The 2015 Parliamentary Election in Poland: A Political Déjà vu

Abstract

In 2015, Polish political actors and society faced the challenge of “double elections” for the second time since the transformation of the political system in 1989. It happened for the first time in 2005. The accumulation of two elections in one year was not the only similarity between the 2005 and 2015 elections in Poland. In fact, the 2005 elections provided many contextual factors determining the course of the election campaigns, including fierce competition between two political parties: Prawo i Sprawiedliwośc and Platforma Obywatelska. This chapter discusses the findings of the analysis of the media coverage of the 2015 parliamentary election in Poland. The findings showed that the media mirrored the political scene by focusing on inter-party relations and campaign tactics, as well as framing politics as a strategic game. The data also supports previous observations on an interpretative model of Polish journalism.