Kaczynski buried, opposition must rebuild

“So the time of mourning is over. And now what?” asks Rzeczpospolita asks one day after the burial of President Kaczynski and his wife at Wawel cathedral. How will the event change the Polish political scene? “Great suffering and pain, and a sense of community, will not turn people into angels,” notes the leader, arguing that it is vital for Poland’s opposition parties to rebuild “and, most of all, to find candidates” ahead of this year’s 20 June presidential elections. This is not just true for Kaczynski’s Law and Justice (PiS) but also for the Left Democratic Alliance (SLD), whose leader Jerzy Szmajdziński also perished in the Smolensk crash on 10 April. Otherwise, the Warsaw daily writes, the country’s democratic balance will be permanently shaken. “Yes, the mourning is over. But the experience of these nine days, as well as the legacy of those who died, have all remained and must be taken up by the living”.