Permalink : http://hdl.handle.net/2115/68695

JaLCDOI : 10.14943/jgsl.13.35

In the 2015 parliamentary general election held in Poland, the opposition party Law and Justice (PiS) became the leading party and obtained an absolute majority in parliament. It is sometimes said that the so-called European migrant/refugee crisis has brought about this result. However, though the landslide victory of PiS was a consequence of the crisis, PiS would have won the election even without this crisis. The main factors behind the victory of PiS are the disappointment of the young with the Civil Platform (PO) government, skillful electoral strategy of PiS, and the peculiarity of the electoral system. This paper makes this point clear by comparing the results of this election with the results of the presidential election held five months before the general election, when the migrant/refugee crisis had not been so acute.