コロナ禍で「投票者数ゼロ」　異例のポーランド大統領選　やり直しへ

【ワルシャワＡＦＰ＝時事】ポーランドで10日に予定されていた大統領選挙は、新型コロナウイルスのパンデミック（世界的な大流行）で引き起こされた政治危機により投票所が開かれず、投票者数がゼロという異例の事態となった。（写真は首都ワルシャワで、国が機能不全に陥っており根底から作り直す必要があることを示すという白い布を広げるデモ参加者ら）
　大統領選の実施をめぐり右派与党「法と正義（ＰｉＳ）」政権と野党は合憲かつ感染予防の観点から安全な事態打開策を見いだせず、選挙は公式には延期も中止もされないままになっていた。
　１０日夕、選挙委員会は有権者が「どの候補者にも投票できなかった」ため、新たな投票日を２週間以内に決定するよう議会議長に求める決議を採択した。投票は日程の公表から６０日以内に実施する必要がある。
　野党「民主左翼連合」のトマシュ・トレラ氏ら２人の議員は、通常なら投票所となる学校に手製の投票用紙を持って現れ、なぜ投票できないのかと疑問を投げかけた。
　トレラ氏は記者団に対し、「投票所が閉鎖されているということは、誰かが選挙を中止したということだ。しかし誰が何を根拠に中止したのか不透明だ」と述べた。
　ワルシャワを拠点に活動する政治学者、スタニスワフ・モツェク氏はＡＦＰに「われわれはひどくばかげた政治的混乱の中にいる」と国民の間で広がる混乱や懸念を代弁し、「（政府は新型コロナウイルス流行を）自然災害と宣言し、大統領選を（憲法に従って）適法に延期すべきだった」と述べた。

■郵便投票も実現せず
　右派与党ＰｉＳは、新型コロナウイルスの感染状況は自然災害と宣言する必要があるほど深刻ではなく、さらに、もし自然災害と宣言すれば、ポーランド国内で活動している多国籍企業が多額の補償を要求し、政府が支払いに追われる可能性があると示唆していた。
　リベラル派の野党はロックダウン（都市封鎖）実施中に自由、公正、安全な選挙は不可能だとして大統領選の延期を要求してきた。
　野党は、世論調査で国民の４人のうち３人が大統領選の延期を求めていたにもかかわらず政府が５月１０日の投票実施を決めたのは、早期の選挙が現職アンジェイ・ドゥダ大統領に有利になるとＰｉＳが考えたからだと主張している。
　ＰｉＳが多数を占める下院は３月、感染への懸念を払拭（ふっしょく）して５月１０日に投票を行うため、「６０歳以上または投票日当日に強制隔離下または自宅などでの隔離対象となっている」有権者に、郵便投票を認める選挙法改正案を可決した。
　しかし野党が多数を占める上院はこれを否決。政府は選挙の準備期間を設けることができなくなった。
　ＰｉＳなど連立与党は先週、「投票は実施されないとみられることから、２０２０年５月１０日以降、最高裁が選挙を無効化し、議会議長が最も早く選挙実施が可能な期日を公表する」とする声明を発表していた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/05/12-13:07）

Poland has two weeks to set a new presidential election date, the national electoral commission said after certifying that the poll scheduled for Sunday did not happen.
Poles had been due to cast their ballots to elect a head of state, but because of a political crisis set off by the coronavirus pandemic, polling stations never opened and turnout clocked in at zero on an election day that will be one for the history books.
The EU member of 38 million people found itself in this bizarre Twilight Zone predicament in which the presidential ballot had formally neither been postponed nor cancelled, because the government and opposition were unable to agree on a constitutional and safe solution.
At day's end, the electoral commission adopted a resolution stating that it had not been possible to vote for any candidate and thus the speaker of parliament now had two weeks to set a new election date, which must fall within 60 days of her announcement.
Such a solution will save the country from having to ask the Supreme Court to rule on the validity of the election that had been scheduled for May 10, commission head Sylwester Marciniak told reporters.
The governing conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party had anticipated last week that the top court would rule on the issue and had even assumed it would declare the election null and void.
- 'Legal absurdity' -
That sounds like an order for the Supreme Court regarding how it should rule, Warsaw-based political scientist Stanislaw Mocek told AFP at the time.
We're in a fog of legal absurdity, he added, echoing the widespread head-scratching and concern around the country.
Many constitutional experts have since expressed doubt as to whether the Supreme Court even has the power to issue such a verdict.
Marciniak said that because no votes were cast, we have a situation similar to when there is an absence of candidates or only one candidate and no election is held.
Leftist lawmaker Tomasz Trela summed up the Kafkaesque situation on Facebook: Today's the day, election day without the election.
Earlier Sunday, Trela and a fellow leftist politician had shown up with homemade ballots at a school that normally doubles as a polling station and asked why they were unable to vote.
The polling station is closed, which means someone cancelled the election. But it's unclear who did or on what basis, he told reporters.
The anti-government protest movement Citizens of Poland organised an event in the capital Warsaw, saying Poland needs to be rebuilt from the ground up.
- 'Cabaret' -
The state is unable to carry out the election scheduled for today. Or the voting or whatever you want to call it, this cabaret that they've arranged for us, movement co-leader Pawel Kasprzak told reporters.
Mocek, the political scientist, said the government should have declared a natural disaster to lawfully postpone the election under the constitution.
The PiS has explained away its refusal to do so by saying Poland's coronavirus situation is not severe enough to warrant the move.
The party has also implied that were it to declare a natural disaster, multinational corporations present in Poland would claim huge sums in compensation that the state would be hard-pressed to pay.
But the liberal opposition and many observers also see another rationale for why the government was set on the May 10 date, despite opinion surveys showing that three out of four Poles wanted a deferral.
The opposition, which has long called for a delay over concerns that a free, fair and safe election is impossible under lockdown, believes the PiS wants the ballot held as soon as possible so that its ally and incumbent Andrzej Duda wins.
The president is the frontrunner and could secure a second term in the first round of the vote, but he risks losing support once the economic effects of the pandemic are felt.
Last month, the PiS-controlled parliament passed a law stating the election would be held by postal vote only in a bid to quiet health concerns while maintaining the date.
But the opposition-controlled senate sat on the legislation for weeks before rejecting it, leaving the government no time to organise the election.