Dyrina Anna Fedorovna – Researcher, INION RAN
The article examines the transformations taking place in Polish political life after the parliamentary elections on October 15, 2023. The party «Law and Justice» (Polish: Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, PiS), which had been in power for 8 years, failed to gain enough votes to secure a majority in parliament, which led to the formation of a new government headed by the leader of the Civic Platform Party, Donald Tusk. The purpose of this article is to examine the results of the parliamentary elections in Poland on October 15, 2023, and the results of the first months in power of the new Prime Minister D. Tusk and his cabinet, and to highlight the main changes in the Polish political agenda. The author analyzes in detail three decisive measures taken by the D. Tusk government in the first month of its rule: the imprisonment of two former ministers of the PiS government, Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wonsik; the dismissal and replacement of the directors of state television, radio and the Polish Press Agency, the cancellation of politically biased programs and films; the restoration of the previous separation of functions between the Prosecutor General and the Minister of Justice and the introduction of the corresponding changes to the law. At the meeting of the Sejm on January 16, 2024, new budget was adopted and the functions of the commission to investigate illegal surveillance of PiS’s political opponents were discussed. After coming to power, the new government announced that it was ready to implement its plan for social support – to increase salaries for public sector workers by 20%, teachers – by 30%, to index pensions, to provide payments to families with children, – however, in December 2023, president A. Duda rejected the first draft budget. The article discusses in detail the adoption of the budget at the meeting of the Sejm on January 16, 2024, and also examines the problems associated with the use of the Pegasus system (spyware) by PiS against their political opponents. The author concludes that the rapid political onslaught of D. Tusk’s government against the «old foundations» of the PiS has significantly shaken the positions of the right-wing forces in Poland.
Poland, «Law and Justice», «Civic Platform», «Civic Coalition», «Third Way», «Polish People’s Party», «Poland 2050», parliamentary elections, A. Duda, D. Tusk.
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