The Polish incumbent is wrongly claiming that the LGBTI movement is an ideology, rather than a community of people fighting for their rights to be respected. This desperate move by Duda shows how badly his campaign is struggling to connect with voters.
PES President Sergei Stanishev said:
“President Duda and the current Polish government majority must start to respect all Poles and help them solve their real problems rather than creating imaginary ones.
“This is a sign of desperation from candidate of the ruling party PiS. Duda believed he had the winning hand and wanted to rush to the ballot box amidst the COVID crisis with total disregard of public health or his own voters’ health. Now that his margin in the polls is collapsing, he is getting nervous and is looking for a scapegoat, creating a more hostile atmosphere and potentially inciting violence. This is highly irresponsible and goes against the descent values that Poles and people across Europe respect and cherish. He is going against EU values and human rights which is completely unacceptable.”
The PES supports Robert Biedron in this presidential run, a committed progressive who will unite people not incite them against each other. His positive and hopeful message is a complete contrast to the PiS campaign, which is unapologetically homophobic and prejudiced. PiS campaign team member and MP Przemysław Czarnek has said “Those people (from the LGBTI community) are not equal to normal people”, and MEP Joachim Brudziński has tweeted to say that “Poland without LGBT is the most beautiful”. The PES will always stand in solidarity with the LGBTI community and against these abhorrent views.
