It’s a good opportunity to vote in line with yourself and your beliefs.
Even if your candidate doesn’t advance, your vote won’t be wasted. On the contrary – it will show how strong the electorate is that demands justice, equality, and respect.
You don’t have to choose the “lesser evil.” You don’t have to vote tactically. You don’t have to grit your teeth or look the other way – especially when the choice is between people whose views go against your values, or who are ashamed of you and disregard human rights.
This is a chance to show how many of us there are – and how much power we have.
Even if the candidate you vote for doesn’t win, your support gives them a mandate to keep working on your behalf. It also strengthens your position to hold the future government accountable for its promises and decisions. Because voting is not just about choosing – it is a political act, a gesture of resistance, or a desire for change.
The campaign coming to an end has become grotesque. It resembles a fight between discount stores, where promotions have been replaced by contempt, and political programs by slander. In this climate, manipulation, dehumanization, and hate speech have become the norm. This opened the door to violence – both online and in real life.
Migrants and refugees, who don’t have the right to vote, were cynically exploited in this game. They were made into a scare tactic, a tool for political mobilization, an easy target. They were turned into a weapon. After the election, this sludge won’t disappear – neither the language, nor the mechanisms, nor the attitudes. It always goes further.
Too much has happened during this campaign to stay silent:
– The government, parliament, and president jointly legalized a mechanism for unlawfully suspending basic human rights on the Polish-Belarusian border – targeting people seeking refuge and safety.
– People providing humanitarian aid in the border forests – saving lives and health – were put on trial as defendants, not as agents of human solidarity.
– When attacks occurred on Immigrant Integration Centers and refugee shelters, the authorities remained silent – they didn’t condemn the violence, didn’t take action, didn’t stand with those attacked.
– There were brutal attacks on doctors and medics in the country, as well as horrifying acts of femicide. Instead of a systemic response and support for the victims, these tragedies were used to fuel hatred against foreigners living in Poland.
Silence and inaction mean complicity. Silence empowers violence.
Vote if you can. But above all – do it in alignment with yourself.
Voting is a privilege. And since we have it today – let’s use it not against someone, but for something. For one another, and for those who have no voice but are part of our community.
And one more thing.
We still have two more weeks of the campaign ahead.
It will be intense. It will be loud. There will be even more hate, manipulation, and attempts to divide people.
Let’s hold on. Let’s wish each other strength and resilience. We’ll need it.
