Grey Voters’ Electoral Inclusion Mechanisms: Poland’s Democratic Experiences

• In Event: The Problematique of Democratic Backsliding in Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract

The paper seeks to analyze electoral inclusion mechanisms in the oldest segment of voters, referred to as grey voters. The literature most often uses the term to describe voters over 60 years of age. Initiatives of this kind have been undertaken in Poland since the restoration of democracy in 1989, but their scope, determinants, and consequences have been different. Initially, mainly political parties (e.g., the National Party of Retirees and Pensioners, and the National Agreement of Retirees and Pensioners of the Republic of Poland) could be indicated as entities whose priority goal was to defend senior citizens, retirees, pensioners, and people with disabilities against the deterioration of living standards and social degradation. On the one hand, these parties represented the interests of grey voters on the nationwide scene and, on the other hand, provided a platform integrating and popularizing the idea of grey voter activation. However, these initiatives have not withstood the test of time, and the parties mentioned above have never gained substantial support in elections. Interestingly, this coincided with a trend showing the increasing electoral importance of grey voters. Post-election research and analyses performed as part of the last election cycle (2018–2020) show that grey voters were particularly important in giving victory to PiS in the parliamentary election and to Andrzej Duda in the presidential election. This phenomenon is embedded more broadly: in Poland, in fact, as in other post-industrial countries, the demographic structure of society is changing. As a result, the percentage of older people in the population is increasing. The available demographic projections suggest that with time, this process will increasingly affect both the course of electoral competition and the outcome of the elections. At the same time, with this observation, initiatives to involve the oldest voters have intensified, but their nature has also changed. General demands (integration, fighting for interests, protection) have turned into financial ones, for instance concerning the 13th and 14th retirement pension or funding of medicines. Virtually all political parties aspiring to gain representation in parliament have started to put them forward. These initiatives stimulate the oldest citizens to participate in elections, but the key question is how sustainable they are from the point of view of the political subjectivity of grey voters, and how democratic their nature is.

Author

• Agnieszka Turska-Kawa, University of Silesia in Katowice