Hopes And Fears As Polarised Poles Choose President

Godzisz�w, Poland, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Jul, 2020 ) :A farmer and father of five, Grzegorz Myszak is crystal clear about his reasons for backing Poland's right-wing President Andrzej Duda on Sunday in a knife-edge run-off against liberal Warsaw mayor Rafal Trzaskowski.

Allied with the populist Law and Justice (PiS) government, Duda has vowed to defend its raft of popular social benefits and has led a polarising campaign in which he has attacked what he calls "LGBT ideology".

"I'll choose Duda, of course. With five kids, we get 2,500 zloty (560 euro, $630) per month, so it's as if my wife had a job but instead, she can take care of the family," Myszak told AFP, speaking among long neat rows of raspberry bushes on his farm in southeast Poland.

The 41-year-old also works for the local council and raises pigs to give his family what he describes as a "comfortable" lifestyle -- part of an upwardly mobile rural electorate that is overwhelmingly pro-Duda.

Myszak says he is worried that a Trzaskowski victory would bring a "rocky cohabitation" with the PiS government and possible legislative paralysis.

A supporter of traditional Catholic family values, he also fears it could open the door to sex education in schools or civil partnerships for same-sex couples.

Myszak says he only knows of one person who he believes might have been gay, but who moved away long ago.

In the rolling hills of Lublin province, many hold similar views in Myszak's home village of Godziszow, where Duda scored his best result nationwide in the first round of the election with a score of 86 percent.