President Andrzej Duda announced on social media yesterday that Poland will officially hold parliamentary elections on October 15 this year.

In the Sejm, the lower house of the Polish Parliament, 460 seats are up for election, with 100 seats open in the Senate. Both deputies and senators serve a term of four years.

Poland’s governing conservatives in March launched an effort to win a third consecutive term in power, starting a nationwide tour to rally voters ahead of the elections and promising a raft of new policies “to make Poland stronger and secure.”

Two Polish opposition groupings, Poland 2050 and the rural-based Polish People’s Party (PSL), recently reaffirmed their coalition agreement ahead of the elections in the autumn, aiming to offer voters an alternative to the existing political options.

The election campaign will officially begin after the publication of President Duda’s decision in the Journal of Laws — at the latest on the fifth day from the date of ordering the elections.

Source: Radio Gdańsk, Polskie Radio

August 8 was the 15th anniversary of the Russian invasion of the Republic of Georgia and the Russian occupation of Georgian territory.

The five-day war in August of 2008 between Georgia and Russia was a result of a Russian invasion. It led to the loss of Georgian control over would-be separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, a model that was later repeated by Russia in Ukraine.

In a Facebook post, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili acknowledged the impact of the conflict, including the loss of lives and displacement of thousands of civilians. He went on to emphasize that the temporary occupation of Georgian territories remains a challenge to the country’s sovereignty, but Georgia remains “committed to the path of peaceful restoration of our territorial integrity….”

The late President Lech Kaczyński, whose plane came down in April 2010 over Russia, in controversial circumstances, visited Tbilisi during the 2008 conflict, as Russian tanks were approaching the capital , bringing with him the leaders of Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, to express “our unwavering solidarity” with Georgia against Russian aggression.

Last year, Georgia unveiled a statue in the seaside resort city of Batumi in honor of the Polish statesman who was killed in the Smolensk air disaster in 2010.

Source: Polskie Radio, The First News

Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak on Tuesday granted the Border Guard agency’s request to deploy additional soldiers to help patrol the Polish-Belarusian borderland.

Deputy Interior Minister Maciej Wąsik told reporters on Monday that Poland needs “more troops at the border” as migration pressure from Belarus was “on the rise,” with illegal migrants „also increasingly turning to aggression” against Polish border forces, throwing “bottles, stones and tree branches” at them.
“Entry into Poland wouldn’t be possible without the involvement of Belarusian officials,” Wąsik explained, claiming that migrant pressure was being orchestrated by Russian and Belarusian security services.

Tomasz Praga, the head of the Polish Border Guard agency, described the current situation as “another wave of illegal migrants and another phase of hybrid warfare on the Polish-Belarusian border.”
According to Praga, there have been 19,000 attempts to cross illegally into Poland from Belarus this year, compared with less than 16,000 in the whole of 2022, the PAP news agency reported.

Source: Polskie Radio, PAP

Polish football champions Raków Częstochowa beat Cypriot team Aris Limassol 2-1 last night in the first leg of their third-round Champions League qualifier.

Poland’s Ukrainian midfielder Vladyslav Kochergin scored the first goal in the seventh minute of the match, held at Municipal Stadium in Częstochowa. Fabian Piasecki doubled the score from a penalty in the 63rd minute.

Raków will play Aris in the second leg next Tuesday, August 15, in Limassol, a city on the southern coast of Cyprus.

The winner of the two matches will go on to face either FC Copenhagen of Denmark or the Czech Republic’s Sparta Prague in the fourth and last round of Champions League qualifiers.

Source: Polskie Radio

A 17-year-old runner from Słupsk took home the gold at the youth European Championships in Jerusalem this week.

Marek Zakrzewski, an alumnus of the Young Athlete Academy in Słupsk, set a new Polish U-20 record in the 100-meter run with a time of 10.25 seconds, making him the best young athlete in Europe in this event.

Last year, Zakrzewski also took home gold in the 100-meter event in the under-18 category before being promoted to the senior team this season. He also competes in the 60 and 200-meter events and the relay.

Source: Radio Gdańsk

Weather

Today will be partly cloudy, with a slight chance for rain in the late afternoon accompanied by strong winds from the southwest. Temperatures will remain on the cool side, with a daytime high of 19°C or 67°F, dropping to a low of 13°C or 55°F overnight. Slightly warmer weather is expected tomorrow, with only a slight chance of rain showers throughout the day.

Elizabeth Peck/vn