Vienna/Warsaw - Poland on Friday rejected international observers to monitor upcoming parliamentary elections on October 21, the Vienna-based Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said. The Polish government informed the OSCE that foreign monitors would not be welcome.
Poland's upcoming elections are widely regarded as a confidence vote on the rule of the Kaczynski twins. Jaroslaw Kaczynski's conservative-nationalist Law and Justice Party (PiS) has been in power since 2005, with the aid of an unstable coalition, and his brother, Lech, holds the office of president.
Former Czech president and noted dissident Vaclav Havel on September 3 called for monitors to be present in Poland.
"I feel that it would be in the interest of all Polish citizens, if international observers were invited to the elections," Havel was quoted by the Polish PAP news agency.
His comments came on the heels of a political storm over allegations that Prime Minister Kaczynski may have used the Ministry of Justice and secret service in attempts to neutralize political rivals.
One month ahead of the snap elections, the race is tight, with PiS and the opposition Civic Platform almost equal in the polls.
Urdur Gunarsdottir, spokeswoman of OSCE's election monitoring body, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, confirmed Poland's rejection. ODHIR is hosted by Poland.
"We approached them for a needs assessment. That is what we do to find out if there is a need for monitoring and how big the mission would be," she told Deutsche Presse-Agentur
