Poland
Polish political system encourages abuse
Warsaw, Poland December 5, 2006. The Polish political system of using lists of candidates chosen by party leaders to be presented to the public for election to public office gives many opportunities for Polish politicians to exert their power and abuse the Polish political system.
The current sex for work and voter list placement scandal that now embroils the Polish political party Samoobrona and its leader Andrzej Lepper is an example of how politicians can abuse the Polish political system.
In Poland, order to be elected to public office one must be entered on a voting-list. Candidates are listed starting at position one on now. Depending on the number of votes that the party gets, candidates are chosen from the top of list. For example if a party gets enough votes in the Polish Parliamentary elections to have 45 members from its party be admitted to the Polish parliament, the first 45 people on the list are chosen regardless of how many votes they received in their own right.
So it is very important to be as close to the top of the list as possible.
Samobrona leaders seem to know how to use the system very well.
There have been reports that in earlier elections some members on the Samoobrona list were placed on list by reason of making payments to designated persons or bank accounts.
For example, one journalist claimed that he got on the voting list by making a cash payment. Other claims have been made.
These claims have been denied and never been proven.
Opposition party, Civic Platform, has supported proposed changing the election laws to require direct elections of people from their regions so that the people have the right to choose their representatives rather than have party leaders place people on the list.
Party leaders, of course, to not want to change the system. By being able to determine who goes at the top of the list they are able to demand party loyalty and exert central control. By allowing the people to choose their representatives directly, party leaders would lose power.
The current sex for list position and work scandal will get a lot of press and its own right because of the nature of the scandal and because it might have some serious effects on the longevity of the current Polish government.
There maybe many other forms of abuse of power that are normal and not seen by the press.
Maybe the current sex scandal will stimulate the Civic Platform to push for election reform that would give the local people some control over all who actually represents them.
As long as the system is on changed it is likely that some form of abuse of power will occur.
