Politics
Donald Tusk woos female voters ahead of Poland’s election
Donald Tusk woos female voters ahead of Poland’s election
Poland’s opposition leader Donald Tusk has made a last-ditch attempt to win over female voters ahead of Sunday’s election, including a pledge to restore reproductive rights curtailed by the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party. Addressing a mostly female audience in the city of Łódź, where women textile workers were at the forefront of the country’s industrial revolution, Tusk emphasized their potentially pivotal role in ousting PiS after eight years in power. For women wanting to live in a modern European country, “it really can’t be like this!”, he shouted to loud applause at a rally this week. Ahead of what is shaping up to be one of Poland’s most polarised elections, Tusk’s conservative-leaning but more liberal Civic Platform is trailing PiS by some five percentage points. The opposition hopes to reverse the result of the 2019 election when 43 percent of the female vote went for PiS and just 30 percent for Civic Platform. Absenteeism may make matters worse: internal surveys show about half of the younger female electorate — aged between 18 and 45 — might not vote at all on Sunday.
“This a real problem because I’m sure these [younger] women, if they decide to vote, will defend democracy and the rights of women,” Hanna Zdanowska, the Civic Platform mayor of Łódź, told the Financial Times. As part of its eleventh-hour effort to mobilise female voters, Civic Platform is promising that one of the first laws passed by a new Tusk government would subsidise in vitro fertilisation — for which the PiS government stopped public financing only weeks after taking office in 2015. “Every party has said or done things that I really don’t like,” said start-up entrepreneur Olivia Kowalczyk, 25. Civic Platform is “now talking about women’s rights but we all know they made many promises in the past that they then absolutely didn’t fulfil when they were in power eight years ago”. By comparison, only about one-third of male voters in the same age group are on the fence about casting their ballots on Sunday, internal polling shows. Young men have now also become the core electorate of a far-right misogynist party, Confederation, that could offer PiS its only path back to power.
Women have spearheaded the pushback against PiS and led mass street protests following a 2020 constitutional court ruling rolling back the right to abortion. But Civic Platform is also campaigning on reproductive rights issues — which are particularly divisive in a majority-Catholic society. Poland has a proportional representation system and Sunday’s election result will also depend on any swing in turnout between voters in Warsaw and other cities dominated by the opposition and older rural voters who embrace the conservatism of PiS and also rely more on state handouts. Łódź is a case in point, a city in the centre of Poland led by mayor Zdanowska since 2010. But the outskirts of Łódź provide more fertile ground for PiS. Many towns are run by conservative women who canvass door-to-door for PiS and often also against feminism. “I don’t go to the centre of Łódź to campaign but I’m spending time with my people, reading poetry to disabled children in our schools,” said Renata Kobiera, a PiS candidate in Brzeziny, which has 12,000 residents. Her municipality office is decorated with posters celebrating small-scale PiS infrastructure projects, such as a new bus line. “I think women here will vote for women like me because we calm down our politics,” Kobiera argued.
The opposition’s last-minute drive to attract younger women seems to mobilise older women to vote for PiS, said Marcin Duma, head of pollster Ibris, though he added it was hard to determine to what extent. The highest-ranked woman on the PiS list in Łódź, Agnieszka Wojciechowska van Heukelom, claimed Tusk was belatedly and unjustifiably moving women’s rights up his agenda. “I don’t see the collapse of women’s rights that Donald Tusk is now trying to talk about, and I know many other women who don’t see it either,” she said. Sunday’s result “will not be determined by talking about women’s rights but by people, especially women, who want to feel safe in every sense of the term, not only military security but also social safety, with strong support from the state”, the conservative candidate said. Tusk has at times struggled to deliver a consistent message to progressive women. He spoke forcefully about women’s rights in Łódź, a day after taking part in a televised debate in which he did not mention women at all. Only one of the six participants in that debate talked about women, Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus from the Left party, who also happened to be the only woman on stage.
Tusk also recently stunned many supporters by nominating a former ultraconservative education minister, Roman Giertych, to run in the constituency where PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczyński is standing. Giertych’s political return could deal a blow to Kaczyński, but it could also upset those who recall his demand for schoolchildren to be taught that abortion is murder. Opposition candidate Aleksandra Wiśniewska, 29, argued Tusk was not given a chance to speak about women during Monday’s TV debate because the discussion was steered by presenters from the pro-PiS state broadcaster. “Women’s rights are absolutely critical,” she said. “But I think there is something far more pivotal and sinister hanging over this election, which is that our democracy is at stake.”
One Voice, One Future: Youth Power for a New Nigeria
By George Omagbemi Sylvester
In the history of nations, there always comes a defining moment when the youth must rise to rescue their future from the grip of complacency, corruption and systemic decay. That moment, for Nigeria, is now. The clarion call is no longer a whisper in the dark, it is a deafening roar echoing across the cities and villages, the streets and campuses and the diaspora. 2027 is not just another election year; it is a generation’s opportunity to reclaim its destiny.
Nigeria, once hailed as the Giant of Africa, is now crawling under the weight of failed leadership, nepotism, economic collapse and insecurity. Over 70% of Nigeria’s population is under the age of 35, this is not a mere statistic; it is a superpower waiting to be activated. Yet, for decades, the same recycled leadership has ruled the country like a private estate, while the youth are sidelined, patronized or pacified with empty slogans.
The Reality: A Nation Betrayed
The facts are brutal and undeniable. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), as of the fourth quarter of 2024, youth unemployment stood at 42.5%, one of the highest rates globally. Thousands of graduates are turned out yearly into a job market that has nothing to offer them. Our educational institutions are underfunded, with lecturers going on endless strikes, while billions of naira are siphoned into the offshore accounts of corrupt politicians.
The World Bank states that over 40% of Nigerians live below the poverty line, with youth bearing the brunt of the economic despair. The same youth are used during elections as pawns, thugs, online propagandists and cheerleaders for politicians who have never and will never fight for their future.
We must say: “Enough is Enough.”
The Power of Youth: A Sleeping Giant
Across Africa, the story is changing. Youth-led movements are challenging old orders and shaking the foundations of outdated governance systems.
In Uganda, Bobi Wine, a musician turned politician, galvanized millions of youth to challenge President Museveni’s long-standing dictatorship. While he didn’t win the election, he ignited a flame of hope. In Sudan, youth were at the center of the 2019 revolution that ousted the 30-year regime of Omar al-Bashir.
As Nelson Mandela once said, “Youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow.” But as things stand in Nigeria, tomorrow never seems to come, unless we seize it.
In 2020, during the #EndSARS movement, we saw a glimpse of what a united, tech savvy and courageous Nigerian youth can achieve. For once, the world stood still as Nigerian youth organized without a central leadership structure, crowd funded, coordinated logistics, engaged in civic education and peacefully demanded justice. Despite the violent crackdown at Lekki Tollgate, the spirit of resistance lives on.
2027: The Youth Mandate
If we are serious about change, then 2027 must be our electoral revolution. Not through violence, but through strategic mobilization, political education, voter registration and active participation in the democratic process.
Let us be clear: the days of apathy are over. As the African proverb goes, “He who is not part of the solution is part of the problem.”
Youth must no longer be mere spectators or online critics; we must become candidates, campaigners, policy drafters, party leaders, election monitors and political donors. Our demographic power must translate into voting power and our voting power must produce accountable leadership.
According to INEC, less than 35% of youth eligible to vote actually did so in the 2023 elections. This is a travesty. With over 90 million Nigerians under 40, if even 50% of us vote smartly and strategically in 2027, we can turn the tide.
Towards a National Youth Alliance
What we need now is not another party, we need a movement, a coalition, a National Youth Alliance that transcends ethnicity, religion and class.
A youth amalgamation that brings together student unions, tech entrepreneurs, young professionals, artisans, artists, athletes, activists and influencers. A youth vanguard that builds structures, fields candidates, protects votes and holds leaders accountable.
We must engage in issue based politics, not stomach infrastructure or tribal loyalties. The youth must demand answers to the questions that matter:
“Why are over 10 million Nigerian children out of school?”
“Why does Nigeria remain the poverty capital of the world, according to the Brookings Institution?”
“Why is our minimum wage ₦70,000 when a bag of rice is over ₦70,000?”
“Why are lawmakers earning ₦30 million monthly while civil servants are owed arrears?”
The late Thomas Sankara, Burkina Faso’s revolutionary leader, once said, “You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness.” We need a bit of that madness, the madness to challenge the status quo, to think differently and to act boldly.
From Hashtags to Ballot Boxes
It is not enough to trend on Twitter or rant on TikTok, social media is powerful, yes I agree, but it is not a substitute for civic engagement; we need to bridge the gap between online activism and offline results.
Youths must start at the grassroots to win local government seats, state assemblies and build a pipeline of leadership that is tested and accountable. The #NotTooYoungToRun Act must not be a symbolic victory; it must be a political weapon in our hands.
Let us support credible youth candidates with our time, resources and platforms. Let us organize town hall meetings, debates and policy hackathons. Let us raise funds, build apps to track campaign promises and expose corrupt leaders.
As Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie said, “When we refuse to engage in politics, we end up being governed by our inferiors.”
Time for Tangible Action
It is time for each Nigerian youth to ask themselves: What am I doing today to secure my tomorrow? Are we registering to vote? Are we sensitizing our peers? Are we demanding better governance at the community level?
We must begin to think long term, beyond 2027. The goal is not just to elect a few fresh faces. The goal is to build a sustainable youth-driven democratic culture where excellence not ethnicity, becomes the metric of leadership.
Let us stop romanticizing suffering. Nigeria has the talent, the resources and the manpower to be great. What we lack is visionary leadership and that is what we must now provide.
Final Words: A Movement, not a Moment
This is a movement, not a moment. It will require sacrifice, unity and strategy. There will be obstacles, betrayals and frustrations. But we must remain focused.
As the Pan-Africanist Kwame Nkrumah declared: “The independence of Ghana is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of Africa.” Likewise, any victory in 2027 will be meaningless unless it sets off a chain reaction of liberation, innovation and transformation across all levels of Nigerian society.
So, dear patriotic Nigerian youth; RISE! This is your time… Your country needs you more than ever.
Don’t wait for change, be the change.
Together, we can make a difference.
#YouthFor2027 #NationalAllianceNow #SecureTheFuture #NigeriaDeservesBetter
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