Poland has counted all the votes in Sunday’s election. The ruling Law and Justice Party remains the largest with 35.38% of the votes, but as expected, it did not achieve a majority.
The Citizens’ Coalition (KO), led by former Prime Minister and former President of the European Council Donald Tusk, came in second place with 30.7%.
In theory, Tusk, along with two other pro-European parties, could form a majority. This concerns the centrist Third Way Party (14.4 percent of the vote) and the New Left Party (8.61 percent). The parties have already indicated their desire to do so.
The Law and Justice Party itself does not obtain a majority. This will not succeed in light of the theoretical support of the far-right Confederation Party, which received 7.16 percent of the votes.
Polish President Andrzej Duda is expected to first give PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski the opportunity to form a new government, because his party received the largest number of votes. If Kaczynski fails to do so, opposition leader Tusk will likely be recalled.
0:41Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators support opposition leader Tusk in Poland
Cautious relief over election results
Russia responded on Tuesday morning that the relationship with Poland had not changed for the Kremlin. In recent days, several European Union member states have expressed cautious relief about the election result. Critics say PiS has contributed to the erosion of the rule of law in Poland.
The party has often been at odds in Europe in recent years, for example on climate and immigration. European Commissioner Maros Sefcovic, who coordinates European climate policy, said on Monday that it would be “very great news for Europe and the European Union if such important countries in Central Europe returned to the heart of European politics.”
Swedish Climate Minister Romina Pourmokhtari said: “Of course there will be a strong message if there is a government that adopts a more realistic view on climate.”
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