Today, Poland goes to vote in the 2011 National Assembly elections, which is predicted to see prime minister Donald Tusk win a second term in office. In preparation for the vote, a briefing has been put together that explores these upcoming parliamentary elections and the main candidates and parties participating. Click here to download the briefing.
Donald Tusk has led his Civic Platform Party in government ever since he defeated Jarosław Kaczyński’s Law and Justice party-led coalition in 2007. Now, after an uncharacteristic full parliamentary term in Polish politics, he once again will go to the polls against Kaczyński. This time, Kaczyński will sadly not be in tandem with his twin brother, and former Polish president, Lech who was tragically killed in the 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash. Jarosław had in fact attempted to take over as president following his brother’s death but was defeated in popular elections to Bronisław Komorowski. As such, Jarosław Kaczyński is keen to do away with the image of a man prone to losing elections and take his Law and Justice party back into government.
The chances of this however seem slim and polls have consistently shown a comfortable lead for Tusk and the Civic Platform Party. Although, some polls have narrowed in recent weeks it is still expected that Tusk will triumph, albeit with a smaller margin of victory than at first thought. Even if Tusk’s party were to finish second, he would still in all probability be best placed to form a coalition given better options of partners compared to Kaczyński. Turnout figures will be interesting as Poland has seen relatively low figures in recent elections, with just over half of the population voting in 2007 and 40.57% in 2005.
Click here to download a briefing on the 2011 Polish Parliamentary Elections
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