The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) criticized the course of elections and the election campaign in Poland in a preliminary report. About it reported Polish newspaper Wyborcza.
Observation mission coordinator Pia Kauma said the elections were competitive but the ruling party had a clear advantage in the campaign by misusing state resources and public media. They used intolerant, xenophobic and misogynistic rhetoric.
The referendum campaign supported the campaign of the ruling national conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, thereby circumventing campaign finance laws, she added. In addition, Polish public television openly supported the ruling party.
On October 15, exit polls showed PiS with 36.8% of the vote, giving them 200 seats in Poland’s 460-seat Sejm. PiS’s closest rival, the opposition Civic Coalition led by the center-right Civic Platform party, received 31.6% of the vote and 163 seats in parliament. The center-right Third Way coalition and the left, possible allies of the Civic Platform within the coalition, received 13% and 8.6% of the votes, respectively (55 and 30 mandates). The turnout for the elections was a record 57.54%.
