Is the far-right movement running out of steam in Poland? This Sunday, the centrist pro-European opposition won a parliamentary majority beating the ruling nationalist populists and the far right combined, according to exit polls. These legislative elections are considered crucial for the European future of the country and its relations with kyiv.
If these results are confirmed, these elections should put an end to the eight years of government of Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s Law and Justice party (PiS). The three opposition parties, the Civic Coalition (KO), the Christian Democrats of the Third Way and the Left, together won 248 seats in the parliament of 460 deputies, against 212 seats for the PiS and the Confederation (far right ) united. “Poland won, democracy won, we drove them out of power (…) it’s the end of this bad period, it’s the end of PiS rule,” declared, immediately after the publication of the polls , KO President Donald Tusk.
Reconnect with the European Union
Aged 66, Donald Tusk was Prime Minister of Poland between 2007 and 2014 and President of the European Council between 2014 and 2019. He promised to restore good relations with the European Union and to release European funds frozen by Brussels due to disputes that arose during the two terms of the PiS government. Donald Tusk also promised to liberalize the right to abortion, a major point of disagreement with the PiS government which emphasized Catholic values.
The leader of PiS, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, welcomed the relative success of his movement which will have 200 parliamentary seats, but without a majority to form a government. “Whether we are in power or in opposition, (…) we will not allow Poland to be betrayed,” he nevertheless declared.
A record turnout at the polls
According to Stanislaw Mocek, political scientist and president of Collegium Civitas University, there is now “a chance for an opposition government to emerge.” “I think this is actually the end of the PiS government (…) It is a chance for us to rebuild our position, above all in Europe,” he said.
Turnout was high – with the exit poll putting the national turnout at 72.9% – an all-time high since the fall of communism in 1989. At polling stations, many voters expressed frustration at the polls. towards the government. “It’s time for change,” Ewa Bankowska, a 43-year-old woman working in finance, told AFP as she voted in Halinow, a town just outside Warsaw. “I’m concerned about the economy. I would like us to develop and the government to stop spending money it doesn’t have.” For her part, Dorota Zbig, a 57-year-old nurse, said that the last years of the PiS government “have been very good for me and my family.”
“We will definitely reach an agreement”
To form a coalition government, the KO, the Third Way and the Left must still be able to agree, but their leaders have already declared their willingness to do so. “We will probably wait for the official results in about twelve hours (…), and then we will sit down to discuss and we will certainly reach an agreement,” assured Donald Tusk.
During the campaign, PiS pledged to continue its controversial reforms to the justice system which it says are aimed at rooting out corruption but which the EU sees as an attack on democracy. The campaign was marked by violent personal attacks against Donald Tusk from those in power who accused him of representing the interests of Berlin, Moscow and Brussels.
kyiv and its Western allies are closely observing these elections, after the recent election in Slovakia of a government hostile to aid to Ukraine. Poland is one of kyiv’s main supporters and has welcomed a million Ukrainian refugees onto its soil, but weariness is growing among Poles. The PiS government fell out with Ukraine by imposing an embargo on imports of its grain, arguing the need to protect Polish farmers.