in Poland, the centrist and pro-European opposition celebrates victory in the legislative elections

He wears the red and white heart of the coalition on his shirt. When he speaks in front of his supporters who make the V for victory, Donald Tusk, the president of the Civic Coalition (KO), hails a success for Poland. “It’s the end of this dark period, it’s the end of the reign of PiS”rejoices the man who will undoubtedly soon become Prime Minister again.

If the first exit polls are confirmed, the legislative elections in Poland which closed on Sunday October 15 should indeed put an end to the eight years of government of the Law and Justice party (PiS) of Jaroslaw Kaczynski. In the crowd, Olivia applauds. “It’s a huge relief. I’m 25 years old and almost all my life I’ve lived with PiS in power and worked to change that. For the first time it’s working and it gives us a lot of ‘hope.”

Thanks to their coup, Donald Tusk and his partners in the Civic Coalition, the Christian Democrats of the Third Way and the Left could obtain nearly 250 of the 460 seats in Parliament. Tomasz Bratek, deputy mayor of Warsaw, is relieved to send the ruling party back into opposition.

“The people have woken up and these bandits will be prosecuted for everything they did for eight years.”

Tomasz Bratek, deputy mayor of Warsaw

at franceinfo

“Corruption, attacks on the judicial system, women’s rights… It’s something unimaginable in a country like Poland,” he is still indignant. Donald Tusk, who led the government between 2007 and 2014, notably promised to restore good relations with the European Union and to liberalize the right to abortion. A sign of the stakes, the vote was marked by a record participation of nearly 73%, eleven points more than in 2019.