The essence of the problem Szymon Hołownia is grappling with is well captured in a sports metaphor: After the elections on 15 October, Hołownia started at the pace of a sprinter competing in the 100-metre race. From the moment he became Marshal of the Sejm, a kind of political Hołownomania began. We all remember that people went to the cinemas to watch the so-called Sejmflix, the Marshal of the Sejm, stood out on the podium and at press conferences, which – to put it mildly – did not help. As if there was not enough Hołownia around, the Speaker of the Sejm also launched his video podcast. And the interest in the newly appointed Speaker of the Sejm was so great that news television even broadcast his meetings with young people. There was a moment when you were actually afraid to open the fridge, because Hołownia might also be hiding there.
When will Szymon Hołownia win the presidential election?
If the presidential elections were held in February 2024, Hołownia would have a real chance of making it to the second round. And perhaps he would even win. Even Prime Minister Donald Tusk was then in the shadow of the Speaker of the Sejm.
Hołownia’s problem, however, is that the presidential elections will be held in the spring of 2025. So from the perspective of October 15, the fight for the presidency was a marathon, not a sprint. And that’s why the Marshal of the Sejm ran out of steam and his rivals began to overtake him.
According to the media, Hołownia and Sejmflix have simply become too good for the public. The first Sejm sessions of the new term have garnered several million views on YouTube, the last ones – 86,000. Hołownia’s press conferences at the beginning of the semester have been watched more than 200,000 times. The last one – 16,000. A feature of our world is that various types of media phenomena – and Hołownia became such, not without its contribution – have a lifespan that is not much longer than Aleksandra Mirosław’s Olympic games. A year ago, Donald Tusk caused a sensation by calling Mateusz Morawiecki a “bambik”. Today, if he used that word, he would be a boomer. Everything no longer flows, but moves forward.
