An election convention for Jerzy Zieliński, secretary of Bolesławiec and an independent candidate for the Senate, was held on Thursday, September 22, in the conference room of the Bolesławiec Cultural Centre–International Ceramics Centre. The guests included, among others, Professor Tadeusz Luty, associated with Wrocław University of Science and Technology; Bolesławiec mayor Piotr Roman; head of the Bolesławiec City Council Józef Pokładek; head of Bolesławiec Rural Commune Andrzej Dutkowski; Lubań mayor Arkadiusz Słowiński; and Lubań county head Walery Czarnecki. The meeting was hosted by Agnieszka Gergont, spokesperson for the Bolesławiec municipal authorities.
Professor Luty spoke. “Like me, Jerzy Zieliński has a wealth of experience behind him,” the scholar said. “We want to bring renewal to the Senate of the Republic of Poland. We are both running with Rafał Dutkiewicz’s Voters’ Election Committee, a committee that guarantees independence. After all, it is clear that to be creative, one must be independent. In our reality, this independence can bring renewal to what we already regard as politics with a lowercase ‘p’.”
The professor stressed that candidates associated with the Union of Presidents – Citizens to the Senate movement sought “to restore the Senate to citizens.” “We live shackled by laws constructed in such a way that we are allowed only what is literally written in the law. Civilised societies live by a different principle: anything that is not prohibited is permitted. It is different here. Legal acts contain hundreds or thousands of sections. We must change this,” he noted. “We have good intentions and know what needs improving. But in order to do it, we need strong representation in parliament; none of us can accomplish anything alone,” he added.
Jerzy Zieliński spoke in a similar vein. “People have the right to choose an independent candidate. A party is a part; parties divide, while we want to unite. That is the essence of the Citizens to the Senate movement,” Bolesławiec’s secretary said. “If the OdS committee introduces ten people to the Senate, the first bill our senators submit will concern transforming the Senate into a chamber of local government. Of course, this requires changing the Constitution. But no one said we would carry out a revolution immediately. We want to change reality step by step.”
According to the candidate, the process should begin by establishing good laws. “Our law is a caricature of Roman law,” Zieliński noted. “Bureaucratic barriers hold everyone captive. The mayor, heads of communes and mayors present in this room could explain why local governments have to struggle every day with the idiotic implementation of so-called duplicated-law.”
Piotr Roman also spoke. “Very important elections are approaching; I have the impression they are just as significant as those held 20 years ago,” he stressed. “For local government, they are one of the last chances to leave the road leading astray. If this course of action continues, local governments may cease to exist.”
“We want an independent candidate,” the mayor stated. “For years we have observed this phenomenon: a local government official who joins a political party begins to have two consciences—his own and the party’s. Sometimes the latter prevails. Then that person forgets where they came from. The only goal they seek is to run in the next elections. The trouble is that whether they will have the opportunity to run depends on the grace of the party leader. An independent candidate is accountable only to voters. Parliament needs new people, but they must be competent people, like Jerzy Zieliński,” he added.
During the convention, Bolesławiec resident Ryszard Tomczyk, a world-famous boxer, presented Zieliński with the boxing gloves in which he won the European championship.
(information: GA)