-- EVERYONE IS GROWING EXCEPT PiS, CONFEDERATION HAS 7% - KANTAR POLL PUBLISHED BY WP: “PiS still enjoys the highest support. 39% of respondents declare their desire to vote for the ruling party, a decrease of 1 percentage point compared to September. Civic Coalition can count on the vote of 27% of respondents (an increase of 3 percentage points). Lewica secured the third spot with 14% support among Poles (3 percentage points more than in September). The next places were taken by PSL (7% with a 1 percentage point increase) and Konfederacja with 7% support, which has increased by as much as 5 percentage points in a month. 6% of those surveyed who declared their intention to vote could not say who they would vote for – this is 11 percentage points less than in September. The poll was conducted by Kantar from October 11-16 on a representative sample of 986 residents of Poland aged 18 and over. Party preferences were examined among 650 people declaring their intention to vote.” http://wyborcza.pl/7,75968,25356382,utworzenie-ministerstwa-skarbu-panstwa-ten-resort-jest-potrzebny.html -- PAD 44, KIDAWĄ 25, BIEDROŃ 10, KOSINIAK 9, KORWIN 7 - AND WITHOUT THE UNDECIDED PAD 40, KIDAWA 27, KOSINIAK AND BIEDROŃ 11 EACH, KORWIN 6 - IPSOS POLL FOR OKO.PRESS. -- OPPOSITION HAS AS MUCH AS DUDA - FURTHER FROM OKO.PRESS: “It is worth noting that in the hypothetical first round, the combined support of three opposition candidates amounts to 44%, exactly the same as Andrzej Duda. The opposition's task will be not only to maintain this support in the second round but also to gain additional supporters. However, Duda may be a formidable rival here.” -- THE KEY IS IN SMALL TOWNS - FURTHER FROM OKO.PRESS: “The presidential poll by OKO.press indicates that the key to the opposition retaking the presidency lies in villages and small towns. This group constitutes about half of the Polish electorate and is a bastion for Andrzej Duda. Without maintaining such high support from them, the chances of the PiS candidate’s re-election diminish.” https://oko.press/duda-wcale-nie-taki-mocny-w-pierwszej-turze-nie-wygra-w-dogrywce-zdecyduje-mobilizacja-wyborcow/ -- DUDA IS CAMPAIGNING FOR PRESIDENT - AGNIESZKA KUBLIK IN GAZETA WYBORCZA: “People reach out to him, want to touch him like a pop star, they hunt for selfies. And the opposition still doesn't know who they will field against Duda or when.” -- KUBLIK ON THE 9 MILLION VOTES PAD NEEDS TO GET: “The trips are planned and well-thought-out. Prof. Waldemar Paruch, head of the Strategic Analysis Centre at the Prime Minister's Chancellery, pointed out: he should primarily focus on the east, as mobilization was lower there than PiS expected during the parliamentary elections. This means fighting for new votes is most rewarding there. According to Paruch's estimates, Duda needs to secure at least 9 million votes to win. This is an ambitious task. He needs to get more than PiS received in the parliamentary elections (8 million), beat his record from the second round in 2015 (8.6 million), and most importantly, convince more people than the democratic anti-PiS camp managed in the last elections (8.9 million, excluding Konfederacja).” http://wyborcza.pl/7,75398,25356642,andrzej-duda-w-trasie-wrecza-medale-odslania-pomniki-i-juz-walczy.html -- PARUCH MAY TAKE OVER SOME OF SASIN'S COORDINATION FUNCTIONS - GRZEGORZ OSIECKI IN DGP: “It is possible that the puzzle will be solved this week. In the coming days, PiS is to discuss with its coalition partners how the government will look. From the unofficial information so far, it appears that its core will be adjusted. Until now, Deputy Prime Minister Jacek Sasin has served as the coordinator of government projects. However, he will likely move to a revamped Treasury Ministry, though under a different name, such as the Ministry of State Assets. This ministry will oversee state-controlled companies. It will incorporate departments from other ministries, such as energy, concerning the supervision of energy, fuel, and mining companies. Not long ago, discussions were held on whether the reactivated oversight should be in the form of a ministry or another state agency – the former concept prevailed. At least some of Sasin's functions in the Prime Minister's Chancellery may be taken over by Prof. Waldemar Paruch, who would become a constitutional minister. PiS's program included announcements to strengthen the government's center and the Strategic Analysis Centre directed by him.” -- KURTYKA AS MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT? - FURTHER FROM OSIECKI IN DGP: “If the energy sector is divided, there is a good chance that its current head, Krzysztof Tchórzewski, will leave the government. The rest of the competencies of this ministry may be transferred to the Ministry of Environment. Although it is increasingly heard that its current head, Henryk Kowalczyk, will no longer lead it in the next term. Deputy Minister Michał Kurtyka is mentioned as one of the potential successors.” https://www.gazetaprawna.pl/artykuly/1437106,rzad-ministerstwa-resort-teki-pis-gowin-ziobro.html -- MERELY RECREATING THE TREASURY MINISTRY WILL NOT END POLITICAL INFLUENCE - WITOLD GADOMSKI IN GW: “This scandal must end, and recreating the State Treasury Ministry will not solve the problem. Before the elections, Civic Coalition presented an interesting idea for depoliticizing the economy and continuing the privatization of companies. It's a shame that this idea didn't gain much traction during the election campaign.” http://wyborcza.pl/7,75968,25356382,utworzenie-ministerstwa-skarbu-panstwa-ten-resort-jest-potrzebny.html -- ZUZANNA DĄBROWSKA ON THE FIRST ROUND AS OPPOSITION PRIMARIES - writes in Rzeczpospolita: “It's just not clear whether the internal competition will be won by the person who has a chance to win in the second round against Andrzej Duda. Because although after the Senate elections, the chances of the current president winning in the first round are not high, fielding their own leaders by all factions is risky for them. But there's no other way, because the candidates are purely party-based. Civic Coalition cannot support a PSL candidate, and PSL will not support any leftist. The circle closes: the first round will be, as usual, party-driven. Then we will face a duel between Andrzej Duda and an opposition candidate. And it would be better if whoever faces the current president in the second round has a good reputation and arguments behind them, otherwise it will end up as primaries in the first round, i.e., flexing party muscles.” https://www.rp.pl/Analizy/310289922-Dabrowska-Pierwsza-tura-czyli-prezenie-muskulow.html -- UNDERMINING SCHETYNA'S LEADERSHIP HARMS THE OPPOSITION - TOMASZ SIEMONIAK IN CONVERSATION WITH TOMASZ SAWCZUK IN KULTURA LIBERALNA: “I have a feeling that everyone in Platforma has accepted that the sequence of events that Grzegorz Schetyna proposed at the very beginning: first the election of Senate authorities, then the parliamentary club authorities, then the presidential candidate, and then the election of the party leader – is rational. When Schetyna talks with those responsible for election monitoring at the Council of Europe and negotiates in the Senate with other parties, undermining his leadership is an action against the opposition. Platforma is a very democratic party, and it's good that there's a willingness to discuss. But there are certain deadlines and procedures. The calendar of actions, including the election of the leader at the beginning of next year, must contribute to effectiveness, not weaken it. There is no point in accelerating this scenario in the current situation.” -- PEOPLE SEE THAT PIS IS MEDDLING WITH THE SENATE - FURTHER FROM SIEMONIAK: “PiS has sent a clear signal that they are meddling with the Senate. I've recently spoken with various people – from a taxi driver in Warsaw to a man cleaning leaves on the street in my constituency in Wałbrzych – and people see it. So they say: don't start fighting among yourselves in the opposition now, don't quarrel, because the most important things are at stake.” -- CANDIDATE BY MID-DECEMBER - FURTHER FROM SIEMONIAK IN KULTURA LIBERALNA: ““I think this is a factor that tempers emotions within Platforma itself, especially since in our media civilization, media quickly lose interest. How many more interviews can potential critics give, and what more can they say when the calendar is clear? - When must the candidate be selected? - By mid-December. - So before the elections for the head of PO? - Yes. But the decision regarding the presidential candidate will not be a decision made by the 'fifth floor,' but a decision by everyone. - Everyone, meaning whom? - All members of PO, and ideally in a broader Civic Coalition arrangement. If Donald Tusk is the candidate, no one will question it. Any other scenario will be a primary election scenario, in which aspiring politicians like Bartosz Arłukowicz or Hanna Zdanowska can also run. The decision on electing a presidential candidate is so fundamentally important that it must be made in the most democratic way possible.” https://kulturaliberalna.pl/2019/10/28/siemoniak-wywiad-schetyna-kampania-wynik-po/ -- PITERA ATTACKS KIDAWĄ'S CANDIDACY - 300LIVE: https://300polityka.pl/live/2019/10/29 -- GAZETA WYBORCZA ON THE PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE'S TRICK TO REFRAIN FROM QUESTIONING KACZYŃSKI REGARDING BIRGFELNER - as written by Iwona Szpala and Ewa Ivanova: “According to 'Wyborcza' sources, the prosecutor's office used a controversial legal trick. They did not question Kaczyński but used his words from a completely different proceeding. Prosecutor Śpiewak attached to the case file a transcript of the PiS chairman's testimony given in another matter on June 27, 2019. This concerns the proceedings initiated by Kaczyński's notification: he demanded that the prosecutor's office prosecute 'Wyborcza' and its journalists for disclosing the matter of the Srebrna company building a skyscraper and for revealing recordings of the PiS chairman's negotiations with Birgfellner at the party headquarters on ul. Nowogrodzka.” http://wyborcza.pl/7,75248,25356566,fortel-prokuratury-z-kaczynskim-jak-sledczy-unikneli-przesluchania.html -- RZECZPOSPOLITA ON THE TRUE STORY OF BANAS'S DONOR - as written by Grażyna Zawadka and Izabela Kacprzak: “Adam Lach, deputy head of the Kraków branch of 'Solidarność,' when asked about Stachowski, doesn't recall such a activist. Edward Nowak, president of the Solidarity Network Association, says: – I learned about Mr. Stachowski from Marian Banaś. He told me a long time ago that he was taking care of him, that he was a lonely person in a difficult life situation. I hadn't heard of him before, and I know a bit about Solidarity activists – Edward Nowak, a Kraków opposition activist who served time with Banaś (later deputy minister of economy), tells us. According to Nowak, Stachowski 'was one of the initiators of establishing Solidarity in the Jubilat department store.' – It was a small group of people; that's how it was back then, people spontaneously organized – Nowak recounts.” https://www.rp.pl/Polityka/310289910-Prawdziwa-historia-darczyncy-Mariana-Banasia.html -- 'FOR LIFE' HAS NOT REDUCED THE NUMBER OF ABORTIONS - DGP: “A special benefit of 4000 PLN and additional facilitation were intended to convince women to give birth to disabled children. However, the statistics show something entirely different. Last year, 1076 legal abortion procedures were performed in Poland – a few more than the previous year. This is also the second-highest result since 2002. These data clearly indicate that although 4,000 parents benefit annually from the government's 'Za życiem' (For Life) program, it has not fulfilled its main goal set by the legislator – it has not reduced the number of women deciding to terminate a pregnancy due to fetal defects. Around a thousand legal abortions are still performed annually in Poland.” https://www.gazetaprawna.pl/artykuly/1437076,za-zyciem-aborcja-przepisy-rodzice-niepelnosprawnych-dzieci.html -- BIRTHDAYS: Wojciech Kolarski, Jerzy Fedorowicz, Henryka Bochniarz, Tomasz Nałęcz, Stanisław Kogut, Waldemar Witkowski.