President Duda vetoes the bill changing European election rules

Poland's president has vetoed changes proposed by the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) designed to benefit big political parties in 2019 elections to the European Parliament.

Andrzej Duda said in a statement on Thursday that the proposed bill fundamentally bypasses the principle of proportionality included in the Polish law, as well as the 5-percent threshold rule of the European law".

"I've decided to veto this bill. This change would mean that the effective electoral threshold would rise to as much as 16.5 percent from five percent," Duda said. "This means only two parties would have a real chance of winning representation in the European Parliament," Duda said.

A PiS ally, Duda may need the support of smaller parties to secure re-election in 2020.

"Furthermore, I think that the proposed changes would have resulted in the lower turnout," the President said on Thursday.

In July the Polish parliament approved an altered election rule that favours big parties like PiS and the biggest opposition group Civic Platform (PO) and disadvantages smaller groups or individuals. Duda is a PiS ally but his veto may mark another twist in his relations with the ruling party, which have been volatile since the president unexpectedly vetoed controversial bills intended to reform the court system a year ago.

Duda's first veto was interpreted as a sign of crisis in his relationship with PiS, but since then, despite strong objections at home and abroad, PiS has managed to complete the judicial overhaul and the deadlocked has eased.

Duda approved the most recent amendments to the law, which in effect let the government choose the next Supreme Court chief.

Street protesters at that time held up pens during demonstrations against the amendment, referring to Duda's readiness to sign.

Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 International, PAP