Elections In Poland: Real Winner Is Donald Tusk’s Coalition

Paradoxical results of the “apocalyptic and muddy” election campaign in the parliamentary elections in Poland. After counting 100% of the ballots, the Polish Election Commission confirmed that the now ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski came in first place with 35.38% of the votes. It is followed by the pro-European electoral alliance “Civic Coalition” (KO) of Donald Tusk, which collected 30.70% of the vote.

Voter turnout was 71%, a record high in recent years.

However, the real winner is Tusk’s alliance, as it will be able to easily form a coalition with two other smaller political formations. The tripartite bloc will have 53.71% of the votes, while PiS remains virtually isolated.

The center-right Third Way alliance, which has repeatedly stated that it “wants to enter a coalition with Tusk’s KO,” collected 14.4% of the vote, while the social democratic Left party, another likely political partner of Tusk, surpassed the threshold to ensure representation in the parliament by gaining 8.61% of the votes.

Finally, the far-right Confederation party (7.16% of the vote), which said “no” to a possible coalition with PiS, was the last of the five formations that would share 460 seats in the Sejm, the lower house of the Polish parliament.

Former European Council President Donald Tusk intends to strengthen relations between Warsaw and Brussels. “This is the most important day in our democratic history since 1989,” Tusk said. According to him, the vote of the Polish people “allowed Poland, a country in the heart of Europe, to remain in the European Union.”