WARSAW — Poland’s opposition parties won enough seats in Sunday’s general election to take power from the Law and Justice (PiS) party which has ruled the country since 2015, according to a final vote count released by the National Electoral Commission on Tuesday morning.
The election — which ended with a record turnout of 74.4 percent — saw PiS return as the largest party, but without the ability to form a winning coalition in the 460-member lower house of parliament.
The final count had PiS with 35.4 percent, followed by the centrist Civic Coalition at 30.7 percent, the center-right Third Way at 14.4 percent, the Left with 8.6 percent and the far-right Confederation with 7.2 percent.
That means Law and Justice takes 194 seats in parliament, Civic Coalition gets 157, Third Way 65, the Left 26 and Confederation 18.
Civic Coalition, led by former Prime Minster and European Council President Donald Tusk, the Third Way and the Left have pledged to form a coalition government to oust PiS from power — together they have 248 seats.
The opposition also boosted its control of the less powerful upper chamber Senate, winning 66 seats to 34 for Law and Justice.
The next move belongs to President Andrzej Duda, who has to nominate a candidate for prime minister.
