Gleeful Guy Verhofstadt gloats 'this reinforces EU' as Donald Tusk claims election victory

Donald Tusk, the former President of the European Council and a prominent critic Brexit, is in with a strong chance of being Poland’s next Prime Minister after yesterday’s parliamentary elections.

And persistent Brexit critic Guy Verhofstadt wasted little time crowing about the apparent result, which he said “reinforced the EU”.

Mr Tusk hailed victory in Poland’s parliamentary election with opposition parties seemingly on track to oust the country’s right-wing Justice and Law Party (PiS).

Nevertheless, with PiS on course to take more seats than any other single party, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki put a different spin on the situation, claiming it was in fact the winner.

Law and Justice has been locked in squabbles with allies as well as faced accusations of eroding the rule of law at home in its eight years in power.

It appeared that voters were mobilised as never before, voting in even greater numbers than when the nation ousted the communist authorities in 1989.

Exit poll results put the turnout at a record 72.9 percent. In some places, people were still in line when polling officially closed, but all were eventually allowed to vote.

If the result predicted by the exit poll holds, Law and Justice won but also lost. It got more seats than any other party but fewer than in the previous election and not enough to be able to lead a government which can pass laws in the legislature.

The Ipsos exit poll suggested that Law and Justice obtained 200 seats. Its potential partner, the far-right Confederation got 12 seats, a showing the party acknowledged was a defeat.

It also showed that three opposition parties have likely won a combined 248 seats in the 460-seat lower house of parliament, the Sejm. The largest of the groups is Civic Coalition, led by Tusk, a former prime minister and former president of the European Council. Mr Tusk’s party won 31.6 percent of votes, the exit poll said – which would suggest he has a strong chance of being the next PM.

Speaking afterwards, Mr Tusk declared: “I have been a politician for many years. I’m an athlete. Never in my life have I been so happy about taking seemingly second place.

“Poland won. Democracy has won. We have removed them from power.

He continued: “This result might still be better, but already today we can say this is the end of the bad time, this is end of Law and Justice rule.”

Law and Justice leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski acknowledged the ambiguous result. He told supporters at his headquarters that his party’s result, at nearly 37 percent of the vote, according to the exit poll, was a success, making it the party to win the most votes for three parliamentary elections in a row.

He said: “We must have hope and we must also know that regardless of whether we are in power or in the opposition, we will implement this (political) project in various ways and we will not allow Poland to be betrayed.”

Mr Morawiecki was more bullish, posting on X (formerly Twitter): “WE WON. Law and Justice is the winner of the 2023 parliamentary elections.”

If the result holds, and Law and Justice is the single party with the most seats, then it would most likely get the first chance to try to build a government.

It falls to President Andrzej Duda, an ally of Law and Justice, to ask a party to try to form a government.

Speaking on Polsat News, Mr Morawiecki said on Polsat News Duda “will entrust the mission of forming the government to the winning party and in this first step we will certainly try to build a parliamentary majority.”

The question arose whether it would obtain the new parliament’s approval.

Three opposition parties, Tusk’s Civic Coalition, Third Way and the New Left, ran on separate tickets but with the same promises of seeking to oust Law and Justice and restore good ties with the European Union.

Wlodzimierz Czarzasty, a leader of the Left party, vowed to work with the others to “create a democratic, strong, reasonable and predictable government.”

Katarzyna Pelczynska-Nalecz, the head of election campaign for Third Way, called it a “huge day for our democracy.”

Votes were still being counted and the state electoral commission says it expects to have final results by Tuesday morning.

The high turnout also extended the count of Ipsos’ late poll, based on findings from 50 percent of the voting stations, which was still not published in the early hours of Monday.

During the campaign many Poles described the vote as the most important one since 1989, when a new democracy was born after decades of communism. Turnout then was 63 percent.

Despite many uncertainties ahead, what appeared certain was that support for the governing party has shrunk since the last election in 2019 when it won nearly 44 percent of the vote, its popularity dented by high inflation, allegations of cronyism and bickering with European allies.

Piotr Buras, of the European Council of Foreign Relations, said the opposition had gained from “growing fatigue” with the government among Poles, “beyond the groups usually supporting the liberals.”

The fate of Poland’s relationship with Ukraine was also at stake. The right-wing Confederation party campaigned on an anti-Ukraine message, accusing the country of lacking gratitude to Poland for its help in Russia’s war. Its poor showing will be a relief for Kyiv.

Outside Poland, Mr Verhofstadt MEP, a frequent critic of Brexit, made his feelings plain within minutes, posting: “Huge turnout in the Polish elections & according to exit polls, the liberal pro-EU opposition has triumphed!”

The former Belgian PM added: “Despite the PiS Government doing everything to ensure the election was free but not fair.

“Potentially huge win for a stronger Poland & a reinforced EU.”