Page 139 - Conducting Elections during COVID-19

POLAND 121

The Conduct of the 28 June Election:

Given the tight election schedule. preparations for the 28 June election had to proceed quickly. The
entire set of the activities had to be completed within 25 days against a normal timeframe of three
months. Still, the NEC and the NEO completed their task well on time. Formation of PECs proved to
be challenging due to the low numbers of applications, and some PECs had only the statutorily allowed
minimum of three members. Training of PEC members was carried out both in personal meetings and
via distance learning technologies.
Some 185,000 postal ballots were mailed to voters in the country (of which around 177,500 were
returned) and some 343,000 ballots were mailed to voters abroad of which about 285,000
were returned.. A record number of voters abroad registered to vote—some 373,000 —and the total
number of eligible voters for this election exceeded 30.2 million . At the recommendation of the
health ministry, the NEC ordered postal-only voting in two municipalities, affecting some 10,500
voters . Due to COVID-19 concerns, voting abroad was not organized in several countries.
Turnout on 28 June was over 64.4 per cent, the highest in the first round of presidential elections since
1995. According to exit polls, the highest turnout was estimated to be among voters aged 50 to 59
(72.8 per cent) and it was somewhat lower among voters aged 60 or more (55.9 per cent), indicating
nevertheless that these older voters had not been put off by the epidemic. Long queues of voters were
reported on election day in some polling stations, especially in large cities, prompting the NEC to
emphasise that Precinct Election Commissions (PECs) should adhere to social distancing guidelines
provided by the health authorities and not impose their own rules, e.g. by allowing only one voter at a
time into the polling station. Voting hours were the same as provided by the Election Code (07:00 AM
to 9 PM) and all voters in the queue by 9 PM were allowed to vote.

The presidential election witnessed its first round of voting on 28 June 2020. The second round of
voting was conducted on 12 July 2020 as no candidate achieved the 50% required for an all-out victory
in the first round. The voting began at 07.00 AM local time (0500GMT) and continued till 09:00 PM
(1900GMT). The voter turnout stood at 55.31% at the end of the day.

Voting in Poland’s presidential election in Warsaw.