How Poland’s centrist election victory could shake up the country

A major European country is about to see a paramount change, as yesterday’s elections in Poland appear to have ousted the nation’s right-wing nationalist Law and Justice Party from power. This places Poland’s opposition coalition, made up of three centrist, liberal and leftist parties, in a prime position to regain control of the government.

Donald Tusk, the leader of the main opposition party, the centrist Civic Platform, is expected to be appointed prime minister should the opposition government come to fruition.

The ruling Law and Justice Party, also known as PiS, did win the most seats in the Polish Parliament, according to the latest exit polls. However, they fell far short of the number needed to claim the majority, which will now be held by the trio of opposition parties.

PiS — supported by current Polish President Andrzej Duda — will have the first crack at forming a government, but these efforts are expected to be in vain. While PiS won the most seats of any singular party, it is “a Pyrrhic victory as the three leading opposition parties would have a majority of seats in the 460-member parliament,” Jan Cienski wrote for Politico Europe.

the Polish public likely soured toward PiS due to “tensions and social conflict, with fights over abortion, rule of law, grain imports from Ukraine and awful relations with the EU,” Cienski added. This is in addition to the overall democratic backsliding that was seen in Poland under the eight years of PiS control.

A PiS victory would have kept Poland “on this illiberal path,” Jen Kirby opined for Vox.

And once Tusk and the coalition trio gain power, the quest to overhaul Polish politics could prove “a complicated mission for a coalition government encompassing various ideological groupings,” Rob Picheta wrote for CNN.

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