New European election 'dangerous to democracy'

The proposed new law on the elections to the European Parliament, which raises the real electoral threshold, is dangerous to democracy, according to Andrzej Dera, an aide to Polish President Andrzej Duda. Dera made the comment in a TV interview after the Dziennik Gazeta Prawna newspaper published an interview with the head of state in which the president criticised parliament's recent modification of the European election law. As the president noted, the real electoral threshold stands to be raised to at least 11-12 percent, "practically eliminating smaller groupings". Duda said there was no need for such a measure and he was inclined to veto it. His aide pointed out that in some electoral districts the threshold in EP elections could be as high as around 20 percent -- much higher than the universally accepted 5 percent in parliamentary elections.