This article analyzes how the 2020 Polish Presidential election was affected by the recent COVID-19 pandemic in the context of global democratic backsliding. Specifically, this article examines how the incumbency advantage of President Andrzej Duda was bolstered during the pandemic by the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS). Although PiS was unable to carry out every planned electoral manipulation, the party nonetheless helped Duda secure a second term in office in a historically close election. On the one hand, this article illustrates that while many of the tactics undertaken by PiS were within the limits of the letter of the law, its actions still undermined the spirit of Polish democracy. On the other hand, this article also contributes to the literature on democratic backsliding by underscoring the fact that the election in Poland was free and fair, which makes this regime qualitatively different from other cases in the region.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19 大流行期间的在职优势：审视 2020 年波兰总统选举

本文分析了在全球民主倒退的背景下，2020 年波兰总统大选如何受到最近 COVID-19 大流行的影响。具体而言，本文研究了执政的法律与正义党 (PiS) 如何在大流行期间加强了总统安杰伊·杜达 (Andrzej Duda) 的在职优势。尽管 PiS 无法执行所有计划中的选举操纵，但该党仍然帮助 Duda 在历史上非常接近的选举中确保了第二个任期。一方面，这篇文章表明，虽然 PiS 采取的许多策略都在法律条文的范围内，但它的行为仍然破坏了波兰民主的精神。另一方面，