Emotions run high as Poland prepares to hold a high-stakes national election

By VANESSA GERA
Associated Press

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland is holding an election Sunday that many view as its most important one since the 1989 vote that toppled communism. At stake are the health of the nation’s democracy and the foreign alliances of a nation on NATO’s eastern flank that has been a crucial ally to Ukraine. Political experts say the vote will not be truly fair after eight years under a conservative government that has eroded checks and balances to gain control over state institutions. Emotions are running high ahead of the voting. The editor of a national newspaper says the election will decide the future of “a system that has been a guarantor of Polish success for the last three decades.”