Warsaw mayor Rafał Trzaskowski faces referendum signature drive

The Stołeczna Operacja Referendalna initiative has collected 27,500 signatures in just over a week toward a referendum to remove Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski from office. The signature collection process began on July 30 and is scheduled to continue until September 28.

To trigger the referendum, organizers must collect approximately 132,000 signatures, representing 10 percent of Warsaw's eligible voters. Even if the signature threshold is met, the referendum's validity depends on voter turnout; it requires participation from at least three-fifths of the number of people who voted in the last local elections, which is roughly 450,000 residents.

This effort follows a similar attempt in October 2013 to remove then-Mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, which failed due to low turnout. The current movement has been influenced by a recent referendum in Krakow that resulted in the removal of Mayor Aleksander Miszalski.