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full screen Conservative Law and Justice leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski lost government power last year but became the largest party in this weekend’s local elections. But it is unclear whether it can be translated into power, Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s party has a greater chance of forming local majorities. Photo: Czarek Sokolowski
The former governing party Law and Justice appears to have become the largest party in local elections in Poland. But the new government, headed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, has a grip on most counties and major cities.
The results after the counting of the votes are not expected until Monday, but a polling station survey on the evening of Sunday’s election by the pollster Ipsos, predicts that Law and Justice (Pis) will get 33.7 percent of the vote and have an advantage in six of Poland’s 16 counties, mainly in the east Poland.
Not the end
– As Mark Twain once said, ‘The rumor of my death is somewhat hasty,’ Pi’s leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski said on election night, claiming victory and that the result is a message to the new government.
But becoming the largest party does not mean that Pis will be able to translate it into gaining power in cities and regional governments.
According to the same forecast, Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s party, the Citizens’ Coalition, will receive 31.9 percent of the votes and power in ten of the 16 counties. The party retains or takes the mayoral posts in several large cities, such as in the capital Warsaw and the port city Gdansk. The candidates there are allied with Tusk and won big, no second round needed.
Has the capital
Donald Tusk, who managed to win government power last year after eight years of Pis rule, won the parliamentary election on promises to dismantle laws and reforms pushed through by Pis.
Many of Pi’s changes have been heavily criticized by the EU for going beyond democracy, the media and the legal system.
On election night, Tusk referred to the mayor of Warsaw, Rafal Trzaskowski, as the hero of the day after the great victory there. But he also said that the opposition, primarily Law and Justice, had succeeded better in getting their voters to go and vote in more conservative areas compared to his own supporters.