Polish Elections: The Right Exceeds Expectations

On Oct. 25, Poland's opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party met the widely held expectation that it would win general elections. More unexpected, however, was the wide margin of the victory. Political commentators had been predicting a messy coalition-building process whereby Law and Justice would have had to seek partners among an unenthusiastic group of smaller parties. Instead, Law and Justice is the first Polish party since the country's turn from communism in 1989 to earn the majority in parliament needed to govern alone....