Poland

What a battle: On October the 15th, Poland beat Slovakia in the FIFA World Cup 2010 Qualifiying Match with 2 goals to 1, with a spectacular turn in the 85th and 86th minute by Stanislav Sestak, striker of the German football club VFL Bochum. Currently Slovakia (12 points) is two points ahead of Poland (10 points) in the chart.

On June 7th, the two countries will fight a totally different battle in a totally different qualifying modus: Who will be the tail-light in the European Parliament Elections 2009? In 2004, Slovakia had the least voter participation of all countries, with just 17 percent. Followed by Poland with 21 percent.

Old Town Hall in Bratislava
















After all the effort the Slovakian Government doesn´t want a reprise like in 2004. Róbert Hajšel, chairman of the information office of the European Parliament in Bratislava, said, it was the saddest statement in the whole history of European Elections. His explanation: “If you fully trust and support something, you don’t want to change it and if you don’t want to change it, you don’t care to come and vote.”.

Nevertheless, the Slovaks tried to do the best preparation for June the 7th, with the help of a new star in the country’s entertainment business. The 17-year-old Viera Berkyova won the show “Slovakias Next Superstar” in 2008 and wowed the crowd with a special song – about the European currency, the Euro. The song became an unexpected major hit in the charts. May be a good sign for the votes next Sunday – and an appropriate instrument to get the Slovaks ready for the election, too.


Images are preserved under a Creative-Commons-Licence (roblisameehan/flickr and iandanielbrown/flickr).