Summary of the day
The final results of Poland’s Sunday election were published. Law and Justice (PiS) got 35.38%, Civic Coalition (KO) 30.7%, Third Way: 14.4%, The Left (Lewica): 8.61% and Konfederacja: 7.16%
The country now waits to see how long it will take for a new governing coalition led by Donald Tusk to be formed.
Tusk has asked Poland’s President Andrzej Duda to move quickly.
Manfred Weber, the leader of the centre-right European People’s Party, said that “we are extremely happy about the outcome – the Polish people have spoken”.
Mikuláš Dzurinda, a former Slovak prime minister, told the Guardian this morning that the outcome of the Polish election would “boost the centripetal tendencies in the EU”.
Róża Thun, a member of Polska 2050, part of Third Way, said “this was a victory of democracy” but also that there are “huge challenges in front of us”.
Tusk calls for quick decision
The Polish opposition leader Donald Tusk has asked Poland’s President Andrzej Duda for a quick decision.
Duda is expected to soon indicate his preference for which party should get the first chance to form a government.
Tusk said opposition parties are in constant contact and ready to take over at any time.
Updated
Piotr Buras, director of the Warsaw office at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told the Guardian today that the election’s outcome demonstrates that iliberalism can be ended.
“It will be quite an experiment to roll back illiberalism in Poland, but it has implications for other countries,” he said, adding that it shows that it’s possible to “remove an illiberal government by democratic means, even if the level playing field is not there, even if the government has certain advantages and basically misuses power.”
“For Slovakia, for Hungary, for Serbia, for other countries, it should be a very positive message,” Buras noted.
When it comes to Warsaw’s role on the European stage, Buras said:
Liberal Poland is back and it could be a potentially important player in the European politics, because Poland was missing for the last eight years as a constructive power in the EU.
But, he cautioned, the new government will be “very focused on the domestic challenges” and that could “constrain” its ability to play a big role in Europe.
What would a new government mean for Polish policy?
We asked Jakub Jaraczewski, research coordinator at Democracy Reporting International.
Unlike passing new legislation, which will face hurdles due to a veto by President Duda, foreign policy could change swiftly, with the new government taking a more constructive pro-EU course while maintaining good relations with the US and Ukraine. An attempt at a serious revival of the Weimar Triangle – Polish-German-French cooperation – is very likely.
Domestically, I expect the first six months of the new government to be less about massive legislative projects and more about a change in posturing, narrative and day-to-day policy. Hopefully, judges will no longer be told they’re obstacles or enemies of the government, and prosecutors won’t be directed to close investigations inconvenient for the ruling camp.
Votes counted as country awaits Tusk-led coalition
Poland’s electoral committee has finished counting the votes from the parliamentary election, as the country waits to see how long it will take for a new governing coalition led by Donald Tusk to be formed.
Sunday’s poll gave the populist Law and Justice (PiS) party, which has ruled Poland for the past eight years, the most votes but no viable path to a parliamentary majority.
The final count showed PiS had received 35.4% of the vote, while Civic Coalition, led by Tusk, a former prime minister and European Council president, had 30.7%. With the centre-right Third Way, on 14.4%, and leftwing Lewica, on 8.6%, the three groupings should be able to put together a coalition that would form a comfortable majority in the 460-seat parliament.
With the vote count complete, President Andrzej Duda is expected on Tuesday to indicate his preference for which party should get the first chance to put together a coalition.
Tradition indicates he will turn to PiS, as the largest party, but with all other parties indicating they are not open to cooperating with it, the opposition have called on the president to take into account the political reality and give them the chance to build their coalition.
However, there remains a lingering fear of possible PiS gambits in the coming days and weeks. Caution also stems from the realisation that governing with a PiS-aligned president in office until 2025, and with numerous state institutions packed with PiS supporters, governing will not be easy.
Read the full story here.
Updated
We want to hear from you. Are you a voter living in Poland or another country? What are your thoughts on the election results? How will the change of power likely impact you?
You can share your thoughts on the Poland election results using this form.
Here is how the election results translate into the distribution of seats:
Law and Justice (PiS): 194
Civic Coalition (KO): 157
Third Way: 65
The Left (Lewica): 26
Konfederacja: 18
Updated
'Respect the democratic choices,' centrist European politician tells Duda
Stéphane Séjourné, president of the centrist Renew Europe group in the European parliament, said today that “we are witnessing the democratic rebirth of Poland.”
Séjourné congratulated Polska 2050, adding:
“We call on the Polish president and the institutions of Poland to respect the democratic choices made by the Polish people.”
Updated
There is lots of excitement on the left about the final outcome.
The New Left’s Robert Biedroń wrote this morning that it is thanks to joint work that Poland is waking up to a new reality – and that we have a government to build.
8,61% ‼️
— Robert Biedroń (@RobertBiedron) October 17, 2023
To dzięki naszej wspólnej pracy budzimy się dziś w nowej rzeczywistości. Rzeczywistości, gdzie PiS po latach nieudolnych rządów idzie na emeryturę.
Do boju Lewico, do boju opozycjo. Mamy rząd do zbudowania ✌🏻 pic.twitter.com/I16MFLfYuV
'We are back': Polish MEP pledges bigger European role but outlines challenges
Speaking to reporters this morning, Polish member of the European parliament Róża Thun said the message to European partners is that Poland is “back.”
Thun, a member of Polska 2050, part of Third Way, said “this was a victory of democracy.”
We need a strong Europe and we want to have a voice in the world - not only in the European Union. So the first thing that our European partners hear today is, we are back. And that’s an extremely important message for us in Poland as well, but also for Europe. We are back. We will not show the back to the European Union anymore. We want to cooperate, we want to reinforce this Europe. And this message is extremely strong, because the victory of democratic forces is very clear.
But the parliamentarian also said that there are “huge challenges in front of us.”
First thing is of course, rule of law, independence of judiciary, back to Europe, as we call it, that we need to give, again, freedom or render those institutions free from party control and influence, and that’s not only judiciary, but also military, police, public media.
Mikuláš Dzurinda, a former Slovak prime minister, told the Guardian this morning that the outcome of the Polish election would “boost the centripetal tendencies in the EU”.
Dzurinda, who now heads the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies – the official thinktank of the centre-right European People’s Party – also said that the opposition’s strong performance in Poland “will bring new dynamism and encouragement for our EPP family”.
I know my friends in Poland, especially Donald Tusk, very well, and I feel very strongly that Poland with Donald Tusk at the helm of the government will strengthen or boost the centripetal tendencies in the EU, and mitigate the opposite – the centrifugal tones or tendencies. It is crucial, because we know very well that we live in very special times when we face a substantial shift of the global political landscape, so we need to be more united in Europe, in the EU. In this respect, I’m happy, it is a significant step in the right direction.
Updated
'Extremely happy': Polish results boost European centre-right
Poland’s election is a big win for the centre-right European People’s party.
Civic Platform is a member of the EPP, and Donald Tusk was president of the EPP from 2019 until 2022.
Manfred Weber, the EPP’s current leader, told reporters this morning that “we are extremely happy about the outcome – the Polish people have spoken”.
Weber said he is “proud” of Civic Coalition members “who worked so hard for this result, especially Donald Tusk, who succeeded to break through the negativity of the ruling party and offered to the Polish people a positive perspective, a message of hope”.
“Poland is back,” he said, calling the result “a new chapter”.
Updated
Poland has a very close relationship with the US, and what happens in Warsaw is of strategic importance for Washington.
Late yesterday, a spokesperson for the US state department pointed to the country’s very high election turnout, writing that it “is a strong expression of the democratic will of Polish citizens”.
The record voter turnout in Poland’s elections is a strong expression of the democratic will of Polish citizens. We look forward to working with Poland’s next government to continue strengthening our bilateral relations.
— Matthew Miller (@StateDeptSpox) October 16, 2023
Updated
Polish final election numbers published
We now know the final outcome of Poland’s Sunday election. While the ruling Law and Justice party got the most votes, the election was a defeat for the current government: opposition parties performed so well that they have a path toward forming a new ruling coalition.
Law and Justice (PiS): 35.38%
Civic Coalition (KO): 30.7%
Third Way: 14.4%
The Left (Lewica): 8.61%
Konfederacja: 7.16%
Welcome to the blog
Good morning and welcome back to the Europe blog.
Today we will be looking at the final results of Poland’s election, and the wide-ranging implications for both Polish society and European politics.
Send comments to lili.bayer@theguardian.com.
