People in Poland have voted out the right-wing government after eight years.
The leader of Civic Coalition (KO), Donald Tusk celebrates the exit poll results during Poland’s Parliamentary elections on October 15, 2023 in Warsaw, Poland. (Photo by Omar Marques/Getty Images)
Since it came to power in 2015, the ruling Law and Justice party has eroded democracy and attacked human rights by taking away the independence of the country’s top court.
The constitutional court is supposed to be an independent branch of the government that ensures laws passed by the government are consistent with the country’s constitution.
Jan Maria Tomaszewski (L), Jaroslaw Kaczynski (C) and President of Poland, Andrzej Duda (2-R) during ceremonies commemorating the 6th anniversary of the presidential plane crash near Smolensk, at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, Poland, 10 April 2016 (Photo by Mateusz Wlodarczyk/NurPhoto)
But the Law and Justice party has replaced the panel of judges with those who are loyal to them.
This has made it easier for the party to pass laws that attack democracy, press freedom, as well as women’s and LGBTQ rights.
People take part in a demonstration against the recent ruling by the Constitutional Tribunal resulting in a near-total ban of abortions, in Warsaw, Poland, on October 26, 2020 (Photo by Krystian Dobuszynski/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
LGBT rights in Poland is now one of the worst in European Union countries, according to the 2021 report by ILGA-Europe, a leading LGBTQ advocacy group.
Pro-democratic march in Warsaw gathered up to 500,000 participants in Warsaw, Poland, on June 4th 2023. (Photo by Piotr Lapinski/NurPhoto)
Since 2015, numerous protests have broken out against the various rulings and changes.
Demonstrators react as Polish opposition leader, former premier and head of the centrist Civic Coalition bloc, Donald Tusk addresses participants of a rally in Warsaw on October 1, 2023. (Photo by WOJTEK RADWANSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Opposition party leader Donald Tusk and Lech Walesa, the former President of Poland, attend an anti-government march on the 34th anniversary of Poland’s first postwar democratic election. Warsaw, Poland, June 4, 2023. (Photo by Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto)
And on Oct. 15, a record 74% of voters turned out to vote in the elections.
People cast their ballots at a polling station in Polish parliamentary elections on October 15, 2023 in Krakow, Poland. (Photo by Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto)
Although the Law and Justice party still received the most votes at 35%, it is unlikely to find a coalition partner and form a government.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of Law and Justice (PiS) ruling party, gives a speech during a final convention of elections campaign in Krakow, Poland on October 11, 2023. This year’s parliamentary elections will be held in Poland on October 15th. (Photo by Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto)
Meanwhile, the three main center-left opposition groups won 54% of the votes together – enough to form a government.
The leader of Civic Coalition (KO), Donald Tusk celebrates the exit poll results during Poland’s Parliamentary elections on October 15, 2023 in Warsaw, Poland. (Photo by Omar Marques/Getty Images)
Turnout among young people aged between 18 and 29 reached 69%, a massive jump from 46% in the previous elections in 2019.
A pro-democratic rally in Warsaw on Oct. 1, 2023 gathered up to 1 million participants as one of final elements of the campaign before elections. (Photo by Piotr Lapinski/NurPhoto)
The opposition groups, led by former prime minister and European Council president Donald Tusk, have now requested the president allow them to form a government.
