Polish president issues campaign pledge to fight 'LGBT ideology'

Andrzej Duda launches ‘family charter’ to appeal to base as election race tightens

Shaun Walker in Warsaw
Fri 12 Jun 2020 16.36 BST
Last modified on Fri 12 Jun 2020 18.18 BST

Gay rights and homophobia are likely to be major issues in Poland’s delayed presidential election after the frontrunner pledged to “defend children from LGBT ideology”.

Andrzej Duda, the incumbent president, who is allied with the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, made the pledge while launching a so-called “family charter”. The move appeared designed to energise the party’s conservative base as polls showed his lead narrowing.

After the vote was moved from 10 May to 28 June owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the liberal mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski, entered the race, and polls suggest that in a run-off against Duda the vote could be split almost evenly.

Trzaskowski, of the centre-right Civic Platform, has been a supporter of LGBT rights as Warsaw mayor. He attended Warsaw’s pride event, the first time a mayor of the capital has done so.

PiS has been accused of democratic backsliding and erosion of the rule of law since winning a parliamentary majority in 2015. It has often hit out at gay rights and what it calls “LGBT ideology”, in rhetoric that is popular with parts of its base and the Catholic church.

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