Who will win the local elections

Transcription

1 Who will win the local elections Elections 2018 How to interpret the election results PiS certain of two regional assemblies, opposition of seven Who will win in the largest cities PiS running a record number of candidates in local elections Elections in smaller cities will impact national politics How local governments work in Poland

2 Daily intelligence. Stay ahead of what s relevant. - In English and Polish - Poland s leading analytical service for business leaders, policy makers and diplomats. START A FREE TRIAL AT POLITYKAINSIGHT.PL/EN Dagmara Bochyńska Sales Manager d.bochynska@politykainsight.pl Local elections

3 Battle over local governments the first stage of election marathon The local election campaign is behind us, voting takes place on Sunday and on Tuesday or Wednesday we will find out the official election results. They are important not only because of their effect on the local level, but they will also set the shape of the national political scene. We will learn the answers to key questions: will PiS get closer to getting re-elected in 2019? Will the Koalicja Obywatelska banner work? Will PSL survive? Will SLD return to Premier League? The campaign that lasted several months had two main fronts. First was the clash over the biggest cities, especially Warsaw, where Patryk Jaki was a demanding rival for Rafał Trzaskowski through the final week. At the end he lost some steam and it was the Koalicja Obywatelska candidate who became the clear favourite, although the fight will likely be settled in the second round. Wojciech Szacki Senior Analyst for Political Affairs The second front of the campaign was the rivalry between PiS and PSL for local assemblies. PM Mateusz Morawiecki was the face of the PiS campaign, with Jarosław Kaczyński in the background. Both sought to convince the voters that local governments will be able to count on investments only if they will be able to cooperate with the central government. The opposition responded with proposals to decentralise the state and strengthen the independence of local governments. What can we expect on October 21? PiS will likely boast the best result in terms the percentage of votes won in the history of elections to local assemblies (the current record in 33 per cent achieved by AWS in 1998). Nevertheless, PO-PSL will retain control of most of the voivodeships because Kaczyński s party is not able to attract many coalition partners. In most large cities opposition or independent candidates will emerge victorious. Locally, at the level of county and municipal levels, PiS, which put up the largest number of candidates, will gain. But emotions will not settle on October 21. On November 4, the second round of the election will take place in many important cities. Then the local elections will smoothly transition into the European election campaign and then to the parliamentary election campaign. On the horizon is a likely cabinet reshuffle and changes in the Sejm leadership. Changes also await the opposition, especially on the left. The coming year will be a race full of sharp turns. Local elections

4 Local elections calendar October 20 election silence begins at midnight, which will end on October 21 at 9 pm October 21 the first round of local elections, voting locations open between 7 am and 9 pm October 21 at 9 pm TVP, Polsat and TVN to release exit poll figures prepared by Ipsos October 22 r 23 The National Electoral Board will likely release official election results November 4 second round of local elections November 5 or 6 the deadline for filing election protests with regional courts regarding the results of the first round of the elections November 19 the deadline for filing election protests with regional courts regarding the results of the second round of the elections Local elections

5 How to interpret the election results The results of local elections can be assessed on the basis of various criteria. The strength of the parties will be shown primarily by the result of elections to the regional assemblies. Wojciech Szacki, Senior Analyst for Political Affairs Joanna Sawicka, Ryszard Łuczyn, Political Affairs Analysts The local elections will take place on October 21 and will decide who will govern at the local level - in the town councils, poviats, regional assemblies, and who will gain power in cities. The result of the election will have a significant impact on the domestic political scene because it will be treated as a forecast before the parliamentary campaign and as an indicator of the current popularity of the parties. At stake in the election is the survival of PSL as an independent force, while the future of SLD and Kukiz 15 will also be decided. The official results will probably be announced on October Support nation-wide: PiS is fighting for a better result than in From the point of view of national politics, the most important result will be the vote for the regional assemblies. Comparison with the results of the elections to the Sejm will allow an assessment to be made as to how the individual parties came out, given that PSL is stronger locally than in the parliamentary elections. In 2015, PiS got 37.6 per cent of the votes, and since then its support has increased. It will be difficult for the party to achieve a better result than in the parliamentary elections, because some of its votes will be taken over by local committees, and PiS has never been strong in local authorities. If it improves the 2015 result, it will signal that the party is still attracting voters. Koalicja Obywatelska (KO) is fighting for a 25 per cent result and a difference of no more than percentage points between its and PiS s result. If the results differ by more than a dozen points, KO will find it difficult to convince voters that it remains an alternative to the PiS government. For PSL, the border-line will be per cent a single-digit result means failure, surpassing 12 per cent will constitute a level which will allow PSL to claim that they have defended themselves in local government. Regional assemblies: how many regions will PiS take. According to our forecast, PiS will govern in at least two regions (Podkarpacie and Małopolska), and there are another seven where the result will be close. Kaczyński said in July 2018 that he was hoping to win four or five regional assemblies. Any worse result would be a failure for the party. PiS has a good chance of a majority in the provinces of Świętokrzyskie and Podlasie. If it additionally manages to take over the Lubelskie, Łódzkie, Mazowieckie, Dolnośląskie or Śląsk voivodeships, it will be able to claim victory. For KO, success would mean retaining power in ten regions, our KO sources are counting on twelve. PSL has similar aspirations. For KO losing Dolny Śląsk and Śląsk would be a significant defeat. For PSL, it would be particularly difficult to hand over power in Mazowieckie and Świętokrzyskie. Cities: a PiS win in any major city will be a success. Candidates of the ruling party have little chance of winning the mayoral office in any of the ten largest cities in Poland. Most of them will probably be won by candidates supported by Koalicja Obywatelska, some of whom also have the support of SLD and PSL. Piotr Krzystek from the Bezpartyjni Samorządowcy (Independent) list will probably win re-election in Szczecin and in Gdańsk Paweł Adamowicz, a former PO member and current mayor of the city has a good chance against Jarosław Wałęsa from PO. PiS candidates might get into the second rounds and win good results in Warsaw (Patryk Jaki) and Kraków (Małgorzata Wassermann). Winning in one of the big cities would be a major surprise and a success of the ruling party. Councils: PiS must win the largest number of seats. In the local government elections in 2014, PiS had 1,514 people on poviat councils and 3,530 in municipal councils. At the local level, it defeated PO, which won 758 seats in poviats and 1,264 seats in municipalities. On the other hand, it lost against PSL, which got 1,702 candidates in local councils, and 4,371 in municipal councils. In the upcoming elections, however, PSL is running 6,000 fewer candidates than four years ago, whereas PiS has 1,600 more. PSL is weaker than in 2014, in addition, will not be helped by the so-called booklet effect, which rewarded the first party on the ballot, which happened to be PSL. It should be anticipated, therefore, that the ruling party will obtain the largest number of seats in the various councils. Any other result will mean a defeat for PiS. THE BOTTOM LINE The major media interest has been in the mayoral elections in the largest cities - personalised, with television debates, somewhat reminiscent of a presidential race. However, only a dozen or so per cent of Poles live in major cities. It is the elections to the regional assemblies that will give an indication of the real strength of the parties before the next general election. PiS will probably not be able to take over more than four or five regional assemblies. If, however, it overtakes Koalicja Obywatelska by more than a dozen or so percentage points across the country, its chances of holding power after the parliamentary election in 2019 will increase. Local elections

6 PiS certain of two regional assemblies, opposition of seven The situation in some regions is unclear but in most, PO and its coalition partners will probably hang on to power. Ryszard Łuczyn, Political Affairs Analyst, Joanna Sawicka, Political Affairs Analyst The local election campaign is drawing to a close. There has been little change in the parties ratings compared to mid-september when we presented our previous forecast for the regional assembly elections. Average support for PiS (excluding undecided voters) has increased from 43 to 44 per cent, and for Kukiz 15 from 7.5 to 8.5 per cent. Koalicja Obywatelska (KO) ratings fell from 30 to 28.5 per cent, SLD from 7.5 to 6.5 per cent and PSL from 6 to 5.5 per cent. In recent weeks, the ruling party has focused on attacking PSL because it wants to win the farmers votes. In turn, the PiS result may be weakened by the disclosure of a recording of PM Mateusz Morawiecki s conversation at the Sowa i Przyjaciele restaurant. According to a CBOS survey conducted after its publication, support for PiS dropped by 6 percentage points, from 51 to 45 per cent. PiS certain of two regional assemblies. Jarosław Kaczyński s party will certainly retain power in the Podkarpackie voivodeship, the only one in which it currently holds the majority in the regional council. According to our forecast, PiS will increase its lead and win 21 out of 33 seats, compared to the 19 councillors it got on the regional assembly four years ago. The ruling party will also take the Małopolskie voivodeship, but the PiS margin will not be large. Our calculations suggest that its candidates will get 21 out of 39 seats, which is four more than in KO will hold at least seven regions. The coalition will not win an independent majority in any voivodeship. It will obtain the best result in Pomorze, where PO was always strong - it will win 16 out of 33 seats, and together with PSL it can count on a safe majority of 20 councillors. In Wielkopolska, Lubuskie, Zachodniopomorskie, Warmińsko-Mazurskie and Kujawsko-Pomorskie the coalition will be joined by PSL and SLD, and in the Opole region by the German Minority. Apart from Pomorze, the Coalition will have the most stable situation in Wielkopolska and in the Opole region (24 out of 39 seats and 19 out of 30 respectively). The coalition has a chance of another five. In the Lubelskie, Mazowieckie, Łódzkie and Śląsk regions, coalitions created around KO can only count on winning one seat more than PiS and its potential coalition partners. In Lubelskie, Mazowieckie, a lot depends on whether Marshal Adam Struzik from PSL has managed to maintain strong influence and whether the party will manage to hold ten seats. In all these regions, it is important whether Kukiz 15 manages to win seats on the regional assemblies, and our calculations show that this is the most likely in Śląsk. A very interesting region is Dolny Śląsk, which until recently was a PO bastion. An important role will be played by politicians running on Bezpartyjni Samorządowcy lists (Independents) - three candidates running in the top slots in five districts are favourable to PiS and two to KO. If the candidates closer to PiS win, PiS can take over the region. Deadlock in two provinces. According to our forecast, in two assemblies - Podlasie and Świętokrzyskie - the number of councillors is even and a majority will not emerge. In both provinces, PiS can count on 15 out of 30 seats. The other councillors (from KO, PSL and SLD) will most likely seek to form a coalition against the ruling party. Then both sides will try to persuade councillors from the opposite camp to change parties, and the possible majority would be small and unstable. The Świętokrzyskie region will be particularly important for PSL losing it would mean the loss of a position by one of the PSL marshals (Adam Jarubas) and a significant weakening of structures in a region which is very important for the party. THE BOTTOM LINE s forecast based on recent polls indicates that Koalicja Obywatelska has a good chance of holding power in the majority of provinces. This would increase the mobilisation of the opposition in the run-up to the European elections. In the last days of the campaign, the level of emotions on both sides of the political scene has increased, which may deepen the polarisation and influence the polls. PiS and KO will benefit from this at the expense of the smaller groupings. The number of seats that SLD, Kukiz 15 and, in some regions PSL, which are hovering around the electoral threshold is difficult to predict. And in several regions, it is these parties result that will determine who can form the majority in the regional assembly. Local elections

7 Who will win in the largest cities Trzaskowski is back online, blackmail did not work against Zdanowska, and Adamowicz is ahead of Wałęsa - this is what s happening in cities just before the elections. Joanna Sawicka, Political Affairs Analyst, Wojciech Szacki, Senior Analyst for Political Affairs Warsaw: Trzaskowski recovers online. According to research by PO staff, Rafał Trzaskowski has been ahead of Patryk Jaki in the number of online searches (55 per cent of the searches on all the candidates in Warsaw during the last 24 hours concerned the PO candidate and 30 per cent the PiS candidate). A study by Politykasieci.pl also points to Trzaskowski s good results - between 8 and 14 October, he gained over 5,000 fans on Facebook - against Jaki s 1,000. Trzaskowski also strengthened his advantage over Jaki in the polls. According to a study by Kantar Public for Gazeta Wyborcza, the candidates will get 42 and 31 per cent respectively in the first round, and - 61 and 33 per cent in the second. Yesterday Jaki urged his supporters to add their names to the register of voters in Warsaw. According to Radio Zet, up to 15,000 have been added to date, which is just over 1 per cent of those entitled to vote. Łódź: Zdanowska strengthened by PiS blackmail. Jacek Sasin s statement about Hanna Zdanowska taking office mobilised her supporters. According to a Kantar Public poll for Gazeta Wyborcza, the mayor can count on 62 per cent support in the first round, while her PiS rival can expect 14 per cent. The staff s calculations also show that Zdanowska s committee could get 30 out of 40 seats in the city council. According to our source, the attacks by PiS politicians have, however, caused consternation among the city s residents, and many of them are concerned that a vote for Zdanowska will be lost. The mayor s associates received signals that the Łódź voivode will request the cancellation of Zdanowska s candidacy on Friday. If this were to happen, despite the pre-election silence, her staff will organise a support march for the mayor on Saturday or Sunday. Wrocław: Sutryk has strong lead. In the Kantar Public poll, Jacek Sutryk, the candidate of Koalicja Obywatelska and Rafał Dutkiewicz, has 38 per cent. His competitor, Mirosława Stachowiak-Różecka from PiS, has 22 per cent. Dutkiewicz s associate, Jerzy Michalak (6 per cent) is in the third place, and his voters will support Sutryk in the second round. Yesterday, the local Gazeta Wyborcza organised a debate between the candidates, but Stachowiak-Różecka did not take part. KO will win the council election - according to the poll, it can count on 27 per cent of the votes, with PiS on 20 per cent. According to our source, there are few posters for PiS candidates for the council because the party is focused on the mayoral campaign. Local PiS is divided and weakened by the withdrawal of MP Piotr Babiarz in connection with the investigation into secreting money from the local PCK (Red Cross) branch. Gdańsk: Adamowicz getting stronger. After a period of Jarosław Wałęsa (KO) in the lead, the current mayor, Paweł Adamowicz, who is standing for his own committee, has pulled ahead in the race. In the Gazeta Wyborcza poll, Adamowicz had 30 per cent, and Wałęsa 26 per cent. Interestingly, the same poll gave Wałęsa a minimal lead in the second round. Each of the anti-pis candidates would win in the second round over Kacper Płażyński of PiS, who still has some chance of entering the second round (23 per cent in the Gazeta Wyborcza poll. The campaign in Gdańsk, though fierce, is much calmer than in Warsaw. Wałęsa s mistake turned out to be his candidate for deputy mayor who ran a website called zwyrole.org, posting unacceptable photos and off-colour jokes. The would-be deputy mayor was forced to resign. Kraków: Majchrowski ahead of Wassermann. At the election convention in Kraków, PiS candidate Małgorzata Wassermann was supported by Jarosław Kaczyński and Mateusz Morawiecki, who even compared her to Queen Jadwiga. At the same time, the PiS camp started to talk about Wassermann as a possible PM, if Kaczyński decided that Morawiecki s potential was exhausted this was reported by Polityka and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. Today this scenario seems unlikely. Wassermann s chances in the elections are small - studies by both IBRiS for Onet.pl and Kantar MB for Gazeta Wyborcza indicate that the current mayor, Jacek Majchrowski, will win in the second round. Other big cities. Polls indicate that the independent Piotr Krzystek will win re-election in Szczecin. KO candidates and incumbent mayors will probably win in Bydgoszcz (Rafał Bruski), Lublin (Krzysztof Żuk) and Białystok (Tadeusz Truskolaski). The fate of Radom is still unclear - the government became very involved at the end of the campaign with promises to invest in the airport, which may give victory to the PiS candidate and deputy MinDef, Wojciech Skurkiewicz. Everything seems to indicate that the mayoral elections will end with a decided defeat for PiS nation-wide. The impression of the ruling party s defeat could only be mitigated by a clear victory in the regional assembly elections. Local elections

8 PiS running a record number of candidates in local elections The PiS committee is running more candidates for councillors than Koalicja Obywatelska and PSL put together. Wojciech Szacki, Senior Analyst for Political Affairs, Joanna Sawicka, Political Affairs Analyst PiS with a record number of candidates. The ruling party has put forward the most candidates in its history - 32,600 (1,600 more than in 2014). PiS has compiled all of its regional assembly lists (722 candidates in 85 districts) and is the only committee to have lists in almost all counties (in 375 out of 380). It also has the largest number of municipal councillors (13,600 in municipalities with fewer than 20,000 residents and more than 6,000 in large municipalities). In several counties, Jarosław Gowin s Porozumienie will be running its own lists against PiS but at the regional assembly level, it will run with PiS. Gowin has put forward almost 400 candidates under his party s name. Zbigniew Ziobro s Solidarna Polska committee has not registered any lists. PSL fielding 6,000 fewer candidates than in The party will be running 16,500 candidates. Apart from the regional assemblies, where, like all the big parties, it will have full lists, PSL is focusing on municipalities of fewer than 20,000 (it is running 8,200 people there) and counties (6,000). It is attaching less importance to big cities and will not be fielding a candidate in Warsaw. The head of PSL s election team Piotr Zgorzelski told PI that apart from the candidates running under the PSL banner, 7,000 of the party s members will run on local committee lists. Zgorzelski pointed out that PSL s reduced number of candidates in the 2018 elections is also the result of changes to the electoral law - there can be two candidates more on the municipal, county and regional assembly lists than there are seats at a given level, while in 2014 there could have been twice as many. KO s army a third of PiS s total. There will be 10,500 candidates running on Koalicja Obywatelska lists. That is 5,600 fewer than PO put forward in 2014, despite its lists including Nowoczesna and Inicjatywa Polska members. Our source on the KO election team argues that the decrease is due to the fact that Koalicja supports many independent candidates in local government and does not run its own lists against them (e.g. in Kraków). KO focuses on big cities and regional assemblies. It is fielding few candidates in small municipalities - barely 700, compared to PiS s more than 13,000 at this level. SLD s structures still strong. The party has put forward 7,000 candidates running under the coalition banner of SLD Lewica Razem (SLD Left Together). This is a relatively good result for a party which did not make it into the Sejm in the last election and until recently seldom crossed the electoral threshold. The number of candidates shows that SLD still has fairly strong structures. SLD activists actually argue that the party is de facto fielding 20,000 candidates, the majority of them running as independents. SLD will be fighting for seats in all the regional assemblies and most of the cities with county rights, as well as in ten of Warsaw s districts. Like KO, it has few candidates in small municipalities (977). Smaller committees focusing on regional assemblies. Of the remaining parties, Kukiz 15 has the most numerous representation, fielding more than 5,000 candidates, including 675 in the regional assembly elections and over 3,000 in the county council ones. Kukiz will not field candidates in about two-thirds of the counties, however. The smaller extra-parliamentary groupings lack the structures to run candidates in counties and municipalities so they will focus on the regional assemblies. Bezpartyjni Samorządowcy, Razem Party, the Greens and the National Movement have lists in most districts. THE BOTTOM LINE PiS is the only big party to have a more numerous representation than in the 2014 elections. This is a signal that the party is succeeding in expanding its structures and that the ruling party s name is not seen as a burden at the local government level. By contrast, some local politicians are not keen on carrying the Koalicja Obywatelska or PSL logo. The number of candidates for councillors running under a party name does not predetermine victory - at municipal and county level, party divisions are of secondary importance, and most of the seats will probably go to independent candidates. Local elections

9 Elections in smaller cities will impact national politics A good result for Robert Biedroń s replacement in Słupsk would help his political movement, while a defeat for Iwona Mularczyk in Nowy Sącz would pose a problem for PiS. Ryszard Łuczyn, Political Affairs Analyst, Wojciech Szacki, Senior Analyst for Political Affairs Słupsk: a measure of Biedroń s strength. The results of the elections in Słupsk will be an indication of the potential of the political movement created by Robert Biedroń. They will also show what the residents think of the current mayor s four-year rule. Biedroń has decided not to run for re-election and is supporting his deputy, Krystyna Danilecka-Wojewódzka. She already ran in the elections in 2010 and lost narrowly in the second round. She will compete with the chair of the city council, Beata Chrzanowska from PO and councillor Anna Mrowińska from PiS. If Danilecka-Wojewódzka wins, and Biedroń manages to win more than two seats in the city council, he will be able to claim a success, and it will give his new initiative additional momentum. Nowy Sącz: a fragmented PiS. This is one of the few cities where PiS took over the mayor s office in Today, PiS in Nowy Sącz is weakened. When the party put forward Iwona Mularczyk, the wife of the local MP, the incumbent mayor Ryszard Nowak left PiS and announced that he would not be running for a third term. He supported the independent Krzysztof Głuc, a former deputy head of the municipal water supply. Małgorzata Belska, who has been excluded from PiS for starting her own committee, and former AWS MP Jerzy Gwiżdż, supported by Bezpartyjni Samorządowcy, are also courting right-wing voters. A good result may be achieved by Ludomir Handzel, an independent candidate who narrowly lost the election to Nowak in Mularczyk s potential defeat would be an image problem for PiS and an example of conflicts affecting election results. Kielce: Liroy to promote Skuteczni. The association created by the MP-rapper has formed a coalition with Janusz Korwin-Mikke s Wolność party in Kielce. Skuteczni have nationwide ambitions and the candidacy of Piotr Liroy-Marzec for mayor of Kielce will help them gain publicity. Liroy- Marzec will most likely not get into the second round, so a bad result may discourage people from joining the association. The PiS candidate, Wojciech Lubawski, who has been the city s mayor since 2002, stands a good chance of re-election. His advantage is helped by the split vote between the Koalicia Obywatelska candidate, PO MP Artur Gierada, and Bogdan Wenta - a PO MEP and former coach of the Polish national handball team. Wenta is running his own committee and has the better chance of facing Lubawski in the second round. Siedlce: MinEner s son running for mayor. Wojciech Kudelski from PiS, who has ruled the city since 2006, is not running for re-election which is why the son of MinEner Krzysztof Tchórzewski - Karol Tchórzewski - became the PiS candidate. He will stand against Magdalena Daniel, the candidate of the joint committee of PO, Nowoczesna, PSL and SLD. Initially, the Wolność party was also in the coalition, but the central authorities of the SLD insisted on its removal from the alliance. Andrzej Sitnik, the candidate of the Siedlce Independents, who got into the second round in 2014, is also likely to beat Tchórzewski. A possible defeat for Tchórzewski s son would not only mean PiS losing the city but would also weaken the MinEner himself. Elbląg: a change-over city. The city is in the Warmia-Mazury voivodeship but is associated historically with the neighbouring Gdańsk. In recent years, it has been ruled by mayors from the SLD (until 2010), PO ( , the mayor being dismissed in a referendum), PiS ( ) and PSL (since 2014). The current mayor, Witold Wróblewski, is fighting for re-election with the support of his home party, PSL, and SLD. Koalicja Obywatelska is running PO city councillor Michał Missan, and Kukiz 15 a businessman, Stefan Rembelski. PiS opted for the former mayor, Jerzy Wilk, currently an MP. The results in Elbląg will show whether PiS s promises of large investments - in this case, the plan to cut the Vistula Spit, aimed at increasing the significance of Elbląg s port will help win the votes of the residents. Lubin, a Bezpartyjni bastion. Lubin is the headquarters of one of the largest Polish companies (KGHM), which makes it one of the richest cities in Poland. Since 2002, its mayor has been Robert Raczyński, the leader of Bezpartyjni Samorządowcy, who was once linked with the right-wing AWS. Running against him are Grzegorz Zieliński- a Nowoczesna activist supported by the Koalicja Obywatelska, and one of the youngest PiS MPs, Krzysztof Kubów. In 2014, Raczyński won in the first round. If this result is repeated and the Bezpartyjni get a good result in the regional council election, then the probability of the grouping becoming established in domestic politics will increase. Local elections

10 How local governments work in Poland The local government has three levels, which are not interdependent. Voivods represent the government in the regions. Ryszard Łuczyn, Political Affairs Analyst lubuskie pomorskie wielkopolskie zachodniopomorskie kujawskopomorskie opolskie podlaskie mazowieckie lubelskie podkarpackie Poland s territorial division Since 1999, Poland is divided into voivodeships, counties and municipalities. There are 16 voivodeships, 314 counties and 2,478 municipalities: 303 city, 1,559 rural and 616 city-rural. Cities with the rights of a county (66) are a specific territorial unit - formally it is a municipality, but has the powers and responsibilities of a county. There is no hierarchical dependency between local government units: municipalities are not subject to counties and counties are not subject to voivodeships. As at the national level, a local government is divided into legislative and executive branch. 16 voivodeships 314 counties 2478 municipalities Voivodeship, regional strategies created here A voivodeship concentrates on regional development and also dispurses EU funds. The elected council drafts local laws, enacts voivodeship budgets, and creates a strategy for its development. It also appoints and dismisses members of the voivodeship board, led by the voivodeship marshal. The marshal should not be confused with the voivod, who is the government representative in the voivodeship and not a local government entity. The voivod may invalidate the resolutions of local government, but the latter can appeal such a decision in an administrative court. Mazowieckie voivodeship Key tasks: management of EU funds preparation of development strategies coordination of cooperation between local government units higher education maintaning regional roads and public transport of regional importance, including railways running of specialized hospitals

11 Grójec county Pniewy Grójec Chynów Jasieniec Warka Goszczyn Mogielnica How does a county function A county is the middle level of the territorial division, implementing tasks of local character that do not fit among the competences of a municipality. Local law in a county is enacted by an elected council. It also appoints members of the executive body - the county board led by the county head. Unlike in a municipality, the council may dismiss members of the county board. Key tasks: running of schools above middle school running of theatres and museums fire and flood protection counteracting unemployment and social assistance running of hospitals Municipality, the basic local government unit The municipality is the smallest local government unit, which is responsible for meeting the basic needs of citizens. It also performs all local tasks that are not reserved for other entities. The council enacts resolutions in a municipality, which are implemented by the voit or the mayor. He or she also represents the municipality externally and implements the budget enacted by the council. Both the council and the voit or mayor, are elected. Mogielnica Municipality Key tasks: providing communal services spatial planning issuing identity cards and registering residence running libraries and cultural centers running schools up to middle school Local elections

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