Campaign versus Reality: “Don’t Let Yourselves Be Manipulated, Verify the Facts”

“Don’t let yourselves be manipulated,” appeals Radosław Fogiel, Member of Parliament from the Law and Justice (PiS) party. His statement concerns the activities of Rafał Trzaskowski’s election campaign team and the manner in which they present attendance figures at events featuring the deputy leader of the Civic Platform party. The photographs disseminated by supporters of the Mayor of Warsaw appear striking. Unfortunately—for them—these are not the only images circulating online.

On Saturday, Rafał Trzaskowski, the presidential candidate representing the Civic Coalition, held a campaign event in Jelenia Góra. The head of his campaign team, Wioleta Paprocka, along with politicians from the ruling party, uploaded photos from the event to social media shortly after it began. The images suggested an overwhelming turnout.

However, to the dismay of Trzaskowski’s campaign team, alternative photographs from the same event also emerged online. These images, taken from less flattering angles, revealed that considerable effort is being invested by the Warsaw mayor’s team to portray his campaign meetings as highly successful.

The contrasting photographs were compiled into a video by Radosław Fogiel, Member of Parliament from the Law and Justice party.