Right-wing populists win outright majority in Poland

The right-wing Law and Justice party swept back to power in Polish elections on Sunday (25 October), winning an absolute majority of 232 seats in the 460-seat parliament, based on exit polls.

The result marks the end of eight years of rule by the centre-right Civic Platform party.

With Law and Justice having won presidential elections in May, it also marks the first time in Poland’s post-Communist history that the same party controls both levers of state.

The Hague’s Mayor: No Problem with Islamic Extremists

• By giving the signal that Salafists can patrol the streets with government-sanctioned authority, Mayor van Aartsen is handing a Muslim minority a parallel society, increasingly controlled by Muslims, that actively opposes a Dutch (political) culture.
• “If they [Salafists] are a necessity for maintaining order in the streets, then the city has suffered deeper wounds than any New Year’s Eve vandalism can inflict.” — Nausicaa Marbe, Dutch-Romanian author.

The Hague’s mayor, Jozias van Aartsen, of the Dutch center-right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), is known for raising eyebrows when it comes to Islamic extremism. In early July 2014, during demonstrations protesting Israel’s Operation Protective Edge in the Gaza strip against the Hamas terrorist organization, Van Aartsen stated that “No boundaries were crossed” when ISIS supporters chanted the anti-Jewish battle cry: “Khaybar Khaybar, ya yahud, Jaish Muhammad, sa yahud” [“Jews, remember Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning”] — basically an incitement to genocide — and “death to the Jews.” Other chants included, “Jews should return to the sewer” and “Long live Hitler.” Islamists also threatened journalists.