Poland’s rejection of conservatism isn’t quite as it seems

Poland looks set to head into a month of intense coalition-building. The exit poll for the country’s parliamentary election on Sunday showed Jarosław Kaczyński’s Law and Justice party with the single biggest result of 36.8 per cent, but it still fell short of being able to form a government by itself. Donald Tusk’s Civic Coalition gained 31.6 per cent of the vote, followed by the Third Way with 13 per cent, the Left with 8.6 per cent, and Konfederacja with 6.2 per cent of the vote, respectively. The late poll released around 8 a.m. Polish time, which took account of around half of the election’s overall result, remained broadly consistent with these results.

The historic voter turnout of 72.9 per cent underscored the importance of this election to Poles. If the exit poll is correct, this is the largest turnout since communism fell, surpassing even the 62.7 per cent turnout in the first free elections of 1989.