ELECTION IN POLAND

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25088, 21 January 1947, Page 7

ELECTION IN POLAND

Mikolajczyk Seeks Annulment FIRST FIGURES ANNOUNCED (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON, Jan. 20. First provisional voting figures in the Polish election, issued officially in Warsaw, give the Government bloc 80,000 votes and Mr Mikolajczyk’s Peasant Party 15,000. Earlier provisional returns from 18 precincts of Warsaw said that 32,000 of a total electorate of 38,597 people voted in the 18 districts, approximately as follows:—Government bloc 21,000, Peasant Party, 6000; Work Party 2700, Independent Catholics 1400. The Exchange Telegraph Agency correspondent in Warsaw says: "In spite of official assurances that foreign journalists would be allowed to witness the counting of votes, officials at one Warsaw polling station asked the Exchange Telegraph Agency correspondent and two other correspondents to leave when preparations were being made to break the seals of the ballot box, and the officials refused to -begin the count until they left. The correspondents were denied admission when they attempted to protest to the Central Commission’s office.” Mr Mikolajczyk has announced that he will demand that the Polish elections be annulled on the ground that they were not free and unfettered, as required by the Big Three, says Reuter’s correspondent in Warsaw. Mr Mikolajczyk said: “In spite of irregularities I believe that my party would obtain a majority if observers could be present to assure fairness in counting.” He added that he had handed a new Note to the British and American Embassies detailing his charges. Mr Mikolajczyk described how his observers had been banned from various electoral divisions. For instance, he asked for 166 observers in the Warsaw districts, and was granted 22, and for 90 in Lodz, where he was granted 28. In another district he asked for 200, and was granted 20, of whom 18 were arrested. Mr Mikolajczyk added that when he drove to the polls on Sunday afternoon lorry loads of students drove up and shouted: “Go to London. We don’t want British and American Ambassadors here.” Armed Clashes It is officially announced that six Polish soldiers were killed and nine wounded when an armed band of 80 attacked troops «m election duty near Lublin. A Polish Government communique says that 16 “underground bandits” were killed in election day outrages in 16 localities. Eight soldiers guarding polling stations were wounded. Gangsters fired on people queueing to vote, and attempted to dynamite one polling station.

Ukrainian nationalist forces attacked a polling station at Esko, in the extreme south-east corner of Poland, says the Warsaw correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph.” The attackers were driven off, losing two killed and six captured. Differing Views on Secrecy Correspondents do not agree about the secrecy of the ballot. Reuter’s correspondent in Warsaw said, after visiting polling stations in various parts of Warsaw, that he could affirm that the actual process of casting votes appeared to be proceeding secretly and freely. The authorities did not provide curtained booths, but the voters brought their ballot papers already folded and placed them in envelopes provided. It was impossible for the electoral officers to see for whom votes were cast.

The correspondent of the Associated Press says- “The ballot was singularly lacking in secrecy. Government bloc organisers throughout Poland rounded up voters and led them to the polls in groups. The voters were said to have been told that the alternative to voting for Government bloc candidates was loss of employment or imprisonment. “Most of the voters carried a plainly visible piece of paper marked No. 3—the number used to vote for the Government bloc. Poles clipped their numbers from newspapers or secured them from party organisers. Election officials held an open envelope r°ady for each voter to drop in his numbered, slip. Some Poles folded the slips, but in most cases the officials were able to see the numbers. Officials prevented voters from sealing their envelopes. Scores of Poles said that they could not vote fortheir convictions. It was vote for the Government bloc or lose everything.” “Fifty-fifty Chance” The correspondent of the British United Press says: “The average Polish voter had a fifty-fifty chance of voting secretly. He found two booths with screened partitions among the 20 he visited in Warsaw. Many voters turned away from the officials and quickly slipped their ballot into envelopes. “The police last night called at many blocks of flats and gave instructions for parties to assemble in the morning at stated points. The streets before midday to-day were filled with marchers dressed in their Sunday best.” The Lublin correspondent of the British United Press reports that no Peasant Party observers were present at booths which he visited. He went to one booth in a village near Lublin and noticed that in contravention of the electoral law ballots with a printed No. 3 were displayed on a table. The correspondent asked for No 4—one of the numbers allotted to Mr Mikolajczyk’s party—but was told that these had all been used. The Warsaw correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” reports that the Government election number in every district was three, whereas the Peasant Party’s number confusingly varied in every district. The correspondent added that at every booth he visited voters had to make their decision in full view of the polling officials, without the secrecy of a cubicle. The Exchange Telegraph Agency’s correspondent says that none of the balloting envelopes ensured secrecy. They were -supposed to be sealed, but none was gummed.