Tusk wants election victory to 'establish basic order' in Poland

Donald Tusk, the leader of Civic Platform, Poland’s main opposition grouping, has said that he wants to win the general election so that “some basic order” can be established in the country.

Poland goes to the polls on October 15 in a general election that some political leaders have called the most important in 30 years.

Speaking to the public in the north-western town of Piła on Thursday, Tusk said: "I want to win these elections and I am going for victory so that some basic order can finally be established.”

"In foreign, European and economic policy, in the tax system, in the judiciary, everywhere we look, we need to sort out this incredible mess," Tusk added.

He said the activities of politicians from Law and Justice, the dominant party in Poland’s governing coalition, can have an "extreme, sometimes even cruel, impact."

This situation, he told the crowd, needs to be changed and change happens by voting.

"Help me convince everyone in Poland: going to the ballot box is not an uprising, no one will pay a blood tribute, it is not some huge job, you don't have to pay a lot of money for it,” he said. “You have to leave the house, go, post a card and say goodbye PiS and tell them to apologise and go."

Tusk also claimed that "more and more people believe that Russian influence is very present in the PiS government."

"In practical terms, there has been a decrease in the number of Polish companies in the last year. In Greater Poland alone, thousands of them. Small shops, small companies, sole proprietorships, and the number of Russian companies has increased dramatically," Tusk said.