WARSAW, Poland—The opposition leader who won Poland’s parliamentary election, Donald Tusk, appealed to the nation’s president Tuesday for “energetic and fast decisions” so that a new government could be formed quickly.
Three opposition parties together won over 54 percent of the votes in the nation’s weekend parliamentary election, putting them in a position to take power, according to a complete ballot count reported Tuesday.
Poland’s constitution now requires President Andrzej Duda to assess the new political alignment of forces and to appoint a new prime minister who is tasked with forming a government that will need parliament’s approval, all within a set timeframe.
In a video statement, Mr. Tusk appealed to Mr. Duda, saying, “I would like to ask for energetic and quick decisions” and stressing that “the winning democratic parties are ready to take over responsibility for governing the country any moment.”
“People are waiting for the first decisions that will be the result of the elections” that took place Sunday, Mr. Tusk said.
Mr. Duda is an ally of the conservative Law and Justice party, which has been in power since 2015. His term runs until 2025.
Law and Justice, which governed the country for eight years, won slightly over 35 percent of the votes, making it the single party with the most votes. But the party and its leader Jarosław Kaczyński lost their majority in parliament and appeared to have no way to hold onto power.
Turnout was nearly 75 percent, the highest since Poland’s return to democracy, surpassing even the level of 63 percent in 1989, a vote that triggered the collapse of the oppressive Soviet-backed communist system.
The election result was a huge victory for Tusk, the head of the largest opposition group, Civic Coalition. He appeared likely to return to his past role as Polish prime minister, a job he held from 2007–2014. He also served as European Council president, a top job in the EU, from 2014–2019.
Mr. Tusk himself won more than half a million votes running for a seat in parliament. His party said it was the best result in the history of parliamentary elections in Poland.
The National Electoral Commission said that Law and Justice won slightly over 35 percent of the votes, and the right-wing Confederation party, a possible ally, about 7 percent.
Three opposition groups won a collective of 53.7 percent, enough for a comfortable majority of 248 seats in the 460-seat lower house of parliament, or Sejm. Civic Coalition garnered 30.7 percent of the vote while the Third Way got 14.4 percent and the New Left about 8.6 percent.
Law and Justice will have 194 seats, far short of the majority it held for eight years.
Confederation increased its presence to 18 seats from 11 in the outgoing parliament. It had hoped for more after a brief summertime surge in the polls.
The opposition, which had a razor-thin majority in the Senate, the upper house, has now obtained an overwhelming majority of 66 out of 100 seats. The Senate is far less powerful than the Sejm, but has some influence over the legislative process. Law and Justice will only have 34 seats.
Although the voting is over, it might still take weeks for a new government to be in place.
Mr. Duda must call the first session of the new parliament within 30 days of election day and appoint a prime minister to form a government.
In the meantime, the current government will remain in a caretaker role.
