In a blow both to the right wing Law and Order party, and to misogynists everywhere, the first female President (Mayor) of Warsaw has been elected from the Citizens' Platform party. With 97 percent of election commissions reporting, Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz has beaten incumbent President Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz with 53.35 percent of votes in her favour. Gronkiewicz-Waltz has been called exceptionally competent, hardworking, and categorically thinking by former President Aleksander Kwasniewski, which undoubtedly helped her gain several votes from the left side of the political spectrum. While perhaps her win could be explained as a reaction against the currently governing Law and Order party, surprisingly a small part of her vote even came from the ultra-right wing League of Polish Families – one of ever five polled voted for Gronkiewicz-Waltz.
Calling herself “a President of all Warsawians,” Gronkiewicz-Waltz hoped the election of a Citizens’ Platform candidate means a return to normalcy after the conservative extremism that has been sweeping the country lately. She feels responsible for the city’s and the peoples’, particularly the workers’, future, and is ready to act to make things better. Donald Tusk, the leader of Citizens’ Platform, announced his pride in Gronkiewicz-Waltz’s election, calling her a woman made of steel with a great heart. Meanwhile, all of Poland is realizing that for the first time in history, a woman will rule the capital of Poland – and it’s about time!
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