The upcoming European Parliament elections will give Poles a say in European politics, but most won't take advantage of the opportunity istockphoto.com

When it came time to cast their vote on European Union accession, Poles turned out in droves to take part in the historic election. Almost 59 percent of the electorate hit the polling stations in 2003, over 77 percent of whom voted in favor of EU membership.

A little over a year later, during Poland’s first European Parliament election, this enthusiasm was conspicuously absent – a paltry 20.9 percent of the electorate turned out to vote. Throughout the newly expanded EU, only Slovakia had a poorer showing.

Five years on, with Poland growing more influential in Brussels and its economy one of the stablest in the bloc, some hoped that Poles would be more inclined to get out and participate in the pan-European democratic process.

Unfortunately, the forecast for the EP election this month looks gloomy. According to a recent Eurobarometer survey, only 13 percent of Poles said they would vote this year. Sixty-three percent said they had no interest in the EP elections and a further 24 percent were undecided.

Based on these figures, turnout in Poland could even be the worst in the EU. Meanwhile, 65 percent of respondents expressed satisfaction with EU membership.

Get out and vote

Source: TNS OBOP

But if turnout is low, doesn’t the blame lie with UKIE, which is responsible for promoting awareness of the EU in Poland? Working to improve turnout seems to be exactly the kind of thing the institution should have been doing since the last EP elections.

“Our actions are not huge-scale – we don’t print billboards or mail out stacks of brochures. This time we decided to boost turnout by summarizing our first five years in the EU,” said Dowgielewicz, listing TV, radio ads, and an online campaign. “I would really like the level of support declared for the EU [by those surveyed] to translate into a high turnout on June 7,” he added.

Ireneusz Krzemiński, a sociologist at the University of Warsaw, said that disinterest in elections was a “legacy” of Poland’s communist era. “People are no longer obliged to vote, so they don’t,” he explained. Political scientists across Europe tend to agree that turnout in the EP elections is generally lower than in national elections. The average turnout in EP elections has shrunk from 62 percent in 1979 to 45 percent in 2004.

However, Katarzyna Pisarska, an expert on EU issues at the Casimir Pulaski Foundation in Warsaw, disagrees with the idea that Poles don’t care. “Poles are more aware of what is going on than citizens of other EU countries, maybe because Polish MEPs are often visible in the media. There are many Polish politicians that are associated with the European Parliament; they are very active and recognizable,” she said.