The upcoming elections in Poland is expected to take new turns with voters likely to dump the ruling populist government. This could mean that Socialists are all set to return to the Parliament after four years. Whether Law and Justice (PiS) a national-conservative and right-wing political party from Poland will be able to retain its majority in the government remains to be seen. It comes as a surprise because there has been no left-of-centre party in the Sejm since the 2015 election when the country’s main alliance of left-wing parties failed to win any seats as it did not hit the 8 per cent electoral threshold.

Poles to head to the ballot box on October 13

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Ahead of this October’s contest, it’s come to light that a new broad alliance of parties called Lewica (“Left”) can now be seen easily clearing the threshold and polling around 14 per cent – enough to make a return to politics. Aleks Szczerbiak, professor of politics and contemporary European studies at the University of Sussex, told the local media that the strong likelihood of the left-wingers winning seats this time was down to better cooperation.

The professor further said that there’s been no increase in support for the left in Poland. However, he said there is still a question over the existing left-wing parties have uniting for an alliance, rather than staying divided. He also said that they are getting more or less the vote that the left got at the previous election.

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Aleks also added that because the campaign hasn’t polarised to become a referendum on the government, and because opinion polls are showing the left bloc polling well above the threshold, people don’t think it’s a wasted vote. In other news, the left-of-centre parties have not always been marginalised from Poland’s politics. Proving the same is a recent incident of 2001 where the Democratic Left Alliance, the largest party in today’s Lewica coalition, dominated the Sejm and led the country’s government. However, due to a series of corruption scandals and the appeal of right-wing populist parties gutted their vote and has left them marginalised.

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Party relies on residual votes

According to sources, today the party relies largely on the “residual” votes people associated with the former communist regime- campaigning on issues like protecting the pensions of former officials – a significant voting bloc.
Szczerbiak mentioned that the biggest problem the left has really got in Poland is that its coalition is squeezed. It means that the less well-off, economically leftist Poles vote for right-wing parties like Law and Justice because they deliver leftist economic policies and social conservatism. 

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