2015 Polish parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 25 October 2015. All 460 members of the Sejm and 100 senators of the Senate were elected. The election was won by the largest opposition party, the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS), with 38% of the vote against the governing Civic Platform (PO), which achieved 24%. Official results, announced on 27 October, gave Law and Justice 235 of the 460 seats, a majority of four.^[1] PiS vice chairwoman Beata Szydło succeeded PO leader Ewa Kopacz as Prime Minister of Poland, heading a one-party cabinet.

2015 Polish parliamentary election

← 2011 25 October 2015 2019 →
All 460 seats in the Sejm 231 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	50.92%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Beata Szydło Ewa Kopacz Paweł Kukiz Party PiS PO Kukiz'15 Last election 29.89%, 157 seats 39.18%, 207 seats New party Seats won 235 138 42 Seat change 78 69 New Popular vote 5,711,687 3,661,474 1,339,094 Percentage 37.58% 24.09% 8.81% Swing 7.69pp 15.09pp New party   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Ryszard Petru Janusz Piechociński Ryszard Galla Party .N PSL MN Last election New party 8.36%, 28 seats 0.19%, 1 seat Seats won 28 16 1 Seat change New 12 Popular vote 1,155,370 779,875 27,530 Percentage 7.60% 5.13% 0.18% Swing New party 3.23pp 0.01pp
Seats won by Sejm District
Government before election Kopacz cabinet PO—PSL Elected Government Szydło cabinet PiS (ZP)

It was the first election for a national parliament in Europe since the 1993 Norwegian elections in which the two largest parties were led by a female candidate, and the second election in history (also since the 1993 Norwegian election) where more than three parties fielded female leadership candidates. It was also the first election in Poland since the restoration of full democracy that a party won an absolute majority in the Sejm.

Following PiS's victory in the May 2015 presidential elections, PiS would have control over both the presidency and parliament for the next eight years.

Electoral system

The process of election for the Sejm is through open party-list proportional representation via the D'hondt method in multi-seat constituencies, with a 5% national threshold for single parties and 8% threshold for coalitions (requirements waived for ethnic minorities). The senate is elected using first-past-the-post voting in single-member districts.^[2] To be included on a ballot, a senate candidate must present 2,000 signatures of support from their constituents.^[3] For Sejm elections, the threshold is 5,000 signatures per constituency, though that requirement is waived for parties that have already registered lists in at least half of all constituencies (21 out of 41 as of this election).^[4]

Overall, the Sejm includes 460 MPs. Should a party have 231 or more deputies in Parliament, it has an absolute majority and can thus govern autonomously, without the need for support from other parties. The constitution can be amended with a supermajority of two-thirds, or 307 deputies.

Election date

The date of the election, 25 October, was set by the previous President of Poland, Bronisław Komorowski.^[5] The latest possible date for the election to be held was in November 2015, four years after the previous election. Prior to the announcement of the election date, the most likely dates were thought to be in October or November.

In the previous parliamentary elections in 2011 the Civic Platform–Polish People's Party coalition government, in power since 2007, won a second term. All 460 seats in the Sejm and 100 seats in the Senate were up for election.

Parties standing in the election

Nationwide committees

Party		Leader	Ideologies	Political spectrum	Political groups of the European Parliament
	Civic Platform (PO)	Ewa Kopacz	Christian democracy, Liberal conservatism, Pro-Europeanism^[6]^[7]^[8]	Centre^[9]^[10]^[11] to Centre-right	European People's Party Group (EPP)
	Law and Justice (PiS) • Solidary Poland (SP) • Poland Together – United Right (PRZP) • Right Wing of the Republic (PRz)	Jarosław Kaczyński Beata Szydło (PM candidate)	National conservatism, Social conservatism, Euroscepticism	Right-wing^[12]^[13]^[14] to far-right^[15]	European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR)
	United Left^[16]^[17]^[18]^[19] (ZL) • Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) • Your Movement (TR) • Polish Socialist Party (PPS) • Labour Union (UP) • The Greens (Zieloni) • Polish Labour Party^[20] (PPP)	Barbara Nowacka	Social democracy, Social liberalism, Social progressivism, Green politics, Democratic socialism (minority), Feminism^[17]^[20]^[21]^[22]	Centre-left to Left-wing	Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D)
	Polish People's Party (PSL)	Janusz Piechociński	Christian democracy, strongly based around Agrarianism, Conservatism	Centre-right	European People's Party Group (EPP)
Parties not in the Sejm before the election are below
	Coalition for the Renewal of the Republic - Liberty and Hope (KORWiN)	Janusz Korwin-Mikke	Right libertarianism, Anti-immigration, Hard-Euroscepticism, Paleolibertarianism^[23]	Right-wing^[24]	Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD)
	Kukiz'15 (K'15)	Paweł Kukiz	Populism, Anti-establishment, Anti-particracy^[25]	Big tent^[26] to Right-wing^[27]
	.Modern (.N)	Ryszard Petru	Social liberalism, Economic liberalism, Pro-Europeanism	Centre-left
	Together (Razem)	collective leadership	Social democracy, Democratic socialism, Progressivism	Left-wing

Regional committees

Party		Leader	Ideology	Political spectrum	Political groups of the European Parliament
	German Minority Electoral Committee (MN)	Ryszard Galla	Regionalism, German minority interests	Centre
Parties not in the Sejm before the election are below
	Congress of the New Right (KNP)	Michał Marusik	Right libertarianism, New Right, Euroscepticism	Right-wing	Europe of Nations and Freedom (ENF)
	Single-member district – Nonpartisan (JOW Bezpartyjni)	Robert Raczyński	Pro single-member constituency	Big tent
	Committee of Zbigniew Stonoga (KWW ZS)	Zbigniew Stonoga	Anti-communism, Civil libertarianism, Populism	Big tent
	Social Movement of the Republic of Poland (RS RP)	Sławomir Izdebski	Agrarian socialism, Left-wing populism	Left-wing
	United for Silesia (ZdŚ)	Dietmar Brehmer	Silesian regionalism, Fiscal federalism	Centre
	Self-Defence (Samoobrona)	Lech Kuropatwiński	Agrarianism, Left-wing nationalism	Left-wing
	God Bless! (SzB!)	Grzegorz Braun	Monarchism, Traditionalism, Ordoliberalism	Right-wing
	Citizens to Parliament (OdP)	Jan Zbigniew Potocki	Liberal democracy	Big tent

Opinion polls

Main article: Opinion polling for the Polish parliamentary election, 2015

 

Election polls

Results

The opposition party, Law and Justice won the election with 37.58% of the vote against the governing Civic Platform, which gained a 24.09% share.^[28] Beata Szydło became the new Prime Minister, succeeding Ewa Kopacz.^[29][30] Law and Justice became the first party in Poland to win majority government in a free election, since 1991. The other parties considered winners were two newcomer parties, Kukiz's Movement (third place) and Ryszard Petru's Modern party (4th place).

Two of the biggest losers were Civic Platform and the Polish People's Party. PO suffered its worst result in a parliamentary election in ten years, ending eight years of political dominance. The PSL, the junior partner in the outgoing government, had its worst result in 25 years (5.13%), just crossing the 5% threshold by a few thousand votes. Another perceived loser was the Democratic Left Alliance, Poland's largest left-wing party, which failed to win a seat for the first time since the change of system. The SLD ran as the largest partner of the United Left, which was 0.5% short of the 8% threshold for electoral alliances to win seats.

Sejm

 

Results of the Sejm election by electoral district. Blue represents Law and Justice, and orange Civic Platform.

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Law and Justice	5,711,687	37.58	235	+78
	Civic Platform	3,661,474	24.09	138	–69
	Kukiz'15	1,339,094	8.81	42	New
	Modern	1,155,370	7.60	28	New
	United Left	1,147,102	7.55	0	–67
	Polish People's Party	779,875	5.13	16	–12
	KORWiN	722,999	4.76	0	New
	Together	550,349	3.62	0	New
	Committee of Zbigniew Stonoga	42,731	0.28	0	New
	German Minority Electoral Committee	27,530	0.18	1	0
	United for Silesia	18,668	0.12	0	New
	JOW Bezpartyjni	15,656	0.10	0	New
	Committee of Grzegorz Braun "God Bless You!"	13,113	0.09	0	New
	Congress of the New Right	4,852	0.03	0	0
	Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland	4,266	0.03	0	0
	Social Movement of the Republic of Poland	3,941	0.03	0	New
	Citizens to Parliament	1,964	0.01	0	New
Total		15,200,671	100.00	460	0
Valid votes		15,200,671	97.47
Invalid/blank votes		394,664	2.53
Total votes		15,595,335	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		30,629,150	50.92
Source: PKW

Party breakdown

Party or alliance				Votes	%	Seats
	United Right		Law and Justice	4,487,339	29.52	193
			Independents	746,474	4.91	26
			Sovereign Poland	277,622	1.83	9
			Poland Together	145,358	0.96	6
			Right Wing of the Republic	48,442	0.32	1
			Piast Faction	6,452	0.04	0
		Total		5,711,687	37.58	235
	Civic Platform		Civic Platform	3,142,767	20.68	126
			Independents	516,457	3.40	12
			Polish People's Party^[a]	2,250	0.01	0
		Total		3,661,474	24.09	138
	Kukiz'15		Independents	1,207,419	7.94	37
			National Movement	73,641	0.48	3
			Congress of the New Right^[a]	25,831	0.17	1
			Real Politics Union	12,080	0.08	1
			Direct Democracy	7,611	0.05	0
			Right Wing of the Republic	4,409	0.03	0
			Self-Defence^[a]	2,138	0.01	0
			Libertarian Party	1,664	0.01	0
			Poland Together	1,306	0.01	0
			Labour Party	1,061	0.01	0
			Sovereign Poland	1,012	0.01	0
			Community	922	0.01	0
		Total		1,339,094	8.81	42
	Modern		Independents	965,130	6.35	23
			Modern	185,188	1.22	5
			Women's Party	3,707	0.02	0
			Polish People's Party^[a]	875	0.01	0
			Civic Platform^[a]	470	0.00	0
		Total		1,155,370	7.60	28
	United Left		Democratic Left Alliance	694,150	4.57	0
			Your Movement	220,326	1.45	0
			Independents	164,345	1.08	0
			The Greens	35,292	0.23	0
			Labour Union	18,181	0.12	0
			Alliance of Democrats	3,796	0.02	0
			Polish Socialist Party	3,621	0.02	0
			Polish Labour Party - August 80	3,586	0.02	0
			Social Democracy of Poland	1,600	0.01	0
			National Party of Retirees and Pensioners	1,098	0.01	0
			Democratic Party – demokraci.pl	850	0.01	0
		Total		1,147,102	7.55	0
	Polish People's Party		Polish People's Party	673,483	4.43	16
			Independents	106,392	0.70	0
		Total		779,875	5.13	16
	KORWiN		KORWiN	480,029	3.16	0
			Independents	231,810	1.53	0
			Congress of the New Right^[a]	8,085	0.05	0
			National Movement	2,919	0.02	0
			Libertarian Party	88	0.00	0
		Total		722,999	4.76	0
	Together		Together	501,195	3.30	0
			Independents	49,154	0.32	0
		Total		550,349	3.62	0
	Committee of Zbigniew Stonoga		Independents	42,731	0.28	0
	German Minority		Independents	27,530	0.18	1
	United for Silesia		Independents	18,668	0.12	0
	JOW Bezpartyjni		Independents	15,234	0.10	0
			National Party of Retirees and Pensioners	422	0.00	0
		Total		15,656	0.10	0
	Committee of Grzegorz Braun "God Bless You!"		Independents	11,228	0.07	0
			Unity of the Nation	520	0.00	0
			Real Politics Union	477	0.00	0
			Congress of the New Right^[a]	356	0.00	0
			Popular National Alliance	115	0.00	0
			National Movement	139	0.00	0
			Sovereign Poland	77	0.00	0
			League of Polish Families	55	0.00	0
			Community	50	0.00	0
			Law and Justice^[a]	43	0.00	0
			National Alliance of the Name of Dmowski Roman	27	0.00	0
			Brave Dad	14	0.00	0
			Right Wing of the Republic	12	0.00	0
		Total		13,113	0.09	0
	Congress of the New Right		Congress of the New Right	2,850	0.02	0
			Independents	2,002	0.01	0
		Total		4,852	0.03	0
	Self-Defence		Self-Defence	2,660	0.02	0
			Independents	1,606	0.01	0
		Total		4,266	0.03	0
	Social Movement of the Republic of Poland		Social Justice Movement	2,753	0.02	0
			Independents	986	0.01	0
			White-Red	192	0.00	0
			Freedom and Equality	10	0.00	0
		Total		3,941	0.03	0
	Citizens to Parliament		Independents	1,790	0.01	0
			Alliance of Democrats	155	0.00	0
			Civic Platform^[a]	19	0.00	0
		Total		1,964	0.01	0
Total				15,200,346	100.00	460
Source: National Electoral Commission^[b]

By constituency

Constituency	Turnout	PiS	PO	Kukiz'15	Modern	ZL	PSL	KORWiN	Razem	MN	Others	Lead
1 – Legnica	46.71	35.70	25.24	9.59	7.15	10.45	3.89	4.32	3.64	-	0.00	10.46
2 – Wałbrzych	44.83	31.15	32.65	8.81	6.64	8.76	3.18	4.30	3.41	-	1.09	1.50
3 – Wrocław	54.08	31.21	30.49	8.74	10.65	6.10	2.60	5.22	4.21	-	0.77	0.72
4 – Bydgoszcz	47.87	30.20	29.64	7.77	7.30	10.04	6.07	4.54	3.76	-	0.68	0.56
5 – Toruń	44.90	33.57	25.77	8.32	6.50	10.76	6.75	3.90	3.65	-	0.78	7.80
6 – Lublin	52.01	47.57	16.59	9.32	4.54	5.98	7.74	5.00	2.75	-	0.52	30.98
7 – Chełm	45.30	48.02	12.31	10.47	3.75	7.11	11.39	4.37	2.39	-	0.18	35.71
8 – Zielona Góra	44.63	28.27	28.21	8.75	9.99	10.02	5.12	4.99	3.99	-	0.65	0.06
9 – Łódź	56.74	29.90	31.28	7.24	8.99	10.48	2.70	4.78	4.63	-	0.00	1.38
10 – Piotrków Trybunalski	50.26	46.95	15.46	10.08	5.59	7.47	7.48	3.91	3.06	-	0.00	31.49
11 – Sieradz	48.47	39.93	21.18	8.92	5.32	8.18	7.86	4.10	3.54	-	0.98	18.75
12 – Chrzanów	54.46	49.05	20.42	8.67	5.79	5.33	3.03	4.45	3.26	-	0.00	28.63
13 – Kraków	58.81	38.62	24.61	7.26	9.73	6.38	2.70	6.35	3.88	-	0.48	14.01
14 – Nowy Sącz	52.18	60.56	13.95	7.83	3.69	2.55	4.16	4.31	2.13	-	0.80	46.61
15 – Tarnów	51.85	51.99	14.71	9.60	4.54	3.41	8.08	4.72	2.43	-	0.53	37.28
16 – Płock	46.22	43.78	16.44	8.41	5.15	8.14	10.66	4.07	3.35	-	0.00	27.34
17 – Radom	49.38	47.49	17.55	8.41	4.81	4.82	9.42	3.91	2.62	-	0.98	29.94
18 – Siedlce	50.56	51.10	13.55	8.36	4.63	4.35	10.23	4.35	2.66	-	0.76	37.55
19 – Warsaw I	70.80	29.89	27.54	7.76	13.39	8.55	0.72	6.18	5.54	-	0.43	2.35
20 – Warsaw II	60.00	38.80	25.12	7.22	10.01	5.66	3.80	4.81	3.85	-	0.73	13.68
21 – Opole	43.12	27.77	26.23	12.57	7.14	6.75	3.68	3.95	3.02	8.14	0.75	1.54
22 – Krosno	47.47	53.51	13.76	9.15	3.97	4.56	7.28	4.28	2.32	-	1.17	39.75
23 – Rzeszów	52.56	56.11	13.11	9.28	4.16	4.42	4.67	4.96	2.29	-	1.00	43.00
24 – Białystok	47.10	45.38	16.74	9.07	5.37	7.35	8.07	4.66	2.59	-	0.77	28.64
25 – Gdańsk	52.55	29.61	34.72	7.15	9.17	6.59	3.02	5.00	3.98	-	0.75	5.11
26 – Gdynia	51.28	31.22	33.46	8.02	8.22	6.64	3.23	4.43	4.05	-	0.75	2.24
27 – Bielsko-Biała	56.35	40.42	23.57	9.36	8.27	6.56	3.42	4.68	3.72	-	0.00	16.82
28 – Częstochowa	49.83	35.82	20.95	11.63	6.74	11.12	4.99	4.27	3.64	-	0.84	14.87
29 – Gliwice	49.12	30.51	28.99	12.19	8.90	7.21	2.50	5.09	4.15	-	0.48	1.52
30 – Rybnik	51.82	39.59	24.21	11.31	6.33	5.93	1.79	4.53	3.33	-	2.98	15.38
31 – Katowice	53.92	32.92	28.37	10.05	8.66	6.77	0.99	5.55	4.08	-	2.61	4.55
32 – Sosnowiec	51.41	29.65	25.56	10.24	8.97	13.97	2.35	4.81	4.44	-	0.00	4.09
33 – Kielce	46.82	42.81	17.25	9.41	4.98	7.87	9.51	4.14	2.80	-	1.23	25.56
34 – Elbląg	41.30	31.56	30.12	8.24	5.82	7.69	6.69	4.73	3.80	-	1.34	1.44
35 – Olsztyn	43.13	30.42	27.07	8.97	6.82	8.76	8.44	5.10	3.74	-	0.68	3.35
36 – Kalisz	47.27	31.85	24.69	7.98	7.04	8.82	10.98	4.25	3.17	-	1.23	7.16
37 – Konin	46.64	37.41	20.23	8.83	6.94	11.77	6.86	3.99	3.98	-	0.00	17.18
38 – Piła	46.07	27.26	31.02	9.01	6.98	9.15	7.66	4.07	3.92	-	0.93	3.76
39 – Poznań	60.23	23.90	35.65	6.06	14.49	8.07	1.91	4.77	4.60	-	0.55	11.75
40 – Koszalin	43.63	28.58	30.07	9.41	8.06	11.38	4.13	4.46	3.90	-	0.00	1.49
41 – Szczecin	47.27	29.09	31.93	8.42	8.66	8.56	3.88	5.33	4.12	-	0.00	2.84
Poland	50.92	37.58	24.09	8.81	7.60	7.55	5.13	4.76	3.62	0.18	0.69	13.49

Senate

 

Results of the Senate election by single-mandate districts.Blue represents Law and Justice, orange - Civic Platform, green - Polish People Party, grey - independents.

 

Results of elections 1991–2015

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Law and Justice	5,993,433	39.99	61	+30
	Civic Platform	4,323,789	28.85	34	–29
	Polish People's Party	1,109,675	7.40	1	–1
	United Left	595,206	3.97	0	0
	Modern	394,817	2.63	0	New
	Kukiz'15	207,156	1.38	0	New
	KORWiN	186,510	1.24	0	New
	JOW Bezpartyjni	113,669	0.76	0	New
	Citizens to Parliament	84,246	0.56	0	New
	Congress of the New Right	79,946	0.53	0	0
	Democratic Party	64,829	0.43	0	0
	National Revival of Poland	57,012	0.38	0	0
	German Minority Electoral Committee	40,472	0.27	0	0
	Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland	20,913	0.14	0	0
	Social Movement of the Republic of Poland	14,316	0.10	0	New
	Whites–Reds	10,973	0.07	0	New
	Committee of Zbigniew Stonoga	10,167	0.07	0	New
	Slavic Union	9,562	0.06	0	New
	Committee of Grzegorz Braun "God Bless You!"	7,916	0.05	0	New
	Real Politics Union	6,190	0.04	0	0
	Patriotic Poland	6,090	0.04	0	0
	National Movement	5,462	0.04	0	New
	Labour Party	3,380	0.02	0	0
	Piast – Unity of the Thoughts of European Nations	1,786	0.01	0	New
	Independents	1,640,571	10.95	4	0
Total		14,988,086	100.00	100	0
Valid votes		14,988,086	96.12
Invalid/blank votes		604,947	3.88
Total votes		15,593,033	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		30,629,150	50.91
Source: PKW, PKW

By constituency

#	Voivodeship	Commission	#	Result		Elected member
1	Lower Silesian	Legnica	I		Law and Justice gain from Civic Coalition	Rafał Ślusarz
2			II		Law and Justice gain from Civic Coalition	Krzysztof Mróz
3			III		Law and Justice hold	Dorota Czudowska
4		Wałbrzych	I		Civic Coalition hold	Wiesław Kilian
5			II		Law and Justice gain from Civic Coalition	Aleksander Szwed
6		Wrocław	I		Civic Coalition hold	Jarosław Duda
7			II		Civic Coalition hold	Barbara Zdrojewska
8			III		Independent hold	Jarosław Obremski
9	Kuyavian-Pomeranian	Bydgoszcz	I		Civic Coalition hold	Andrzej Kobiak
10			II		Civic Coalition hold	Jan Rulewski
11		Toruń	I		Civic Coalition hold	Przemysław Termiński
12			II		Law and Justice gain from Civic Coalition	Andrzej Mioduszewski
13			III		Law and Justice gain from Civic Coalition	Józef Łyczak
14	Lublin	Lublin	I		Law and Justice hold	Stanisław Gogacz
15			II		Law and Justice hold	Grzegorz Czelej
16			III		Law and Justice hold	Andrzej Stanisławek
17		Chełm	I		Independent hold	Grzegorz Bierecki
18			II		Polish People's Party hold	Józef Zając
19			III		Law and Justice hold	Jerzy Chróścikowski
20	Lubusz	Zielona Góra	I		Civic Coalition hold	Waldemar Sługocki
21			II		Civic Coalition hold	Władysław Komarnicki
22			III		Civic Coalition hold	Robert Dowhan
23	Łódź	Łódź	I		Civic Coalition hold	Maciej Grubski
24			II		Civic Coalition hold	Ryszard Bonisławski
25		Sieradz	I		Law and Justice hold	Przemysław Błaszczyk
26			II		Law and Justice gain from Civic Coalition	Maciej Łuczak
27			III		Law and Justice hold	Michał Seweryński
28		Piotrków Trybunalski	I		Law and Justice hold	Wiesław Dobkowski
29			II		Law and Justice hold	Rafał Ambrozik
30	Lesser Poland	Kraków	I		Law and Justice hold	Andrzej Pająk
31			II		Law and Justice hold	Marek Pęk
32			III		Civic Coalition hold	Jerzy Fedorowicz
33			IV		Civic Coalition hold	Bogdan Klich
34		Tarnów	I		Law and Justice hold	Zbigniew Cichoń
35			II		Law and Justice hold	Kazimierz Wiatr
36		Nowy Sącz	I		Law and Justice gain from Civic Coalition	Jan Hamerski
37			II		Law and Justice hold	Stanisław Kogut
38	Masovian	Płock	I		Law and Justice hold	Marek Martynowski
39			II		Law and Justice hold	Jan Jackowski
40		Warszawa	I		Law and Justice gain from Civic Coalition	Jan Żaryn
41			II		Law and Justice gain from Civic Coalition	Konstanty Radziwiłł
42			III		Independent hold	Marek Borowski
43			IV		Civic Coalition hold	Marek Rocki
44			V		Civic Coalition hold	Barbara Borys-Damięcka
45			VI		Civic Coalition hold	Aleksander Pociej
46		Siedlce	I		Law and Justice hold	Robert Mamątow
47			II		Law and Justice hold	Maria Koc
48			III		Law and Justice hold	Waldemar Kraska
49		Radom	I		Law and Justice hold	Stanisław Karczewski
50			II		Law and Justice hold	Adam Bielan
51	Opole	Opole	I		Law and Justice gain from Civic Coalition	Jerzy Czerwiński
52			II		Civic Coalition hold	Piotr Wach
53			III		Law and Justice gain from Civic Coalition	Grzegorz Peczkis
54	Subcarpathian	Rzeszów	I		Law and Justice hold	Janina Sagatowska
55			II		Law and Justice hold	Zdzisław Pupa
56			III		Law and Justice hold	Aleksander Bobko
57		Krosno	I		Law and Justice hold	Alicja Zając
58			II		Law and Justice hold	Mieczysław Golba
59	Podlaskie	Białystok	I		Law and Justice hold	Bohdan Paszkowski
60			II		Law and Justice gain from Civic Coalition	Jan Dobrzyński
61			III		Law and Justice gain from Independent	Tadeusz Romańczuk
62	Pomeranian	Słupsk	I		Civic Coalition hold	Kazimierz Kleina
63			II		Law and Justice gain from Civic Coalition	Waldemar Bonkowski
64			III		Civic Coalition hold	Sławomir Rybicki
65		Gdańsk	I		Civic Coalition hold	Bogdan Borusewicz
66			II		Law and Justice gain from Civic Coalition	Antoni Szymański
67			III		Civic Coalition hold	Leszek Czarnobaj
68	Silesian	Częstochowa	I		Law and Justice gain from Civic Coalition	Ryszard Majer
69			II		Law and Justice gain from Civic Coalition	Artur Warzocha
70		Katowice	I		Law and Justice gain from Civic Coalition	Krystian Probierz
71			II		Civic Coalition hold	Maria Pańczyk-Pozdziej
72		Bielsko-Biała	I		Law and Justice gain from Civic Coalition	Adam Gawęda
73			II		Law and Justice gain from Civic Coalition	Wojciech Piecha
74		Katowice	III		Civic Coalition hold	Leszek Piechota
75			IV		Law and Justice gain from Civic Coalition	Czesław Ryszka
76			V		Law and Justice gain from Civic Coalition	Arkadiusz Grabowski
77			VI		Law and Justice gain from Civic Coalition	Michał Potoczny
78		Bielsko-Biała	III		Law and Justice gain from Civic Coalition	Andrzej Kamiński
79			IV		Law and Justice hold	Tadeusz Kopeć
80		Katowice	VII		Civic Coalition gain from Independent	Andrzej Misiołek
81	Świętokrzyskie	Kielce	I		Law and Justice hold	Jacek Włosowicz
82			II		Law and Justice hold	Jarosław Rusiecki
83			III		Law and Justice hold	Krzysztof Słoń
84	Warmian-Masurian	Elbląg	I		Civic Coalition hold	Jerzy Wcisła
85			II		Law and Justice gain from Civic Coalition	Bogusława Orzechowska
86		Olsztyn	I		Independent gain from Civic Coalition	Lidia Staroń
87			II		Law and Justice gain from Civic Coalition	Małgorzata Kopiczko
88	Greater Poland	Piła	I		Civic Coalition hold	Mieczysław Augustyn
89			II		Civic Coalition hold	Jan Libicki
90		Poznań	I		Civic Coalition hold	Piotr Florek
91			II		Civic Coalition hold	Jadwiga Rotnicka
92		Konin	I		Law and Justice gain from Civic Coalition	Robert Gaweł
93			II		Law and Justice gain from Civic Coalition	Margareta Budner
94		Kalisz	I		Civic Coalition hold	Marian Poślednik
95			II		Law and Justice gain from Polish People's Party	Łukasz Mikołajczyk
96			III		Law and Justice gain from Civic Coalition	Andrzej Wojtyła
97	West Pomeranian	Szczecin	I		Civic Coalition hold	Tomasz Grodzki
98			II		Civic Coalition hold	Grzegorz Napieralski
99		Koszalin	I		Civic Coalition hold	Grażyna Sztark
100			II		Civic Coalition hold	Piotr Zientarski

Reactions

Political analysts noted that the election marked the first time in the post-communist era that a political party received enough votes to form a majority government.^[31][32] BBC News suggested that Law and Justice's strategy of putting forward Szydło as its candidate for prime minister was a "winning formula" in the election. Szydło was widely perceived as being more moderate than PiS' outspoken leader, Jarosław Kaczyński. However, it also noted that Kaczyński could step into the role of prime minister after the election.^[32]

According to the Associated Press, the new Sejm was the most right-wing parliament in Europe due to the absence of centre-left MPs in the chamber. All five parties in the Sejm tilted rightward on social issues. Between them, left-leaning alliances only gained 11 percent of the vote.^[33]

Kopacz swiftly conceded defeat after exit polls from TVP showed PiS on its way to a majority, while Kaczyński declared victory and hailed his party's historic majority.^[34] Kaczyński also paid tribute to his late brother, President Lech Kaczyński, who died in the 2010 plane crash.^[30]

See also

• History of Poland (1989–present)
• List of political parties in Poland
• 2015 Polish presidential election
• 2015 Polish Constitutional Court crisis

Notes

1. Individual members running on lists different from their own parties
2. In result breakdown by candidate provided by the National Electoral Commission, the sum of party votes are different from final released vote totals for coalitions for United Left (by 257) and KORWiN (by 68). In the table, figures provided for each party are taken from the candidate breakdown while coalition sums are taken from the final result.

References

1. "Poland's Eurosceptics win outright majority in parliament". Reuters. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
2. Álvarez-Rivera, Manuel (17 October 2015). "Election Resources on the Internet: Elections to the Polish Sejm, Part I". electionresources.org. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
3. "Notes on the Senate" (PDF). Senate of Poland. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
4. "Sejm of the Republic of Poland". Sejm. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
5. Rylukowski, Wojciech (17 July 2015). . Warsaw Business Journal. Archived from the original on 21 October 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
6. "Polish premier's departure leaves party facing test". Financial Times.
7. Hloušek, Vít; Kopeček, Lubomír (2010). Origin, Ideology and Transformation of Political Parties. Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 9780754678403 – via google.de.
8. Guardiancich, Igor (2013). Pension Reforms in Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. Routledge. ISBN 9780415688987 – via google.de.
9. Copsey, Nathaniel (2013). "Poland:An Awkward Partner Redeemed". The Member States of the European Union (Second ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 191.
10. Szczerbiak, Aleks (2012). Poland Within the European Union: New awkward partner or new heart of Europe?. Routledge. p. 2.
11. De Waele, Jean-Michel; Pacześniak, Anna (2012). "The Europeanisation of Poland's political parties and party system". Europeanisation and Party Politics. ECPR Press. p. 125.
12. Michael Minkenberg (2013). "Between Tradition and Transition: the Central European Radical Right and the New European Order". In Christina Schori Liang (ed.). Europe for the Europeans: The Foreign and Security Policy of the Populist Radical Right. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 261. ISBN 978-1-4094-9825-4.
13. Lenka Bustikova (2018). "The Radical Right in Eastern Europe". In Jens Rydgren (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of the Radical Right. Oxford University Press. p. 574. ISBN 978-0-19-027455-9.
14. Aleks Szczerbiak (2012). Poland Within the European Union: New Awkward Partner Or New Heart of Europe?. Routledge. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-415-38073-7.
15. • Marc Santora (26 March 2019). "Poland Bashes Immigrants, but Quietly Takes Christian Ones". The New York Times. The far-right Law and Justice party came to power in 2015, at the height of Europe's migrant crisis, after running a campaign that inspired choruses of "Poland for Poles".
    • Monika Nalepa (28 November 2017). "Poland's in crisis again. Here's what you should know about the far right's latest power-grab". The Washington Post. Since taking control of both the presidency and the parliament in November 2015, Poland's far-right Law and Justice (PiS) party has swiftly changed the rules for public media, the secret service, education, and the military.
    • "EU's top court shows how to tackle autocrats". Financial Times. 27 June 2019. Poland's ultra-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government followed suit last year.
    • . Al Jazeera America. 8 November 2019. Archived from the original on 30 January 2020. Retrieved 26 February 2020. Poland's ultra-conservative Law and Justice Party (PiS) won a second term in office last month, a victory that critics fear will accelerate the country's slide towards authoritarianism.
    • Makana Eyre; Martin Goillandeau (31 May 2019). "Poland's Government Is Systematically Silencing Opposition Voices". Foreign Policy. Today, it is the main voice holding the ruling far-right Law and Justice (PiS) party accountable, while facing constant attacks from that government.
    • "How Poland uses foreign lobbyists to fight PR wars and influence U.S. policy". OpenSecrets. 19 February 2019. Since the 2015 election of the far-right Law and Justice party in Poland, the country's history with the Holocaust has become a point of contention with Israel.
    • Zack Blumberg (11 April 2019). "Europe's far right movements come on strong, but what next?". The Michigan Daily. In the 2015 Polish parliamentary election, the far-right Law and Justice Party, or PiS, won with an outright majority (meaning they did not need to form a coalition to govern), something that had not been done in Poland since the fall of communism in 1989.
    • "Revealed: dozens of European politicians linked to US 'incubator for extremism'". Open Democracy. 27 March 2019. He had then recently left the far right Law and Justice (PiS) party over its failure to push through a constitutional amendment that would have banned abortion in all cases.
    • Yascha Mounk (30 May 2019). "What to Make of the European Elections". The Atlantic. In Poland, the far-right Law and Justice bested a broad alliance of moderate politicians.
16. "Poland's United Left puts forward candidate for PM". Polskie Radio dla Zagranicy.
17. "Do Zjednoczonej Lewicy dołączył nowy koalicjant". interia.pl. 14 September 2015.
18. . WBJ. Archived from the original on 6 October 2015. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
19. "Start". Zjednoczona Lewica.
20. Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung. "Marxismus". bpb.de.
21. "Where Does the Left Come From?". internationalviewpoint.org.
22. . partiapracy.pl. Archived from the original on 3 July 2006. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
23. "Maverick MEP Korwin-Mikke launches new party". Polskie Radio dla Zagranicy.
24. "Maverick MEP Korwin-Mikke launches new party – National". Thenews.pl. 23 January 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
25. Rightist Party That Made Auschwitz Joke Wins Polish Elections Haaretz, 27 October 2015
26. "Kulturalny flesz dnia: KUKIZ vs. PIERSI, WILDSTEIN vs. PESZEK, SHIRLEY TEMPLE". wpolityce.pl.
27. The Washington Post, 26 October 2015
28. Lyman, Nick (25 October 2015). "Law and Justice Party Wins in Poland's Parliamentary Elections". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
29. "Poland conservatives 'win election'". BBC News. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
30. Cienski, Jan (25 October 2015). "Polish right sweeps parliamentary elections". Politico. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
31. "Poland Ousts Government as Law & Justice Gains Historic Majority". Bloomberg. 25 October 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
32. "Poland elections: Conservatives secure decisive win". 25 October 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
33. Gaeta, Vanessa (28 October 2015). "Left wing is shut out in parliamentary vote in conservative Poland". The Boston Globe. Associated Press.
34. "Eurosceptic conservatives win Polish election – exit poll". RTÉ News. 25 October 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2015.