Official results confirm victory for Tusk’s KO in Poland’s European elections with far right third

Official results from the European elections in Poland show that the centrist Civic Coalition (KO) of Prime Minister Donald Tusk came first, with 37.06% of the vote.

That put it narrowly ahead of the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, Poland’s main opposition, which obtained 36.16%, according to figures released on Monday morning by the National Electoral Commission (PKW).

The far-right Confederation (Konfederacja) dramatically took third place, with 12.08%, followed by KO’s two junior partners in the ruling coalition: the centre-right Third Way (Trzecia Droga) on 6.91% and The Left (Lewica) on 6.3%.

Turnout was only 40.65%, the lowest in any elections in Poland since 2014.

The PKW’s official count largely reflects the Ipsos exit poll published on Sunday evening as voting finished. However, KO’s lead over PiS is, in reality, significantly smaller than the four percentage points indicated in that poll. A so-called late poll published by Ipsos during the night had also shown that gap narrowing.

The result means that yesterday’s elections are the first since 2014 in which PiS has failed to finish first. During that time, the party or its candidate came top in eight consecutive elections – parliamentary, presidential, local and European.

At last October’s parliamentary elections, PiS lost power despite finishing first, after Tusk created a new ruling majority. During a speech last night after exit poll results were published, Tusk declared his “great satisfaction that we have not wasted these difficult months”.

“We cannot stop in this march for good. I promise you we won’t stop,” he added. “Poland has shown that democracy triumphs here. Thanks to your steadfast attitude, Poland is a leader of the EU.”

DZIĘKUJEMY – to nasze wspólne zwycięstwo! 🇵🇱✌🏻🇪🇺 pic.twitter.com/wEyULk6KA8

— PlatformaObywatelska (@Platforma_org) June 9, 2024

PiS chairman Jarosław Kaczyński, meanwhile, admitted on Sunday night that “this result is a great challenge for us” and that his party must “draw conclusions from what can be seen on the [electoral] maps”.

Confederation, however, was in a jubilant mood after seeing its vote share increase significantly from the 7% it got at both the October parliamentary elections and the local elections in April this year.

One of its two main leaders, Sławomir Mentzen, declared its result to be “by far the highest in the history of our political environment”. The other, Krzysztof Bosak, said that they would be going to Brussels to reject the EU’s migration pact and Ukraine’s proposed membership of the bloc, reports Polsat News.

Addressing the president of the European Commission, Confederation MP Krzysztof Mulawa told news service Wirtualna Polska: “Mrs Ursula von der Leyen, we are coming for you.” He claimed that she was “chosen to oppress Poles for five years and look out solely for German interests”.

The far-right Confederation was the most popular choice among young voters in Poland, according to the exit poll.

It won 31% of votes among those aged 18 to 29 pic.twitter.com/adywk1RFGs

— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) June 9, 2024

The electoral commission has not yet officially confirmed how many of Poland’s 53 seats in the European Parliament each party will receive. However, based on Ipsos’s late poll, KO will have 21, PiS 20, and Confederation six, with three each for Third Way and The Left.

The results will disappoint KO’s two junior coalition partners, in particular Third Way, which saw its vote share drop significantly since it won over 14% of the vote at the October parliamentary elections and April’s local elections.

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Main image credit: Adam Stepien / Agencja Wyborcza.pl

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.