It was a question of time, and it eventually came to be. On Monday evening, the Sejm chose Donald Tusk as Poland’s new prime minister. The leader of the liberal Civic Platform won by 248 votes in favour and 201 against. This marks the end of eight years of rule by United Right, from which five years of premiership by Mateusz Morawiecki.
The legislative elections which took place in Poland on 15 October were marked by a historically high turnover. Although the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) led by Jarosław Kaczyński gathered by far the largest percentage of votes (35.38%), it could not find any coalition partner.
The remaining parties were, in order, the Civic Coalition (KO) led by Donald Tusk (30.7%), the Third Way (14.4%), the New Left (8.61%), the Confederation (7.16%) and the Non-Partisan Local Government Activists (1.86%).
The new majority will form what some experts refer to as a “rainbow coalition”. Representants of KO, the Third Way and the Left who are to be part of Tusk’s cabinet go from hardline left-wingers together with liberals, centrists, and moderate conservatives, among others.
Following the tradition of the last three decades or so, President Andrzej Duda gave a chance to the leader of the strongest force in Parliament – Mateusz Morawiecki – to form a majority. The latter accepted despite the high probability that his temporary 2-week government would not be endorsed by the Lower House of the Parliament.
Morawiecki gave his long-awaited speech on Monday afternoon, during which he tried to convince the parliamentarians. However, he lost the confidence vote without surprise. No miracle happened for the outgoing Law and Justice and its United Right coalition.
As expected, Donald Tusk is to be sworn in as Poland’s new head of government. The 66-year-old spoke about a “historic change”. He thanked “all those who believed that things would get better”
On Monday night, Tusk met with President Duda to prepare the presentation of his cabinet. On Tuesday morning, the latter will be presented in Parliament. In the afternoon, the new government will be subject to a vote of confidence, which mostly represents a formality.
The swearing-in of the new government by President Duda could already take place on Wednesday while on Thursday, the new Prime Minister will be expected in Brussels for an important summit of the European Council.
Tusk has been among Poland’s most successful politicians since the regime change at the turn of the 1990s. After having lost the presidential election against Lech Kaczyński in the second round in 2005, the liberal from Gdańsk achieved numerous political successes.
In 2007, the Civic Platform won the legislative elections by a landslide and formed a coalition with the Polish Agrarian Party (PSL). Tusk then became Prime Minister for the first time. In 2011, he started a second term as head of the PO-PSL majority. This second term ended in 2014 when he was designated President of the European Council.
At the end of his two legislatures in Brussels, Tusk was elected leader of the European People’s Party (EPP) in 2019. In 2021, he announced his comeback in Polish politics. He was warmly welcomed back by his Civic Platform partners, who were in desperate need of a leader to deny a third consecutive term to the United Right.
Image: X (@KancelariaSejmu)
Author: Sébastien Meuwissen
