WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The right-wing Law and Justice party has won 235 seats in the 460-seat lower house of Poland’s parliament, meaning it has a majority and can govern alone, the state election authority announced on Tuesday.
The party is now in the strongest position a party has ever enjoyed in post-communist Poland to reshape the nation according to a vision that combines Catholic conservative moral policies and plans for more state intervention in the economy to help families and the poor.
Unlike all the past governments in 26 years of democracy it will not have to make compromises with a coalition partner.
In the election on Sunday the party also won a majority in the Senate, which has the power to amend or reject legislation, and it has the backing of President Andrzej Duda, a former party member.
The party promises to reverse the outgoing government’s rise of the retirement age to 67 years, which was deeply unpopular. It has said it would reverse it to 60 years for women and 65 for men.
It has also vowed to put higher taxes on large corporations and banks while doing more to help smaller Polish businesses and families. For instance, it promised monthly family cash bonuses for children and wants free medications for people over 75.
Critics say its spending plans will harm the state finances, but Law and Justice says it will fund its social programs with more efficient tax collection and higher taxes on large supermarkets and banks, most of which are foreign-owned.
Four other parties won seats in parliament: Civic Platform, the pro-market party that governed Poland for the last eight years, won 138 seats; a group led by anti-establishment rock star Pawel Kukiz got 42; Modern, a party led by a pro-business economist, Ryszard Petru, got 28 seats, and the agrarian Polish Peoples Party won 16.
Duda had indicated he would proceed with convening the new parliament and designating the new prime minister as soon as the allocation of parliament seats is known.
Some party members say they want the new government to be in place by mid-November.
Law and Justice won 37.6 percent of the votes in Sunday’s voting.
