Polish-American Advocacy Initiative: U.S. Officials Must Not Interfere in Polish Elections

WASHINGTON, June 25, 2010 - The planned visit to Poland by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and
other U.S. officials immediately before the final round of Poland's
Presidential elections can only be seen as a blatant attempt to influence the
outcome of this election. This visit must be postponed until after the new
Polish president is elected.

Secretary of State Clinton and others are ostensibly bound for Poland to
participate in a meeting of the Community of Democracies on July 3. This
meeting will take place one day before the final vote in a close presidential
election in which the Polish people will choose a successor to President Lech
Kaczynski, who, along with nearly 100 other top Polish leaders, was
tragically killed in an airplane crash near Smolensk, Russia, on April 10. In
the first round of voting, only five percent separated the two remaining
candidates, Acting President Bronislaw Komomorski and former Prime Minister
Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

The Community of Democracies meeting is hosted by Polish Foreign Minister
Radoslaw Sikorski. Both Sikorski and Komorowski belong to the same party.
Sikorski has been actively campaigning for Komrowski. In fact, Komorowski
will be a featured speaker at the Community of Democracies meeting.

By Polish law, all campaigning must end one day before Election Day (i.e.
pre-election silence, "cisza wyborcza"). The Secretary of State's visit will
focus news coverage on Komorowski and the Community of Democracies meeting,
therefore enabling Komorowski to de facto continue his campaign despite the
ban.

The United States of America has an established policy of
non-interference in democratic elections to support specific candidates or
parties. Rather, both Democratic and Republic administrations have
consistently advocated the general fairness of the electoral process and a
level playing field for all candidates.

We call upon the Secretary of State and other U.S. officials to continue
this longstanding bipartisan policy of non-interference. U.S. officials must
not allow themselves to be pulled into internal Polish politics. Such a grave
error would only undercut America's friendship with Poland and court the
wrath of Polish American voters in the U.S.

Poland is a mature democracy. It is up to the Polish people, not U.S.
officials, to choose the next Polish president.

Ava Polansky-Bak of the Polish-American Advocacy Group, +1-908-463-2394 or polam.act at gmail.com