For a long time it has been obvious that the conservative party, Law and Justice, would win this year’s parliamentary elections in Poland. Polish people have grown increasingly disillusioned with the way the government, formed by the coalition between the Civic Platform and Polish People’s Party, has been handling the country; Law and Justice, which has led the opposition for eight years, presented itself as the most intuitive alternative. The question therefore was not if they would win—the question was by how much. The official results, released Oct. 27, revealed that they won by a landslide, gaining 37.58% of the votes, and securing an absolute majority of 235 seats in Sejm, the lower house of the Polish Parliament.There were numerous factors that snowballed towards this result. At the European level, the government far too often shrank in front of the challenge of defending our national interests. This is precisely how Poland came to accept the Energy Package even when it will no doubt put an enormous financial strain on its coal-based energy sector. At the national level, the coalition failed miserably in the administration of the funds allotted to Poland by the EU. Take the Multiannual Financial Framework 2007-2013, within which Poland received 4.9 billion euros for railway development yet so far used only 61% of the sum, although the deadline for allocation of the funds—what a surprise—passes by the end of this year.However, it was not just the incompetence of the government that put the voters off. It was also, if not primarily, its hypocrisy. Last summer, Polish society was appalled by what came to be known as the eavesdropping scandal. Wprost, a weekly newsmagazine, published transcripts of secretly recorded conversations between government ministers, high officials, and businessmen. In one of these conversations, Marek Belka, Head of the National Bank of Poland, and Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz, Interior Minister, discuss a blatantly unconstitutional plan to artificially boost the domestic economy right before the elections so as to change the voters’ sentiments towards the governing party. In another conversation, Elzbieta Bienkowska, at that time Deputy Prime Minister, laughed with Pawel Wojtunik, head of the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau, that ‘only a thief or an idiot’ would work for 6,000 PLN (an equivalent of 10,000 RMB) per month. For the record, the average monthly salary in Poland hardly exceeds 4,000 PLN.This past Sunday, the people of Poland said ‘no’ to the party that has been notoriously neglecting their interests and lying straight to their faces. Instead they have placed their trust in a party that offers a possibility for change. Of course, Law and Justice is not perfect. Some of its politicians find it more rewarding to engage in ideological discussions of rather secondary importance—with further restricting Polish abortion law being one of the hottest topics—than in truly meaningful conversations concerning for example our defensive capability, which is especially urgent in the context of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. However, much of the criticism the party has received from the mainstream Polish media just after the announcement of the first exit-poll results seems simply undeserved. They are being called eurosceptics because they speak out about Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande not being able to distinguish between leadership and dictature. They are being labelled as xenophobes because they dared to suggest that Poland should first accept its lawful citizens inhabiting the war-stricken region of Donbass before opening up its borders to the Syrians. What does Law and Justice propose? Its three major postulates are: increasing the income-tax-free threshold, lowering the retirement age (lifted up by the Civic Platform and Polish People's Party), and introducing new benefits for families with at least two children. They plan to finance these initiatives by imposing taxes on financial institutions and megastores, limiting migration to so-called “tax-haven states,” and strengthening the fiscal system so as to avoid leakages. Although the program appears ambitious, according to the calculations performed by Law and Justice, it is feasible as the cost of the solutions is approximately 39 billion PLN, while the benefit is estimated to be 73 billion PLN.The upcoming four years will be very exciting for Poland. Law and Justice stands in front of a big challenge and a big possibility. They have an absolute majority in the lower house of the Parliament and the recently elected president comes from the party as well, which means they need not worry about the difficulties of cohabitation. They made some big plans for Poland during their campaign but if they fail to implement them despite these exceptionally favourable circumstances, the voters will not hesitate to exercise the same judgment just recently exhibited against the coalition. This article was written by Anna Jaskiewicz. Send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: Mateusz Opasiński