Poland’s Conservative Anti-LGBTQ+ Party Has Lost Its Majority in Parliament
October 17, 2023Poland’s right-wing, anti-LGBTQ+ Law and Justice party appears to have lost its eight-year majority in the Polish government following the country’s parliamentary election on Sunday, October 15. This predicted power shift could mark a major turning point in the lives of LGBTQ+ Polish people.
A final exit poll reveals that Poland’s 2023 election saw a record voter turnout, with 72.9% of citizens participating. Although the Law and Justice party is set to gain 200 seats in Poland’s parliament, more than any other party, it will still be in the minority, with three opposition parties — Civic Coalition, Third Way, and the Left — set to gain a combined 248 seats, according to ‘Them’. The largest of these parties is Civic Coalition, which won 31.6% of the votes and is led by former Polish prime minister Donald Tusk.
Tusk claimed victory on Sunday, declaring that the results mark “the end of the bad time.”
Image Credit: Canva
“I have been a politician for many years… Never in my life have I been so happy about taking seemingly second place,” he said in his victory speech. “Poland won. Democracy has won. We have removed them from power.”
Since the Law and Justice party gained a majority in 2015, the conservative government has pursued harsh anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ+ laws. In 2019, a number of Polish cities and counties began passing ordinances declaring themselves “LGBT-free zones,” reaching nearly 100 municipalities by 2020. That same year, the Law and Justice party relied heavily on anti-LGBTQ+ talking points to win its successful 2019 electoral campaign. As of May 2023, 56 of these anti-LGBTQ+ resolutions are still in place, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
From 2020 to 2023, Poland was named the worst country in the European Union for the LGBTQ+ community by ILGA-Europe’s annual Rainbow Europe Index, which judges countries based on criteria like equality and non-discrimination, legal gender recognition, hate crime, and hate speech. The country currently has no form of recognised same-sex partnership and no hate crime laws related to sexual orientation or gender identity.
Speaking with the Associated Press, Polish LGBTQ+ rights activist Bart Staszewski described Law and Justice’s loss of its majority as the end of a “nightmare” for the community.
“This is just the beginning of reclaiming our country,” he said. “The fight is ahead but we are breathing fresh air today.”
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