An alliance of three opposition parties in Poland won enough support from Sunday’s elections for a parliamentary majority.
This is according to the official results, paving the way for a possible change in the political landscape after eight years under the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party.
The final outcome of the elections announced in Warsaw on Tuesday confirmed that Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki’s PiS came out the strongest force with 35.38 per cent of the vote.
The opposition liberal Civic Coalition (KO) of former Prime Minister Donald Tusk was second with 30.7 per cent.
Tusk’s coalition, however, has the easier path to forming a government by going into coalition with the Christian-conservative Third Way at 14.4 per cent and the leftist party, called The Left at 8.61per cent.
This alliance would hold 248 seats in the 460-member parliament.
Morawiecki could also seek to form a coalition, but his only realistic partner is the ultra-right Confederation party.
Confederation’s small number of seats 18 would not be enough to help create a governing majority together with PiS’ 194 mandates.
The overall result could therefore signal a turning point in Polish foreign policy and herald a more pro-European course, as well as a more conciliatory stance towards Poland’s neighbor Germany.
PiS has been in constant dispute with Brussels and have angered Berlin with demands for war reparations for damages caused by the Nazi occupation during World War II.
The opposition alliance also won the majority of seats in the Senate, the less important second chamber of parliament.
It will hold 66 seats, with PiS taking the remaining 34.
Interest in the vote was huge this year, with voter turnout officially put at 74.38 per cent the highest since the end of communism in 1989.
The next step is for President Andrzej Duda to give a politician the mandate to form a government.
It is political custom in Poland, but not a must, for a representative of the strongest political camp to receive this mandate.
Political observers in Warsaw assume that Duda, who is close to PiS, will first give the mandate to a PiS politician in spite of the party’s lower chances of forming a government.
If PiS failed, the mandate would then in theory be handed to Tusk and KO.
