Poland’s Eurosceptic conservatives win outright majority, ending 8 years of centrist rule

Poland took a decisive turn to the right in its parliamentary election Sunday, tossing out the centrist party that had governed for eight years for a socially conservative and Eurosceptic party.  A victory by Law and Justice gives the party a chance to implement a brand of politics that is strongly pro-NATO but also somewhat strongly anti-migrant. Their positions are expected to have a broader impact on the 28-nation European Union, of which Poland is a member.

We will exert law but there will be no taking of revenge. There will be no squaring of personal accounts…There will be no kicking of those who have fallen out of their own fault and very rightly so.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of Law and Justice

According to the exit poll, for the first time in Poland’s post-communist history, no left-wing forces appear to have won enough votes to enter into parliament. Poland has become an east European heavyweight after a quarter century of explosive growth and vastly-improved living standards since communism’s demise. But bread-and-butter issues coupled with fears sparked by Europe’s migrant crisis dominated the campaign. Law and Justice has promised to reverse an unpopular rise in the retirement age and put more money into the pockets of struggling families with tax breaks, monthly cash bonuses for children under 18 and free medication for people over 75.

Poland is a country that has made economic progress, unemployment is down to single-digits. This is the Poland we leave to the election winners.

Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz conceded defeat.

Poland election Europe