Elections in Poland The results of the municipal elections held
in Poland last Sunday are too varied to allow any precise conclusion to be drawn ; the Government, certainly, prefers to regard them as an expression of " local " opinion and to accept the more favourable verdict of the elections to the Diet. In 52 municipalities the Government party, the National Unity camp, won 383 seats, and the Opposition 639. Of the Opposition parties, the Socialists increased in strength and the Right Wing Opposition, with its Fascist tendencies, declined. The elections at least show how small a popular basis there is in Poland for a totalitarian regime ; yet it is possible that the Government may try to strengthen its position by a compromise with the Fascist groups. The elections were relatively free and uncontrolled, were not boycotted, and were held under a new and more democratic system. From such confused results no change in the regime can be expected to follow ; yet they emphasise that the Government has had as little success in its internal as its external policy. Poland's foreign policy has been such that she can depend on no ties of loyalty, gratitude, or friendship with other countries in facing Germany's threat to the Ukraine. Internally, as the elections show, the Govern- ment has failed in its aim of creating a genuine national unity on which to depend in its approaching crisis.
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