The Ruling and Another Far-Right Party Lost Votes and Seats in the Polish Parliamentary Elections

The ruling far-right nationalist and populist party won the most votes and seats in the Polish parliamentary elections today, but with much fewer than the last election and well short of a majority necessary to form a government. A smaller pro-Russian far-right party also suffered a worse showing than before. Turnout was higher than ever — even more than the first multi-party elections in 1989 in which the Communists were defeated, as a bloc of three opposition parties, led by a conservative party whose leader is a former Polish Prime Minister and European Union (EU) President, collectively obtained a comfortable majority of the vote. At issue was liberty and representative government, as the governing party has eroded the rule of law over its eight years in power by diminishing the independence of the judiciary, and gained more power over the media and the electoral process, while increasing control over the private sector, which has led to cronyism. It has also increased spending, which exacerbates inflation. The EU, of which Poland is a member, has withheld funds because of the Polish Government’s rising authoritarianism. With the notable xception of Ukrainian refugees, the ruling Polish party has also been anti-migrant, opposing reasonable EU reforms of migration policy, together with far-right authoritarian Hungary. Poland, an ally of the United States as a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, has been a critical ally of neighboring Ukraine against aggression by the Russian Federation. The center-right opposition leader would continue the support for Ukraine. The Polish President will have to give a mandate to the current Prime Minister from the same party to try to form a government because it had won the most seats, but it will not be able to obtain the necessary majority in Parliament to win a vote of confidence. Instead, the opposition parties across the political spectrum will have to form a coalition, as they have expressed a willingness to do, to restore representative governance to Poland, vanquish far-right authoritarianism and xenophobia, and strengthen both NATO and the EU.