Europe

Poland’s Ruling Right-Wing Populist Party Facing Ouster After Election Results

TIME’S UP

The country’s opposition won enough seats to finally take power from the Law and Justice party.

Leader of Poland’s ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party Jaroslaw Kaczynski, holds flowers during a speech after the exit poll results are announced in Warsaw, Poland, Oct. 15, 2023.
Aleksandra Szmigiel/Reuters

Poland is likely heading for a change of government after the country’s election results published Tuesday showed the ruling right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) didn’t win enough seats to form a parliamentary majority. The party, led by Jarosław Kaczyński, is still the biggest party with 194 seats, but even an alliance bringing in the far-right Confederation party’s 18 seats wouldn’t give them a majority in the 460-seat parliament. Opposition parties, including the Civic Coalition led by former European Council president Donald Tusk, now have a combined 248 seats, meaning they can take power away from PiS for the first time since 2015 if PiS fails to find a way to form a government. PiS had cast the election as a choice between national security and unbridled immigration, with the party also taking a tougher stance against sending more aid to Ukraine in contrast with many of its European neighbors.

Read it at Financial Times