Three schools held mock elections in Bolesławiec: I Liceum Ogólnokształcące, II Liceum Ogólnokształcące and I Prywatne Gimnazjum. The aim of the initiative was to familiarise young people with the process of electing members of parliament. That is why everything took place as it does in real elections. There were ballot papers and a special booth for discreetly marking the ballot. The voting was supervised by the Youth Electoral Commission.
The mock elections involved voting for political parties. No party could be promoted among the young people in any way. The initiative was carried out efficiently, and the organisers encountered no major problems. “The only reservations I have concern the low level of awareness among the younger students, who asked whom they should vote for. However, the older students approached the elections quite seriously,” says Maksymilian Lubiński, chairman of the Youth Electoral Commission at I Liceum Ogólnokształcące.
After the votes were counted, it became clear that Civic Platform was the most popular party among students in Bolesławiec, receiving the votes of 48% of young residents of Bolesławiec. Law and Justice came second, with 17% of the votes, followed by the Democratic Party with nine percent and Self-Defence with five percent. According to the students, only these parties would have entered parliament. None of the others exceeded five percent of the votes cast. Overall turnout in the mock elections was 58%.
The “Young People Vote” initiative was organised by the Centre for Civic Education. Schools from across the country took part.