San Francisco Frontiers - Poland 'needs to be repaired' after populist rule

The ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party won 194 seats in the 460-seat parliament compared to 248 for three opposition parties that are likely to form a governing coalition.

With a record turnout for the post-Communist era of 74.38 percent, the vote was "a real feast for democracy", said political analyst Jaroslaw Kuisz.

But he warned that any new government faces a "minefield" as it embarks on changes the country needs.

Lukasz Bernatowicz, an expert with the Polish employers' group BCC, agreed that "the number of problems to resolve is enormous".

For many experts, reforming public media is a priority as state television and radio have become government mouthpieces.

"There cannot be, in a democratic country, public television financed by all of us that does not stop lying," Bernatowicz said.

Ewa Marciniak from the University of Warsaw said that "Poland needs to be repaired mainly in institutional, functional terms."

She said that while "many institutions have retained their competency but have ceased to function in the correct way" because of their management by government appointees.

Among these institutions, experts listed the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, the Prosecutor's Office but also the central bank or the management agency for waterways and forests.

- 'Everything can explode' -

Kuisz said restoring rule of law -- a campaign promise of liberal opposition leader Donald Tusk -- will be particularly "perilous".

"Everything can explode at any moment," he said.

Controversial judicial reforms have been at the heart of a years-long dispute with the EU which has blocked billions of euros in funds.

President Andrzej Duda, a PiS ally whose term runs out in two years, was a supporter of the reforms.

The president holds veto powers that the new parliament cannot overturn and he could block "any new reform proposal", Kuisz said.

Nevertheless, the prospect of better ties with the EU helped explain a bounce in financial markets after the election, with the Polish zloty rising on currency exchange and stocks jumping.

Releasing blocked EU funds "is a priority for the economy" which is currently stuck in a sluggish phase, Bernatowicz said.

Inflation is high at a predicted 11.4 percent for 2023 while growth for the year is forecast at 0.5 percent.

With a decreasing birth-rate "we should open up to immigration but it has to be done in an intelligent way," Bernatowicz said.

There is also the major challenge of moving Poland away from its dependence on fossil fuels and towards renewables.

The opposition is hoping it can count on greater national consensus as it moves forward with promised reforms.

"We have to re-learn how to work together," Marciniak said.

But anyone hoping for some respite from the country's bitterly divisive political scene "will be disappointed". In parliament, she said, "things are still likely to get very heated".

S.Jackson--SFF