The Law and Justice Party announces its victory in the Polish legislative elections, but without a majority – DW – 10/15/2023

the The centrist pro-European opposition to Poland He had achieved an absolute majority in the legislative elections on Sunday (10/15/2023), defeating the nationalist populists from the Law and Justice Party (He pees(, for short in Polish) and a far-right formation, according to opinion polls conducted after the elections.

The Civic Coalition was led by former President of the European Council Donald Tusk, along with the Christian Democratic Third Way Party and the Left Party, to obtain at least 248 seats in the Council, which includes 460 deputies. The Law and Justice Party and the far-right Confederation Union will only achieve 212 votes.

According to the poll, the national turnout rate was 72.9%, a record high since the fall of communism in 1989. If the results are confirmed, these elections will end eight years of Jaroslav’s PiS government. Kaczynski.

Tusk announced after learning of these expectations that “Poland won, democracy won, and we expelled them from power (…), this is the end of this bad period, this is the end of the era of the Law and Justice Party.”

Meanwhile, Governor Mateusz Morawiecki also declared victory: “We won. PiS is the winner of the 2023 parliamentary elections,” he said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The future of relations with Ukraine and the European Union

The election result is considered crucial for the future of Poland’s relations with the European Union and neighboring Ukraine. There were fears that a PiS victory would exacerbate tensions with Brussels and Kiev and be a setback for the Labor Party. Rule of law, freedom of the press, women’s and immigrants’ rights.

The Law and Justice Party has pledged to continue its controversial reforms to the judicial system, which it says are aimed at eliminating corruption, but which the European Union views as an attack on democracy.

Poland is one of Ukraine’s main supporters, and has welcomed one million Ukrainian refugees on its territory since the start of the conflict with Russia, but the Poles are increasingly reluctant to provide this assistance.

Joe (AFP, dpa, RTR)