(Bloomberg) --
Poland's government, one of Europe's first to introduce coronavirus restrictions, is changing its tune and seeing less Covid-19 risks ahead of a presidential election that will determine its grip on power.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said at a campaign stop for incumbent Andrzej Duda on Wednesday that the infection shouldn't be an excuse to avoid voting in the July 12 runoff. Opinion polls show the ballot against Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski is too close to call.
Morawiecki's comments come after a relatively low turnout by older voters, Duda's key constituency, in last Sunday's first-round ballot amid concerns over the pandemic. The virus has infected about 35,000 Poles and killed nearly 1,500, while the lockdown, which was largely lifted in May, is pushing Poland's $586 billion economy into recession.
“Now it's like any other illness: we're just waiting for the vaccine,” Morawiecki said in Wysokie Mazowieckie, a town about 150 km (93 miles) east of Warsaw. “Let's not be afraid to vote in the second-round ballot. I encourage everyone here to take part, as not all of you went and perhaps some of you were concerned.”
The premier said the situation with the pandemic has “stabilized” along with new cases, which peaked in early June amid outbreaks in the country's coal mines. Medical experts said the government's change in approach was risky, as a second wave of outbreaks neared.
Poland's Nationalist Drift Tested as Duda Faces Runoff
“Like the World Health Organization, I believe that we neither know the size of the pandemic nor can we say it's nearing an end,” said Dr. Pawel Grzesiowski, the head of the Warsaw-based Infection Prevention Institute foundation. “Painting a picture that we've conquered it is dangerous.”
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