A number of MEPs from the EPP, Renew Europe and S&D have expressed their hope that a new government will be formed in Poland after the pro-European opposition was able to form a coalition in the parliamentary elections on 15 October.
Although poll estimates gave Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) a lead in terms of votes and seats (38.5% of the vote on Monday morning), the party was not in a position to form a government on Monday 16 October, unlike the Civic Coalition (KO) of former European Council President Donald Tusk (27.66% of the votes counted on Monday morning), which could lead an alliance with the Third Way (Christian Democrats, 13%) and the New Left (8.6%).
The leader of the EPP group in the European Parliament, Manfred Weber, spoke of “very good news” from Poland on the morning of Monday 16 October on X. “The Polish people came out massively to open a new era for the country”, added the German, praising his EPP colleague Donald Tusk and his partners for having “sent a message of hope”.
On Sunday evening, Dutch MP Sophie in ’t Veld (Renew Europe) also said that if these exit polls were to materialise, they would represent “very good news”.
For her part, the President of the S&D, Iratxe Garcia Perez, said on X on Sunday evening that she was “very hopeful” in the light of these results, and that Polish people had voted “if the polls are confirmed, clearly for a change. For a democratic, open and European Poland”.
In addition, the poll on 15 October saw an all-time record turnout, with 72.9% of voters turning out at the polls, but the referendum on the EU’s migration policy, which was held on the same day, did not attract a sufficiently high turnout to be valid. In particular, the PiS government wanted to challenge the Pact on Migration and Asylum legislation adopted by qualified majority. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)