Throughout the country, in the elections into the regional councils (“sejmiks”) Law and Justice (PiS) received 254 mandates, Civic Coalition (KO) – 194, the peasant party (PSL) – 70, Independents – 15 and the Together Party – 11.
The turnout was 54.64 percent, 94.64 percent of votes were valid and 5.36 percent invalid. Earlier the PKW released the results for the elections of voivodes, mayors and presidents of towns. In the first round, 1,826 of them had been chosen. In 649 municipalities and towns there will be a second round.
Historical lines
The results of the municipal elections have shown that once again Polish society is divided. The East regions voted mostly for PiS and the West voted for KO. Tomasz Sakiewicz, the editor-in-chief of “Gazeta Polska Codziennie” argues that this phenomenon has been caused by a kind of “sociological-demographical experiment.” Part of which are the changes to Poland’s borders in the past as well as changes to the demographical structure in parts of the country.
Sakiewicz explained in TVP Info that “where the Second Polish Republic had existed, people vote for PiS,” whereas the opposition is ahead in the former German territories – the so-called “reclaimed territories”.
The journalist drew attention to not only the changes to borders following the Second World War, but also the changes to Poland’s demographical structure. He gave Warsaw as an example, which had been “shot and terminated” twice: first on Adolf Hitler’s orders after the 1944 Warsaw Uprising and then again during a “specific reconstruction” during the communist era.
