Last month’s elections for Poland’s Sejm – the equivalent of Britain’s House of Commons – signalled a significant change and the end of an era for the country. After eight years in power, the conservative government led by Mateusz Morawiecki is set to relinquish power and hand over to a centrist coalition.
While the incumbent PiS (Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc – Law and Justice) led the polls, with 35% of votes, it does not have enough seats to form a government, even with the support of the far-right Konfederacja (Confederation) alliance.
So while president Andrzej Duda will nominate Morawiecki for prime minister after the new parliament sits for the first time on 13 November, PiS is expected to quickly lose a confidence vote. That will pave the way for a coalition of the liberal Koalicja Obywatelska (Civic Coalition), the far left Lewica (Left) and the Trzecia Droga (Third Way), an “agrarian-nationalist” grouping that won 14% of the vote and played an important role by attracting numerous conservative voters who were unhappy with the government. This alliance has 248 seats in the 460-seat parliament, giving it a clear majority.
The job of prime minister is likely to go to Donald Tusk,
