Release Zero Channel it proved not only to be a media but besides a political event, possibly the beginning of a long pre-, presidential pre-campania. His participation in the presidential race was announced by the founder of the channel, sports writer Krzysztof Stanowski – not due to the fact that he has ambition to become president, but due to the fact that he wants to see “how this circus works from the inside”.
Also joining General Rajmund Andrzejczak's Canal – the erstwhile Chief of General Staff of the Polish Army – unleashed speculation on the presidential military ambition at rest. In the neighbouring Czech Republic, he was elected president in the Czech army. Petr Pavel, though without brokering your program online. For now, General Andrzejczak demented that he would run for presidential office, but it is known how it is with the demented and unremarked information in politics.
A minute later, Insight and Virtual Poland policy revealed that Zygmunt Solorz, president and creator of Polsat, is to convince the political writer of the station to run in the presidential election of Dorothy Gawryluk, associated alternatively with the right side of the Polish political scene. There have besides been long speculations that the public activity of Marcin Matczak, mainly in “Gazeta Wyborcza”, is simply a long run before the presidential election.
If we actually saw specified contenders to the palace, then in the presidential election alternatively of candidates for political parties, media candidates would face: Channel Zero, Polsat and TVN – due to the fact that let's not forget about the years-making career in this station Simon Holownia.
The only thing missing from the set is that PiS alternatively of a candidate from a strictly organization haul bet on individual from tv Republic or the erstwhile TVP – Michał Rachon, especially supported by a squad from the program Let's go! Whether Miłosz Kleczek could actually bring to the presidential race unprecedented quality. If the Republic had decided to convince us that it was a right-wing land of mildness, it could in turn bet on the Dutch Danuta: there would be a candidate woman, known, possibly and controversial, but presenting an highly lowly aggressive face of “chicken”.
Only a left that does not have its large media, celebrities and influencers, as usual is injured.
We must truly not trust parties.
Of course, specified speculation should not be peculiarly attached. Almost a year and a half to the presidential election, at that time a large deal can happen, the road from announcing the start of elections to even collecting 100,000 signatures, required to be able to run for president at all, is far and full of difficulties. We besides had polls showing that Tomasz Lis – during the time he led Facts TVN – would be a certain winner of the presidential election.
This dump of candidates for the presidency from the media hand, outside the organization planet of politics, is, however, curious. Especially not the first one. In 2015, the Polish political scene was shaken by the start of Paweł Kukiz. Although on the music scene Kukiz had long been simply cutting off coupons from past achievements, the musician was able to convert his designation to over 20% of the support in the first round. Its launch opened Duda's way to presidency and helped bring 42 MPs into the Sejm in autumn 2015.
Four years ago, a akin communicative repeated with well-known Poles mainly as leading a popular talent show Simon Holovnia – although it should be noted that unlike the primitive populism of Kukiz, allied with the darkest, highly nationalistic environments in Polish politics, The holovnia did quite a few programming work before the election and collected sensible expert and political backgrounds around it.
What does all this mean? First of all, the fact that, as a society, we truly must not trust political parties and that something is not working in the organization system. After all, 1 of the functions of political parties should be to educate and make leaders for the highest positions in the country, which in Poland besides means elected president in direct universal elections.
Meanwhile, the parties have a serious problem here in the context of next year's presidential elections. The PiS simply does not have a good candidate, the dream that Tobias Bocheński will repeat the trajectory of Andrzej Dudy, can be brutally verified as early as April, erstwhile the erstwhile Mazovian voivode will most likely lose the election to Rafał Trzaskowski in the first round. PSL, the oldest and most internally democratic of the parties operating in Poland, will most likely support the Holovnia and will not exposure its candidate. On the Left, no 1 seems to be burning to fight their 3 percent without any warrant of success.
On the another hand, voters seem open to candidates outside organization politics, due to the fact that this 1 is associated mainly with partyry, state propriety, sterile dispute, distracting from the real problems of the state. In the candidate ‘out of the system’, the electorate sees a chance to get out of all these problems.
Such candidates are sought primarily in the media, fresh and traditional, due to the fact that any another institutions that can make leaders either are in a akin crisis to political parties or stay dependent on the media, without which they are incapable to scope their message and image to the audience.
This problem is not only about Poland. Donald Trump He won elections as a Republican alternatively than an independent candidate, but entered Republican politics as an outsider man, entrepreneur and celebrity who for years on the program The Apprentice He played so convincingly the “president” head of a large business operation that a large part of the electorate saw in him a natural candidate for the White House. A strong-toned society, where bottom-up organisations, through which citizens were erstwhile politicised, is strong, while fresh and old media, favours the political fortunes of celebrities and influencers.
It does not always bring, as in the case of Trump, disastrous results. The way from the screen and the actor in the popular show to the presidency besides passed Volodymyr Zelenski – which definitely worked as the leader of the fighting Ukraine.
Misplaced Hopes
Unfortunately, the hope that individual known for making coverage on YouTuba will cut the Gordian node of Polish politics is poorly located, primarily due to how the Polish constitution constructs the presidency. due to the fact that even if elections in Poland chose the President-Celebrity alternatively than Trump format, he would not be able to solve problems that political parties do not deal with.
The President's office in Poland simply has no real tools for conducting its own affirmative policy without having a faithful majority president in the Sejm – which the president outside the organization hand cannot number on. abroad policy remains a certain exception, but it is precisely a substance which is least curious in the tired organization policy of voters.
We're back here again. problems with the Polish constitution. On the 1 hand, by introducing a direct election of the President, it gives the head of state a strong democratic mandate that allows voters to anticipate an active, realistic situation in the country's presidency. On the another hand, it does not give the president any tools to lead his own policy, especially internally. The president has only negative power, in the form of a hard to break veto, but utilizing only veto, no president is able to fulfill the promises he made in the elections.
Such a construction of the presidency, however, has the advantage that it protects the Polish political strategy from the possible negative effects of choosing to be the highest office in the country of individual like Kukiza. Fortunately, Polish Trump would not be able to spoil much. Although governments with a populist president, a legitimate veto, certain abroad policy competences and a strong democratic mandate would be a nightmare for all power. On a limited scale, we see this today, observing the policy of Andrzej Duda against the current majority.
You can't heal democracy without a party.
When 1 looks at further candidates-celebrities 1 can only strengthen one's conviction of the superiority of parliamentary-office systems over presidential ones. The erstwhile defend from entrusting power to individual in whom large coverage on tv or on the YouTube channel produced a misconception about having recipes for the healing of the homeland.
In systems where executive power is concentrated in the government liable to parliament, it is essential to build a fresh organization or gain the trust of an existing organization beforehand – which rewards candidates who can identify themselves with any organization and state experience, able to translate their ideas into concrete political actions, free from temptation to balance open doors or as extremist as irresponsible.
Of course, like everything else, specified systems besides have their drawbacks. The parties tend to close themselves, separate themselves from their base and society. If disillusionment of voters by parties finds no outlet, it leads to civic apathy and the legitimacy of the full system.
We see this apathy and legitimacy problems in many even mature democracies. It can be understood, therefore, that the electorate looks beyond existing political parties – towards candidates-influencerom or mechanisms of direct democracy. Without denying that it is sometimes worth letting any fresh blood into politics, or even people outside the organization hand, that strengthening the mechanisms of direct democracy is something that we should at least talk about, we will not heal modern democracies without healing the organization and organization system, without building a fresh social agreement between parties and voters. Abbreviations in the form of fantasy about referendum democracy or president from outside the strategy – whether from the Zero or Polsat Canal – will not aid much.
