Donald Tusk, who leads the centrist opposition coalition in Poland, claimed victory in the legislative elections on Sunday evening, October 15. According to exit polls, the pro-European opposition won a parliamentary majority, beating the populists of the currently ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) and the far right combined.
According to these projections, the three centrist opposition parties, Donald Tusk’s Citizens’ Coalition (KO), the Third Way Christian Democrats and the Left, together won 248 seats in the 460-member parliament, compared to 212 seats for PiS and the Confederation (far right) combined.
“Poland won, democracy won, we chased them out of power (…) it’s the end of this bad period, it’s the end of PiS rule”declared Donald Tusk immediately after the publication of the polls.
PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski told a rally at the party’s headquarters in central Warsaw that he did not immediately know whether Sunday’s results would lead to a new government mandate. “Whether we are in power or in opposition, (…) we will not allow Poland to be betrayed”he asserted.
Turnout was high – with the exit poll putting the national rate at 72.9% – an all-time high since the fall of communism in 1989.