European Parliament Election Briefing No 36 the European Parliament Election in Poland,

Key points:  At 24.5%, turnout was the second lowest in any post-1989 Polish national election and nearly 20% down on the most recent 2007 parliamentary poll.  The main governing party, the centre-right Civic Platform party, won a clear and overwhelming victory, increasing its share of the vote compared to 2007.  The right-wing Law and Justice party confirmed its position as the main opposition party and easily saw off challengers on the Eurosceptic right, but lost ground to Civic Platform.  Although the communist successor Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) made little headway in establishing itself as a contender for power, it also beat off a rival centre-left grouping to finish third.  While Polish-EU relations and European trans-national party links did feature in the election, the main party campaigns focused primarily on domestic issues and viewed ‘Europe’ as a valence issue in which they competed over which of them could represent Polish national interests most effectively within the EU.  Only the small, radical Eurosceptic parties gave a high profile to offering different visions of the EU’s future trajectory but they, and other fringe parties, failed to make any impact.  Although the election appeared to represent the further consolidation of the Polish party system around the two large right-wing blocs, other evidence suggests that the political scene is more fluid and unstable.