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Though the recent presidential election has kept Poland occupied, the possibility of Ukrainians with permanent residency voting in future elections remains a potential development.

Wrtitten by Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl

By 2025, Poland is estimated to host around 1.5 million Ukrainian citizens, according to current data. This includes approximately 980,000 to 993,000 individuals with temporary protection status (PESEL UKR), encompassing those who were in Poland prior to the February 2022 conflict and those who arrived as refugees following it.

The Union of Ukrainians in Poland has called for Ukrainians permanently residing in Poland to be granted the right to vote.

Mirosław Skórka, president of the Union, believes that granting voting rights to “legal labor migrants” in Poland is a “good and necessary solution.” 

“Working, legal labour migrants pay taxes. In doing so, they finance various public services that the state should provide for them. (…) Unfortunately, this is where a problem arises – there is no symmetry. Migrants are required to pay, but they do not receive the same as ordinary Polish citizens,” he argues.

Anti-immigrant sentiment is widespread in Polish discourse, particularly in political conversations, as Skórka asserts.

“People are viewed simply as a labour force, not entitled to any rights. That’s a form of discrimination. Granting them the right to vote and support groups that advocate for their rights is fully justified,” he told Interia.

He believes that granting voting rights to “legal labour migrants” could help reform the Polish political system. “Xenophobic groups would have to reckon with losing in local elections,” he concludes.

Changes to the electoral code would be required to grant voting rights to Ukrainian citizens or other foreign nationals without Polish citizenship. Currently, voting rights are limited to citizens of European Union countries and the United Kingdom residing in Poland.

These residents can vote and run for office in municipal councils and for village heads, mayors, and city presidents. However, they are not permitted to vote in elections for county councils or regional assemblies.

As stipulated by Article 20 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, EU citizens have the right to vote and stand in local elections in the member state where they reside, enjoying the same conditions as that country's citizens. The granting of these rights stems from the implementation of this article.

The Polish Constitution clearly reserves the right to vote in parliamentary and presidential Although Polish elections are reserved solely for Polish citizens, there are no such restrictions for local elections. This distinction exists despite variations across European countries, where similar provisions are already implemented in different forms.

Politicians divided

Within Poland's ruling coalition, certain members have signaled a willingness to extend voting rights to migrants. Notably, Justice Minister Adam Bodnar has previously advocated for this position, particularly during his tenure as the Ombudsman. Ukrainians, as well as EU nationals, should be afforded the same eligibility to engage in local elections as Polish citizens, he contended.

“If they (Ukrainians in Poland) are not allowed to vote, they will live among us, but they will be placed in a position of silence,” he argued in a 2022 op-ed for Gazeta Wyborcza.

“Ukrainian citizens take part in local community life — they work, pay taxes, and raise children. There is no reason why they shouldn’t have a say in choosing local authorities. It should be natural for them to also have their own representatives on local councils,” Bodnar argued.

He went as far as to propose considering extending EU citizenship to all Ukrainian citizens, while acknowledging that such a decision requires the unanimous agreement of all EU member states.

Similarly, in an interview with Radio Zet last year, Agriculture Minister Czesław Siekierski expressed willingness to explore granting voting rights to Ukrainians, though he stressed that this would be contingent upon specific conditions.

“I'm not an expert in this area, so it's hard for me to define it precisely, but I believe that after a certain extended period of residence (...) it could be considered — as long as clear rules are established.

The issue of granting voting rights in local elections to Ukrainians, however, divides politicians.

“Poland should take a more active role in integrating the Ukrainian community as well as other communities living in the country,” Marek Szolc of the New Left told Rzeczpospolita, while centrist PSL party parliamentary leader Krzysztof Paszyk expressed scepticism.

“Voting rights are tied to citizenship. I don’t see any reason why someone should gain this right without being a Polish citizen. There is one exception stemming from EU law, but there is no justification to extend this exception to others,” said conservative opposition Law and Justice (PiS) MP Paweł Jabłoński, former deputy foreign minister.

Not only the far right is sceptical

The most outraged by the demand of the Union of Ukrainians in Poland was the far-right Confederation party.

“Granting voting rights to Ukrainians, regardless of the type of elections, would be inviting trouble,” the party argued in the statement.

They argued that billions had already been spent on Ukrainian social benefits by the last two, pro-Ukraine governments and that a proposal to give Ukrainians voting rights would dramatically alter elections and undermine Poland.

“State institutions in the hands of representatives of another nation will not serve Polish interests but foreign ones—in this case, Ukrainian. The Confederation strongly opposes this,” the statement reads.

The party believes “there is no reason to grant special privileges to Ukrainian citizens in Poland.”

Even strongly pro-Ukrainian politicians have doubts about the idea of granting Ukrainians a right to vote in Poland. 

“I do not agree with the populist witch-hunt against Ukrainians living in our country — a trend that is increasingly being fueled by politicians, including some of our coalition partners,” MEP Robert Biedroń from the co-ruling New Left party told Euractiv Poland.

“However, I believe that the demand put forward by the Association of Ukrainians in Poland goes too far. The right to participate in elections should remain reserved exclusively for citizens of the Republic of Poland. There is nothing to discuss here,” he added.

While the discussion is closed for now, as Poland becomes an increasingly multicultural country and Ukrainian and Russian are becoming common not only on the streets of major cities, the issue is bound to resurface.

The issue of voting rights for Ukrainians is also part of a broader debate about the challenges arising from Poland’s migration policy and the ways in which Ukrainian nationals are integrated into Polish society.

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