I am sure 99,9% of you do not care, but here's the way it is - the country I live in, Poland, is pretty screwed up. Most politicians are leftovers from the communistic government (you might believe what you want about communism, but live in it for some years and you will see how "nice" a system it is), who do not care about their country, only their pockets. From the rest, the most are populists who manipulate the blind crowd in order to - guess what, fill their pockets.
But there was still hope. One party (Platforma Obywatelska, AKA Citizens' Platform) managed to do something which I thought would be impossible - it is both reasonable (for a political party) and (somewhat) popular. During the election for the seym, they were second.
Now, not surprisingly the presidental elections came next. No one had the majority of votes on the first turn, so we had a second one - this time, with two most popular candidates:
1. Donald Tusk, from PO - the party's leader, so no doubt that he's reasonable too. Also, pretty intelligent guy and I am sure he was a good candidate.
2. Lech Kaczynski - leader of another party, Prawo & Sprawiedliwosc (Law and Justice). Although the name sounds noble, it's just a group of commies who are very good at demagogy. I don't care what other Polish people (Ekard, Kashim, did I miss anyone?) think about this guy, but I don't like him. A LOT.

So, basically, we have a Donald vs Duck scenario (kaczka means duck in Polish).
Tusk was the more popular candidate from these two. So, being the (censored) he is, Kaczynski made up several semi-true stories to make himself more popular. Examples:
1. "Donald Tusk's grandfather served in SS during German occupation, WW II" - the truth is, his grandfather was FORCED to join Wermacht (not SS). Note forced.
2. "Donald Tusk didn't give permission to run a homosexual parade in Cracov (city in southern part of the country)" - of course, he failed to mention that it was a counter-parade against an important national holiday. And it wasn't homosexual, only some of the potential members were.

Guess what? It friggin' WORKED. The election ended a bit more than an hour ago, and by estimated, Kaczynski won: 53 against 47 percent. Of course, it might change, but I am still repulsed by his lack of ethics. And pissed. So very pissed. I really wanted to live in a normal country, with rational leaders who have at least SOME morality. Not demagogues who can manipulate others into thinking that they are saviours or something, signing autographs with one hand and stealing the country's money with the second.

I'm sad now. Someone give me a hug - it won't help, but it might make me feel better.

Here. Have an eHug. (Something I never thought I'd say/type)

I'll just have to forget about it. Or pray that the estimates were untrue.
Going to play some Morrowind. Better luck next time, that is in 4 years. If the system won't kill me by that time.

EDIT: Thanks Soll.

Sucks.
I'm disappointed with the elections result.
That's negative and black campaign of PiS for ya.

Stay away from the US. For the love of God.

*e-hug*

Come to Spain.
We are so used to think the worst about our politics that there's no negative propaganda that can make us change our votes.
We vote based on "charisma" and "looking like a strong guy".

The Economist actually thought Law and Justice was alright, as Polish parties go - it seemed to decide a coalition of the two would be ideal. Lemme find the article (at my school library for 10 more minutes). Obviously, it's an international magazine (based in Britain), and primarily concerned with international economics (from a right wing slant).

"Can the eagle soar?" - http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?...R&tranMode=none (paid content )

I think once you get used to that type of politics, you won't be surprised - we're used to it in the US.

Hell, right here in the article it mentions how Lech Kaczynski got praise from tradionalists for banning a gay pride march when mayor of Warsaw.

As long as both parties can form a legitimate government that doesn't fall apart and let the ex-communists back, Poland can hopefully get on the right track.

Yeah, I don't like this: From the BBC:

Correspondent says forming a government will not be easy as Mr Kaczynski had wooed far-right voters and labelled Civic Platform a dangerous experiment.

Coalition talks between Law and Justice and Civic Platform stalled during the presidential election campaign, which went to the second, run-off vote on Sunday.

Mr Kaczynski said his opponent fought "a splendid battle" and called on Mr Tusk's party to conclude talks on a forming parliamentary coalition.

The conservative prime minister-designate Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz has said he hopes to conclude the talks by Wednesday and to form the cabinet on Saturday.

The Fourth Republic of the Kaczynskis

Warsaw daily Gazeta Wyborcza


Press hails twin success

Turnout was 51%, slightly higher than the first round a fortnight ago, when Mr Tusk was narrowly ahead.

Mr Kaczynski, whose identical twin Jaroslaw heads the Law and Justice party, has been advocating a "moral renewal" and a return to Christian values.

The BBC's Adam Easton, in Warsaw, says the result leaves the Law and Justice party holding the two top jobs in the country.

Both Mr Kaczynski and his party criticised Civic Platform's free market approach, calling it a "dangerous liberal experiment".

The parties also have different visions of Poland's place in the world. Mr Tusk's Civic Platform sees EU membership as an opportunity and they want a speedy adoption of the euro.


I hate neo-cons (Bushies, for wont of a better word) - calling a free market approach a 'dangerous liberal experiment' is a joke, given free market is a more conservative economic ideology.