Donald Tusk’s Civic Coalition, the Third Way party and the Left together obtained more than 53.52%, according to the almost complete partial results.
These elections will put an end to eight years of government by Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s Law and Justice party (PiS). The pro-European centrist opposition won parliamentary elections in Polandaccording to the almost complete partial results published Monday evening, October 16, the day after these elections considered crucial for the future of the country and which recorded a record participation.
The results show that PiS leads the poll with 35.58%, but without a majority, while the Civic Coalition of Donald Tusk, the Third Way party and the Left together obtain more than 53.52%. The Electoral Commission is due to announce the final results and official seat sharing on Tuesday.
“Democracy has won”
Donald Tusk himself claimed victory on Sunday evening. “Poland won, democracy won, we chased them out of power (…) it’s the end of this bad period, it’s the end of PiS rule”, he declared, immediately after the publication of the polls. Aged 66, he 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 unblock European funds frozen by Brussels due to disputes that arose during the PiS government’s two terms. He also pledged to liberalize the right to abortion, a major point of disagreement with the PiS government which emphasized Catholic values.
According to projections from the Ipsos polling institute, the Civic Coalition would obtain 158 seats, the Third Way (Christian Democrats) 61 and the Left 30, or 249 seats for the pro-European opposition out of a total of 460.
A record participation rate
For his part, the leader of PiS, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, welcomed the relative success of his movement, which will have 211 seats with its potential far-right ally, the Confederation, but without a majority allowing it to form a government. “Whether we are in power or in opposition, (…) we will not allow Poland to be betrayed,” did he declare.
According to Stanislaw Mocek, political scientist and president of Collegium Civitas University, there are now “a chance for an opposition government to emerge.” “I think this is actually the end of the PiS government (…) It’s a chance for us to rebuild our position, above all in Europe”. Turnout was high, with the exit poll putting it at 72.9%, a record since the fall of communism in 1989.