According to the official results on Tuesday, the ruling national-conservative PiS party became the strongest force in the parliamentary elections in Poland, but lost the majority. After counting all constituencies, the PiS (Law and Justice) came to 35.4 percent. The liberal-conservative electoral alliance Citizens Coalition (KO) led by opposition leader Donald Tusk received 30.7 percent of the vote. The Third Way, a centrist alliance, got 14.4 percent, the New Left got 8.6 percent and the right-wing extremist confederation got 7.2 percent.
The former Prime Minister and former EU Council President Donald Tusk saw himself as the winner of the election on Sunday evening because, together with allied opposition parties, he could hope for a majority, which the final result now confirms for him: “I have never been so happy about second place “Poland has won, democracy has won, that is the end of the PiS government,” he said on Sunday.
What’s next? The Polish constitution stipulates that President Andrzej Duda appoints a politician to form a government, usually the representative of the party with the most votes, which would be the PiS. But because it is unlikely to find a majority in parliament, second-placed Tusk’s hour could come. Until then, given the close results, a few more weeks of uncertainty may pass.
On Sunday, 30 million people were called upon to re-elect both chambers of Parliament, the Sejm and the Senate. In addition, Polish voters should vote in a referendum on four questions, for example the distribution of refugees in the EU and the retirement age.
Many observers saw the Polish election as a “fateful election” for Europe. The right-wing conservative PiS is in a constant dispute with Brussels. The opposition could put Poland on a pro-European course. The voter turnout was very high at around 75 percent.