Poland: Political Developments and Data in 2023

After a lengthy and intense electoral campaign, which culminated in two opposition-led mass protest marches in Warsaw in June and October, Polish citizens cast their votes in a parliamentary election on 15 October. The ruling Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, PiS) party faced in the election a broad alliance of the so-called democratic opposition parties. The latter contested the election in three blocs, the liberal Civic Coalition (Koalicja Obywatelska), the moderately conservative Third Way, composed of the Polish Peasant Party (Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe) and Poland 2050, and the New Left coalition. The parties of this alliance won together a majority of seats in both chambers of the legislature and formed a coalition government. This seemingly ended the process of democratic backsliding that had been progressing over the eight-year-long period of the PiS rule. However, the controversies regarding control over the public broadcasting media that erupted in December exposed the difficulties in reversing past departures from the rule of law.