Parliamentary elections in Poland: The pro European opposition wins against PiS

The pro-European centrist opposition led by Donald Tusk won a parliamentary majority in Poland on Sunday, according to election polls. If confirmed, these elections would end eight years of government by the nationalist Law and Justice party (PiS) led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

Published on: October 15, 2023 – 10:41 p.m

4 mins

In elections seen as crucial for Poland’s European future and its relations with Ukraine, the centrist pro-European opposition led by Donald Tusk won a majority of seats in parliament on Sunday October 15, defeating the populists. The ruling nationalists and the extreme right agreed. according to exit polls.

If these results are confirmed, these elections are likely to mark the end of the eight-year government of Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s Law and Justice (PiS) party.

The three opposition parties, the Citizens’ Coalition (KO), the Third Way Christian Democrats and the Left, together won 248 seats in the 460-member parliament, compared to 212 seats for the PiS and the Confederation (far right) combined.

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“The end of the rule of the PiS”

“Poland has won, democracy has won, we have driven them from power (…) it is the end of this bad time, it is the end of PiS rule,” declared KO President Donald Tusk immediately after publication of the surveys.

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Donald Tusk, 66, was Prime Minister of Poland from 2007 to 2014 and President of the European Council from 2014 to 2019. He promised to restore good relations with the European Union and release European funds frozen by Brussels due to disputes during the PiS government’s two terms.

He also promised to liberalize abortion rights, a key point of contention with the PiS government, which emphasizes Catholic values.

Also read: Donald Tusk, the phoenix of Polish politics who wants to rise from the ashes

To form a coalition government, the KO, the Third Way and the Left still need to come to an agreement, but their leaders have already declared their willingness to do so. “We will probably wait around twelve hours for the official results (…), then we will sit down to discuss and we will certainly come to an agreement,” assured Donald Tusk.

PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski hailed the relative success of his movement, which will have 200 seats in parliament but lacks a majority to form a government. “Whether we are in power or in opposition, (…) we will not allow Poland to be betrayed,” he said.

Almost 73% participation

Voter turnout was high – the national voter turnout was 72.9% – an all-time high since the fall of communism in 1989, and AFP journalists saw crowded polling stations.

“The participation rate is probably by far the highest in the history of the Third Republic,” Sylwester Marciniak, president of the National Electoral Commission, told the press in 1989, at 62.7%.

Many voters expressed frustration with the government. “It’s time for change,” Ewa Bankowska, a 43-year-old woman who works in finance, told AFP as she voted in Halinow. “I’m worried about the economy. I want us to grow and the government to stop spending money it doesn’t have.”

But Dorota Zbig, a 57-year-old nurse, said the last years of the PiS government had been “very good for me and my family.”

Elections followed

During the election campaign, PiS promised to continue its controversial justice system reforms, which it says are aimed at rooting out corruption but which the EU sees as an attack on democracy.

The election campaign was marked by fierce personal attacks on Donald Tusk from those in power, who accused him of representing the interests of Berlin, Moscow and Brussels.

Also read: Parliamentary elections in Poland: the Law and Justice party and the obsession with the big, bad German

Kiev and its Western allies are watching these elections closely following the recent election in Slovakia of a government hostile to aid to Ukraine.

Poland is one of Kiev’s main supporters and has welcomed a million Ukrainian refugees into its territory, but fatigue is growing among Poles.

The PiS government fell out with Ukraine by imposing an embargo on imports of its grain, arguing that Polish farmers needed to be protected.

With AFP