Taking to the stage at the Civic Platform headquarters in Warsaw last night, Donald Tusk drew to a close one of the most exciting, divisive and bad tempered elections in Polish history.
At a stroke, the two year old moral crusade led by identical twins Lech and Jaroslaw Kaczynski lay in tatters.
There was little in Poland’s short history of democracy to rival these events for sheer drama, and there was nothing quite so dramatic in the overturning of the Kaczynski government as the announcement of its death certificate.
The exit polls were delayed by three hours because so many people turned out to vote that polling stations in Warsaw ran out of ballot papers.
So Donald Tusk will become the next leader of 38 million Poles. A free market reformer who spoke often this past week about the need to emulate Ireland’s experience as an EU member, he wants to cut taxes and boost employment.
But party workers say his priority will be to mend relations with other EU members after the abrasive style of his predecessor.
At the Law and Justice Headquarters in the Hyatt hotel, party workers were absorbing a stunning defeat – the two parties had been neck and neck up until the last week. One candidate, Marek Kryda from Gdansk bitterly attacked the western media for failing to appreciate the party’s fight against corruption.
The official results will probably be announced probably on Tuesday. Civic platform may have to take on a small coalition partner. But there will be relief in the European establishment that the confrontational approach of the past two years may be at an end.
- Tony Connelly in Poland
