President Andrzej Duda has given his first public comment since the end of the parliamentary election on Sunday. He thanked the Poles for the record high turnout. "Yesterday we showed we are responsibly taking matters in our own hands," Duda said on Monday (Oct. 16) in the Vatican during a visit marking the 45th anniversary of John Paul II's election to papacy.
"I'm very happy that this election had a gigantic turnout, the highest in the period of free, independent, sovereign Poland. I've been pleading for such turnout ever since I've become President of the Republic of Poland and I sincerely grateful for it," president Duda said on Monday.
"First of all, I'd like to thank to all my compatriots who went to cast their votes yesterday. I know some of them had to wait for hours to vote. I thank you for this as it was a very important moment. Every election is a test of how democratic and mature society we are," Duda said.
"I took part in the vote myself and I can say that yesterday we showed we are responsibly taking matters in our own hands. A nearly-73% turnout is an excellent result."
"We're waiting for the National Electoral Commission to end its work. I'd like to thank for participation in the elections to the Sejm and the Senate. I also want to thank all those who took part in the referendum. These were truly very important elections and I'm glad we cast our votes in them," the president added.
"So far these are poll result. More and more commission have been counted but it's not even 10 million votes yet, and it will certainly be more than 20 million cast votes, so we need to patiently wait for the official result. I hope that tomorrow, around noon, the National Electoral Commission will finish counting all votes and will announce the final result," he said.
"I thank the National Electoral Commission. What's crucial for me is that, with such a huge turnout, this election went on peacefully. There had been many concerns. We have war behind our eastern border, a hybrid attack from the Belarusian side. I'm grateful to all those who took care for the safety of information and communication technology safety as well as physical safety at that time."
"Democracy in Poland is stable. Those who have won, I sincerely congratulate. To all new MPs, senators, all those who will hold seats in the new parliament - my heartfelt congratulations. And once again I thank everyone for taking part in this huge event. This is a success of our democracy," the president added.
The turnout in Poland's general election was probably the highest since the fall of communism in 1989.
According to the final late poll, the voter turnout stood at 73.9 percent.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, TVN24