Law and Justice conservative party won Polish Parliamentary elections

The conservative and Eurosceptic Law and Justice (PiS) party has won Poland’s parliamentary elections.

The party’s leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski and the future prime minister, Beata Szydlo, have completed the country’s swing to the right of centre with their victory coming just months after Law and Justice Party (PiS) candidate Andrzej Duda was voted in as Poland’s sixth president.

The party won 37.58% of the vote, giving it a majority in the lower house of 235 out of 460 seats, which is enough to govern alone. It is the first time a single party has won enough votes to govern alone since democracy was restored in 1989.

Civic Platform, which led Poland's coalition government for the last eight years, won 138 seats or 24.09%.

The conservative group have appealed, in particular, to voters in poorer rural areas who feel left out by Poland’s robust economic growth with promises of lower taxes, changes to the retirement age and an increase in benefits for families. It is a heavy supporter of the Catholic Church with a ban on abortion among its policies.

Beata Szydlo and party leader Kaczynski

EUROSCEPTIC AND SCEPTICAL ABOUT REFUGEE CUOTAS

The refugee crisis on the continent has played an important role in the election campaign. Warsaw has agreed to accept around 7,000 people, however party leader Kaczynski has been a long-time supporter of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban with his comments that Muslims are a threaten to Poland’s Catholic way of life coming under fire.

The party is distrustful of the EU and is against joining the Euro zone any time soon. It has also believes a strong NATO is essential in order to deal with the perceived threat from Moscow.

“We need to emphasise the importance of Poland as a country that defends the interests of its citizens”, future prime-minister Beata Szydlo declared.

Despite the party’s Eurosceptic stance, the vast majority of Poles were in favour of European Union membership in a recent poll.

A RELATIVE UNKNOWN CANDIDATE

Mr Kaczynski, 66, was not running as prime minister, and instead nominated Beata Szydlo, a relative unknown, as the party's choice for the post.

Although the 52-year-old miner's daughter is seen as a more moderate face to lead the new government, some observers said Mr Kaczynski (the twin brother of Poland's late president Lech ) could take on the top job himself in the months to come.