Ruling coalition still leads party ranking but opposition grows stronger

Poland’s political opposition has the potential to form a government despite trailing the governing United Right coalition, according to a leading newspaper.

A poll, carried out on December 17-18 and published in Rzeczpospolita, found that 30.8 percent of Poles would vote for Law and Justice (PiS), the dominant party in Poland’s ruling coalition government, up from 30.2 percent recorded on November 19-20.

"This is both good and bad news for PiS, which is unable to regain the same support it won during the recent election, but which, at the same time, has not lost its leading position despite rapidly increasing inflation, energy price rises and problems on the international scene," the paper wrote in a commentary about the poll.

But, according to the poll, the opposition parties would scoop a larger share of the vote than PiS, thus creating the possibility that they could form a government, if they work together.

Civic Coalition, the main opposition grouping, got 24.1 percent of the vote, up by 3 percentage points from the previous survey.

The support level for the Polish People's Party (PSL)-Polish Coalition grouping grew by 1 percentage point to 5.9 percent. "And this is enough to enter parliament," the daily said.

"This is important for the entire opposition since PSL's presence in the Sejm, the lower house, strengthens the ability of all opposition groupings to form a government in opposition to PiS."

Poland 2050 would get 10 percent of the vote, down from 13 percent a month earlier. The Left would be supported by 8.4 percent, nearly unchanged from previous polls.

The far-right Confederation could count on 6 percent of the vote, nearly unchanged despite its attempts to gain more public acceptance.

IBRiS carried out the poll on a representative group of 1,100 adult Poles on Dec. 17-18, with the use of the CATI method.