Poland votes this weekend in election seen as test for democracy
The World
PRX
4.6 • 884 Ratings
🗓️ 29 May 2025
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Poland’s presidential election this weekend is more than just a vote — it’s a pivotal moment for the country’s democracy. At stake is the future direction of Poland, with voters choosing between two starkly different candidates: a right-wing populist opposing abortion and LGBTQ rights, and a pro-European liberal who has marched in Warsaw’s pride parade. Also, how a drop in the number of international students would impact Harvard's athletic dominance. And, the UN's plan to make passports a thing of the past.
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| 0:00.0 | Has this ever happened to you? |
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| 0:29.9 | Listen to Thuringland from NPR, wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:33.6 | Music In Poland, Sunday's presidential runoff has a far-right candidate going up against a more progressive politician who's having trouble winning over some voters. |
| 0:53.4 | We've been promised golden mountains when it comes to women's rights in Poland, and each and every |
| 0:59.5 | government keeps failing us in that regard. |
| 1:02.3 | I'm Carolyn Beeler. |
| 1:03.8 | And I'm Marco Wurman. |
| 1:05.0 | Plus, the potential loss of foreign students here in the U.S. would not only be felt |
| 1:08.8 | in university classrooms, also in college sports. |
| 1:11.6 | You take away the international students, you've got a significantly diminished sporting, you know, experience and frankly level. |
| 1:18.6 | And why people in Syria are grabbing metal detectors and searching for historic artifacts, hoping they'll hit very treasure. |
| 1:25.6 | It's impossible not to put a spade or stick in the ground |
| 1:29.9 | and not hit something. That's all ahead today, here on the world. This is the world. I'm Marco |
| 1:38.8 | We're Ehrman. And I'm Carolyn Beeler. Thanks for joining us. We begin our show today in Poland, |
| 1:44.0 | which holds a presidential |
| 1:45.3 | runoff this weekend. There's a lot at stake because the next president could have major |
| 1:49.9 | influence on the country's future. The two candidates could not be more different. One of them |
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