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Comment by dvfjsdhgfv | Hacker News Reader

> Poland is widely hated by its neighbors

I'd say, "the current right-wing government is widely hated by most of its citizens." The mine case was just one of the many cases when they showed their glaring incompetence. I mean, they could have solved the problem a long time ago but by their arrogance decided to ignore it, then the case went to court and they had to do it anyway and pay a nice sum of money. Everybody is angry about this, not just the neighbors, because it's not these incompetent and corrupt puppets that are going to pay but Polish citizens.

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If it was so widely hated how come it got reelected?

They said is, not was

There are lots of ways that, even in a democracy, widely hated politicians can remain in power. Gerrymandering, low turnout, voter apathy, split voting, etc.

Poland's 2020 election was very controversial, and Duda won by the slimmest of margins.

They are the first government that openly buys votes. They focus on their core groups, that is mainly elderly people, and promise them money if they vote for them, at the same time scaring them saying that if they vote for the opposition, this money will be taken away. It is one of the main reason that in spite of universal hatred they still have 30% support, mainly from the elderly.

If giving financial incentives to voters is buying voters, they're certainly not the first government that openly buys votes.

In this case it was plain and simple one off cash payments targeted at their core voter base. I don't think many governments are as blatant as that.

In the US, we had COVID relief checks and student loan debt forgiveness in the last couple years, both of which seemed like pretty blatant vote-buying attempts.

I argue this is stuff you should always expect from a functioning state - education and health services. And especially because they are universal, they would buy voting support from... everyone?

Actually, it is not that simple. It is widely hated in upper-class, well educated residents of large cities, and very popular in rural areas where people are less wealthy.

https://www.cbos.pl/PL/szukaj/open_file.php?url=2022/K_092_2...

Regardless of your position on the government the coal mine must stay open to preserve energy independence for Poland

I have no problems with the mine but with how the case was handled. I

The money it would have cost to work with Czech government original request ("ensure that water supply for those villages is not lost") is less than the fines levied by court even without adding it late fines.

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