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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Rupert Neate

Tuesday briefing: What Poland’s rightwing parties losing control of government means for Europe

Donald Tusk, leader of the largest opposition grouping Civic Coalition (KO), gestures after the exit poll results are announced in Warsaw, Poland, October 15, 2023.
Donald Tusk, leader of the largest opposition grouping Civic Coalition (KO), gestures after the exit poll results are announced in Warsaw, Poland, October 15, 2023. Photograph: Kacper Pempel/Reuters

Dzień dobry. “It is the end of evil times,” Donald Tusk, the former prime minister of Poland and leader of the country’s main opposition party, declared as polls indicated a clear majority for a centre-left coalition in what has been billed as Poland’s most important general election since the fall of communism in 1989. “We did it, for real. Poland won, democracy won.”

Well, technically, Tusk’s Civic Coalition (KO) party didn’t win. But it doesn’t matter, as the ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party and its potential rightwing partner do not appear to have won enough votes to extend nine years in power.

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