Historic democratic mandate boosts Poland’s ruling party

THE leader of Poland’s governing party has vowed his party will carry on changing the country “for the better” after it romped to one of the biggest wins in its modern democratic history in Sunday’s general election.

Law and Justice won 43.59 per cent of the vote, around 16 per cent more than the Civic Coalition, a centrist grouping, while a Left-wing bloc came third with 12.56 per cent. The turnout of 61 per cent was the highest in three decades.

The result puts the party within touching distance of an absolute majority in the 360-seat lower house of parliament. If nothing changes, Law and Justice will get about 236 seats, giving it a slender majority.

It amounted to a resounding endorsement of the party’s policies, including controversial reforms to the judiciary that have encountered fierce domestic and international criticism.

“We have four years of hard work ahead of us because Poland must continue changing, and it must be changing for the better,” said Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the diminutive Law and Justice leader who, despite having no cabinet position, is regarded as the most powerful figure in Polish politics.

Mateusz Morawiecki, the prime minister, who is expected to continue to hold the position in the new government, said the exit polls results showed

‘We have hard work ahead of us because Poland must continue changing, and it must [change] for the better

that Law and Justice had been given an “enormous social mandate.”

Still, the Law and Justice victory may well have fallen short of the landslide some had hoped for. The party will have to contend with significant opposition from three rivals that between them got almost 50 per cent of the vote.

Law and Justice also lost control of the senate, the upper house of parliament, which could now provide resistance to its legislative agenda.