An election in Poland returns Tusk to office.
By Alex Berezow
ELBLAG -- On Sunday, Poles went to the polls to vote for a new Parliament. Initial projections indicate that voters approve of the current government, and Donald Tusk will return to Warsaw as Prime Minister. Most likely, the current coalition (Tusk's center-right Civic Platform party and the centrist Polish PeopleÂ?s Party) will continue to govern with President Bronislaw Komorowski, also originally from Civic Platform.
This is good news for the European Union. Civic Platform favors further integration into the EU, as well as adopting the euro at a future date.
There are four other points of interest:
First, Donald Tusk's party is the first in history to be reelected to a consecutive term.
Second, Poland is a very conservative country, as approximately 70 percent of votes were cast for the center-right Civic Platform or the far-right Law & Justice party.
Third, Janusz Palikot, a disaffected former member of Civic Platform, formed his own political party and received approximately 10 percent of the popular vote. It is difficult to define him politically, as he presents himself as a pro-business, social liberal who dislikes everybody else in government.
Fourth, Law & Justice, the party of Jaroslaw Kaczynski (twin brother of the late President Lech Kaczynski who was killed in a plane crash in 2010), received about 30 percent of the vote. He is a far right-wing politician who has spent the last few weeks spreading conspiracy theories about Angela Merkel, such as her desire to annex parts of Poland and her chancellorship being due to help from the East German secret police.
Alex Berezow is the editor of RealClearScience.
(AP Photo)
