They’re calling it “Sejmflix”.
The daily livestream from Poland’s parliament, the Sejm, has become an online hit, drawing hundreds of thousands of viewers for each session. Some top a million.
Soon the latest must-watch series will make the leap to the big screen. Demand to follow key proceedings next week is so high that one of Warsaw’s main cinemas, Kinoteka, is showing the whole thing, offering politics with popcorn.
Monday is the deadline for Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to present his cabinet for a vote of confidence by deputies.
If he fails to get enough support, as expected, parliament will move to approve a coalition government led by Donald Tusk which holds a majority of seats in the Sejm.
Barring any major surprise, Poland should have a new cabinet by mid-week.
The surge of public enthusiasm for tracking the ins-and-outs of political life follows an election in mid-October that saw a record turnout of over 70%.
Democracy is in vogue here, with women and young people particularly engaged.
Many were motivated to vote by stark warnings from the opposition that Poland was backsliding on some of the basic principles of democracy, under a right-wing PiS (Law and Justice Party) government.
The big one is the rule of law.
The EU is still withholding more than €30bn (£26bn; $32bn) in Covid recovery funds because of its concerns about the politicisation of Poland’s courts.
Donald Tusk and his coalition partners have promised to make restoring the system’s independence a priority. But their ambitions have been stalled.
PiS won more votes than any other party at the election, giving it a first shot at forming a government, and it’s taking the maximum time permitted.
But the populist party’s eight years running Poland are drawing to a close.
BBC