Klaipėdos universitetas

The territorial government election held in 2018 had significant influence not only on the current situation in Poland but also on the functioning of the country on the international scene. This event was very important for building the future political situation in Poland and it was a kind of prediction before the European Parliament election, the Polish Parliament election and before the Presidential election which are coming in the following years. The results of this election showed not only what can happen but also how Poland may function in the international environment – the Polish cooperation with other countries in the region and Poland’s functioning in the European Union. The subject of this research is to analyse the territorial government election in Poland in 2018 and to show what kind of changes were done in the Polish electoral law. Also, there are some indications presented how the role of local government should be shaped in the near future. The paper is also discussing some issues related with the way how Poland will function in the future with the focus on international cooperation, especially the cooperation with neighbouring countries and the European Union. The method which was used in this study is the observation method and the analysis of the situation in Poland as well as the analysis of changes in the electoral law in Poland. The aim of this paper is to show what changes should take place in the near future in the role and shape of territorial governments in Poland on different levels seeking to improve the functioning of these very important bodies of the political system in Poland.

Public television is an important source of electoral information in Poland. The scope of its duties is regulated by the Election Code and media regulations. The presented content can fundamentally influence electoral attitudes of Poles and shape their views in this respect. The analysis of the National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT) reports on the monitoring of public television and the analysis of the opinion polls’ results carried out by the Public Opinion Research Centre (CBOS) revealed that the key factor that determined a low turnout in the 2015 parliamentary elections was not the lack of information or knowledge on the voters’ side, but more a disappointment in the quality of political life in Poland. In the local government elections of 2014, the phenomenon of insufficient provision of information indeed did occur, as the main media for informational and educational content were not nationwide but rather regional broadcasts with low viewership. The author used the following research methods to address the above issues: critical literature analysis, comparative and descriptive analysis, as well as analysis of legislation, documents and surveys.