These are the last days for registration of voters outside Poland who want to participate in the election of the president of Poland on 18 May. In Germany and another countries, ballots are accepted until Tuesday, May 13.
Only those who are abroad who will be included in the consul's list of voters will be able to vote.
Another condition for voting abroad is having a certificate of voting rights. It is issued by the elected municipal office in Poland and abroad by the consul. An application for specified a certificate may be submitted by Thursday 15 May. It is made up at the office, it cannot be filed online. It is besides crucial to know that obtaining a certificate of voting rights excludes the anticipation of submitting an application for inclusion in the list of voters. On the basis of the certificate you can vote in any circuit in the country and abroad – read Gov.pl website.
How do you report?
The embassies and consulates encourage the vote abroad to usage the eElection electronic registration system.
You can besides submit yourself personally or by letter by submitting a paper application with your own signature. The application form is available on the Gov.pl website under "report and election".
When sending an email notification (to the email address of the competent consular authority), a scan or photograph of the application signed by hand shall be attached. Among another things, it is essential to supply the PESEL number, the valid passport number or ID card number and the address of your stay abroad.
When submitting the voter, he must choice 1 of the voting circuits and remember his number. It may happen that there will be respective voting circuits at 1 address.
The electronic voter registration strategy indicated on Friday, May 9, around 6:00 p.m. on over 53,000 applications in the electoral commissions established in Germany. Only 1 list – under a commission in Kleve on the border with the Netherlands – "broken in stitches". erstwhile registered voters find information about "a very large number of voters saved" and "expected queues to vote". "We urge the election of another committee," we read in eElections.
Elections in Germany
The Polish Ministry of abroad Affairs established 54 peripheral electoral commissions in Germany. That's more than 2 years ago in the parliamentary election erstwhile the committee was 47. In the 2020 presidential election – during the coronavirus pandemic – there were only 15 regional electoral commissions in Germany, but then the German vote could only be given by correspondence. There's no way this year.
There were presently 8 election committees in Berlin, and six in Munich and Hamburg. 3 commissions each have Cologne and Frankfurt am Main. 2 in turn – Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen, Bielefeld, Bremen and the south of Germany – Stuttgart, Nuremberg and Karlsruhe.
In addition, there are respective cities in Germany: Leipzig, Dresden, Brunswick, Hannover, Laatzen, Oldenburg, Darmstadt, Kassel, Kleve, Mainz, Münster and Wiesbaden.
When's the vote?
Poles in Germany can participate in the presidential elections only by individual voting at the seat of the applicable committee. There is no anticipation to vote by correspondence or to vote by proxy.
The vote takes place on Sunday, May 18, at the seat of the elected peripheral election commission between 7:00 and 21:00. The second circular of elections, if necessary, is scheduled for Sunday, June 1.
When going to elections, you should have a valid Polish passport or Polish ID.
Second circular of elections
In the event of a second round, the voter may also, after the day of the first vote, apply for entry in the list of voters in the voting circuit established abroad, by 27 May at the latest.
It should besides be remembered that the people included before the first circular in the registry of voters in the circuit abroad will besides be included in this list in the case of the second circular of elections. As the State Election Commission informs, participation in the vote in another circuit will be possible only after:
– receiving a certificate of voting rights from the consul or the elected municipal office. An application for a certificate may be submitted until 29 May;
– to submit an application for inclusion in the list of voters to the consul competent for the selected voting circuit in which the voter will be present on the day of the second round. specified an application may be submitted by 27 May at the latest;
– or after the submission (until 29 May) of a request to change the voting place to the office of the municipality liable for the selected permanent circuit of the voting area in which the voter will be present on the day of the re-vote.
Record number of committees
A full of 508 circuits were created abroad this year – more than a 100 more than in the parliamentary elections in the autumn of 2023. Now the commissions were even created in tourist destinations specified as Majorka or Tenerife.
In the presidential election, the voices of Polonia are assigned to the Warsaw constituency competent for the Śródmieście district.
2020 elections: so voted in Germany
In the 2020 presidential election, somewhat over 49,000 people voted in the circuits in Germany. In the first circular a vote among Poles in Germany was won by candidate of the Civic Coalition Rafał Trzaskowski (52.5 percent of votes). Andrzej Duda – a candidate of the Law and Justice Union – voted 20 percent and 15.6% for Simon Holovnia.
In the second circular almost 70 1000 Poles have already gone to urn in Germany. The vast majority of them voted for Trzaskowski (more than 77 percent). Only little than 23 percent voted for Duda – who yet won the second round, reaching 51 percent of the vote in all electoral circuits in Poland and abroad.
