Polish opposition leader Donald Tusk claimed victory in Sunday’s legislative elections after forecasts pointed to a clear majority for his party and its pro-European allies in parliament.
The first forecasts, published shortly after the polls closed, pointed to a strong fall in the position of the nationalist Law and Justice Party (PiS), outgoing Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and former Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who despite being the party with the largest number of votes, with 36.8%, lost their parliamentary majority and had no clear path to forming a government. In contrast, Tusk’s Civic Movement, which came second with 31.6%, had a path to a parliamentary majority along with its allies the Third Way (13%) and the New Left (8.6%).
“This is the end of bad weather, this is the end of PiS power. We did it. We won democracy, we won freedom, we won our beloved Poland. This day will go down in history as a day of rebirth,” said a representative of the PiS party. a jubilant Donald Tusk, who promised to reverse controversial reforms proposed by PiS and bring Poland closer to the European Union.