Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s centrist party clinched its first electoral victory over a right-wing populist party in a decade by taking the most votes in the European Parliament election, official results released Monday showed.
Many viewed Tusk’s return to power last year as a rare case of a democratic party prevailing over populist and authoritarian forces. However, while Sunday’s win solidified his position, the results also showed that his lead is small, and that support for the far right is rising.
His Civic Coalition took 37.1% of the votes. The nationalist Law and Justice party, which held power from 2015 until last year and is led by Jarosław Kaczyński, followed closely with 36.2%, underscoring the continued attraction of its conservative worldview to many Polish voters, despite corruption scandals during its years in power.
(Source : AP)