A journal of political, social, and other important, possibly even somewhat related affairs, including but not limited to: Central European Society, The European Union, HC Kometa Brno, American Politics, Film, and Beer.

10 April 2010

An Unbelievable Tragedy for Poland

Apparently, after three or four attempts to land in heavy fog, Poland's version of Air Force One has crashed en route to a commemoration of the Katyń massacre in Russia. As I'm sure most of this blog's readers already know, President Lech Kaczyński and his wife, the Army's Chief of Staff, a former President-in-Exile, and dozens of top officials, Members of the Sejm (Poland's Parliament), and advisors have died. Gazeta Wyborcza has a partial list; a total of 96 people are believed to have died. The acting President has called for 6 days of mourning; Lithuania, a millennium-long ally of Poland, has also announced a national day of mourning. Georgia has done the same.

Polish citizens have
taken to the streets in grief, and the whole nation is simply stunned and devastated. Lech Wałęsa dubbed the crash "Katyń nr 2," noting the sad symbolism of such an awful place, until yesterday planned to be a site for Russian-Polish rapprochement after its brutal history as a site emblematic of Russian-Polish mistrust.

As for the political fallout, the Marshal of the Sejm (equivalent to t
he Speaker of the House) now automatically succeeds to the Presidency; he will be installed at 8:30 tonight (Polish time). Interestingly enough, Bronisław Komorowski (of the Civic Platform Party) was scheduled to run against the President Kaczyński for the presidency in a couple months. The Sejm is elected by electoral lists, and so the person that was next on the list in the last election will take over the duties of the members who have died in the tragedy. When the Sejm is completed again, the process of filling in the ranks of the Polish leadership will begin.

It is hard to imagine the degree to which this will affect the upcoming presidential elections -- many top officials in PiS (Law and Justice) have died, yet it will also be difficult for Komorowski to run a typical campaign. And in the months ahead there will be plenty of time for campaigning. Now is probably more appropriately a time of mourning.


R.I.P.

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