‘Consolidation of democracy’ in Poland as Tusk re-elected PM

CENTRE-RIGHT leader Donald Tusk last night became the first Polish prime minister since the fall of communism in 1989 to win a second consecutive term following his Civic Platform’s election victory.

Investors hailed the outcome as a guarantee of political and economic stability in the European Union’s largest eastern member in turbulent times, but ratings agency Fitch urged Warsaw to move swiftly to put its public finances in order.

With 99% of the votes from Sunday’s election counted yesterday, Tusk’s pro-business party had 39% and its main rival, Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s nationalist-conservative Law and Justice party, 30%.

Turnout was 49%.

A new party called Palikot’s Support Movement also struck a chord with voters by winning 10% through criticising the Catholic Church and championing causes such as gay rights and legalisation of soft drugs.

Political analysts said Sunday’s election result showed democracy had come of age in the country of 38 million people.

“The ruling party and coalition for the first time in Poland’s post-communist history has been re-elected and that shows the consolidation of democracy in Poland,” said Jacek Raciborski, a political scientist at Warsaw University.

President Bronislaw Komorowski, who is expected to invite Tusk to form a government after the publication of final results, said the election results pointed to a swift creation of a new coalition.

Civic Platform is projected to secure around 206 seats in the 460-member lower chamber, or Sejm.

Its ally, the rural-based Peasants’ Party, is on track to win about 30 seats, giving Tusk enough support to rebuild the same coalition that has steered Poland smoothly through the economic turmoil of the past four years.

Tusk is also expected to try to lure moderate members of the post-communist Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) into a new coalition.

The SLD won only about 8% of the vote after losing many younger voters to a new libertarian grouping and its leader Grzegorz Napieralski said he would step down.

“The outcome of the elections is good news for investors as pro-market policies are likely to be continued and there should be a solid parliamentarian majority for fiscal reforms,” Danske Bank stated.

Tusk’s party also won a clear victory in the upper chamber, where it was projected to win 62 of the 100 seats.