Poland booming despite political turmoil

WARSAW, Poland, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- Poland’s economy will keep flourishing regardless of political chaos and upcoming general elections which are unlikely to bring major changes.

Public opinion polls have indicated the parliamentary elections Sunday will be a close contest between the leading opposition center-right Civic Platform and the ruling conservative Law and Justice party, Germany’s Der Spiegel newspaper reported Thursday.

Poland’s economy has been booming in most big cities and urban voters are not strong supporters of the Law and Justice party of the Kaczynski twins -- Lech as president and Jaroslaw as prime minister.

Big city voters have not accepted the Kaczynski brothers’ policy of tense relations with Germany nor their nationalistic stands towards the European Union, Der Spiegel reported.

The Kaczynskis draw their main support from voters in smaller towns and rural areas, Der Spiegel said.

As an example of major city growth, Mayor Pavel Adamowicz of the Baltic port city of Gdansk said Poland benefited from becoming a member of the EU in 2004. Gdansk, an industrial city as well as a port, has seen its unemployment rate drop to 4.5 percent, while since 2004 the national unemployment rate has fallen from 19 to 12 percent, Der Spiegel said. It said the nation's economy is expected to grow by more than 6 percent this year.