voted against in vitro financing, among others. He has besides expressed a negative opinion on refugees and supported Viktor Orbán's policy in the context of limiting support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.
In 2021 Hamadik associated himself with the group of Zbigniew Ziobry. On social media, he then insulted voters of the then parliamentary minority, writing, that "on the side of fanatics of full opposition, the level of rudeness and grandioseness is already specified that for this sect there would be no places in psychiatry if individual diagnosed this cattle".
In a flattering tone, he spoke of the erstwhile Prime Minister and president of Law and Justice. "I am a associate of Solidarne Poland, I support national politics, what is different for me is the Law and Justice in the country and government activities, where Jarosław Kaczyński is not only a patriot to me, but a kind of idol, a man with the top political fabric" - he said in conversation with the local news portal Gdansk pulse.
The Joint Road besides includes the Tri-City Drivers' Initiative, which is an organization “against irrational solutions in traffic and working to destruct traffic jams and improve the comfort of utilizing roads”. He wants to make life easier for car drivers. The activists were disturbed, among others, by the concept of creating bus lanes at the pedestrian road bypass, as it did not concern cars. The solution presented by Gdańsk City Hall aimed at reducing bus timetable delays and promoting collective communication in 1 of the most crowded streets of Gdańsk.
Paweł Zarzycki, co-founder of the Tri-City Driver Initiative and the councillor of Osowa district, is simply a proponent of raising velocity from 50 to 70 km/h, he does not like slowing thresholds and ground pedestrian crossings. It warns against "throwing further duties on drivers". "While driving, we must not only focus on driving, observing signs and traffic signals, but besides effectively look for and respond to threats. Not only do we decision much faster than pedestrians, but we besides have lower visibility and longer braking” – convinces in a conversation about suggested passages for pedestrians, which can be recognized by the islet and constrictive force on drivers slower driving. “Other responsibilities” is the precedence of pedestrians.
Together with the right, but without together
Start in the Joint Way coalition connecting fresh Left, Poland 2050 and urban movements are intended to let the real threshold of 12 to 15 percent during the municipal elections in large cities, which only rewards the 2 largest groups.
– We have very prosaic issues. We all agree on the dramatic situation of housing, the issue of clean air, flood protection, improving the quality of roads and pavements, the request to increase greenness, participation in the city, transparency of power and airing of the city council," he said in an interview with the Political Critics Secretary of Nowa Lewica in the Pomeranian Voivodeship Jędrzej Włodarczyk about the points of common coalition with erstwhile PiS councillor.
At the beginning of the negotiations at the negotiating table were besides representatives of the Left Together and the Greens, who yet did not agree to specified a broad coalition involving the Confederate candidate for the Sejm. The Gdańsk structures of the parties of Adrian Zandberg and Magdalena Biejat decided to set up their own electoral committee. His lawyer was Adam Szczepański, who stated in his interview with Political Criticy that differences of opinion would be besides clear – Women's and LGBT+ people's rights are issues concerning social policy that cannot be removed from local politics. These issues concern which projects the city wants to fund and whether the in vitro programme will be maintained from urban resources – he pointed out.
According to Szczepański, housing demands are natural for Together, and the activists of this organization engage in housing movements. They besides point out, however, that solidarity and equality policies must be pursued consistently – this is simply a contact on the authorities of Gdańsk, creating a "city of equality". "At urban policy level, advancement has been made in supporting LGBT+ people or integrating people with experience of migration. On the another hand, equality policy is about economical issues and the situation of people in a poorness crisis. It is impossible to limit solidarity policy to 1 area and pretend that others do not exist. This is simply a remark to all political actors, both to our partners and to competition – pointed out the associate of the Left Together.
Jędrzej Włodarczyk of the fresh Left defends the “Common Way” claiming that its programme is progressive, and the creation of urban policy is based on the Municipal Government Act, which clearly determines the competence of councillors. – The creation of political manifestations at self-government level is unfair to residents. It's not about reproducing the same conflicts that are in the Sejm. In Gdańsk there are people who are not connected to the heating network and are excluded by transport. It seems to me that these issues are more crucial – he pointed out, adding that fresh Left owes the voters efficiency alternatively of "wagging the flag in the name of well-being."
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Project implemented from the grant of the Active Citizens – National Fund financed from the Norwegian Funds.
