The latest poll shows that Poland’s far-right Confederation Party has gained the most support among the parliamentary parties following the floods that struck the country’s southern regions.
Poland was the largest country to be affected by the torrential rains and devastating floods in recent weeks. Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government seeks EU support to deal with the losses and rebuild damaged infrastructure.
However, it is not Tusk’s Civic Platform (PO, EPP) or any other party in the ruling coalition, but the far-right opposition Confederation party (ESN) that has gained the most in the polls after the floods.
Although the party only came fourth in the latest poll by United Surveys for Wirtualna Polska news outlet published on Tuesday, it has gained as much as 2.1 points compared to the previous survey and is now supported by 10.5% of the respondents.
The Confederation, which has criticised the government for mishandling the flood response, recently called for a parliamentary committee to be set up to investigate the negligence and malpractice of both the current government and the previous conservative PiS (ECR) cabinet, which had contributed to the floods.
In the same poll, the Civic Coalition, the bloc led by the Civic Platform, leads with 34.1% of respondents’ support. It has lost only 0.1 points compared to the last poll before the floods and has a narrow lead over PiS, the largest opposition party in second place with 29.5%.
Surprisingly, the PiS has lost the most since the previous poll (–1.5 %) despite attacking the government for failing to secure decent EU support for the flood victims so far, apart from the cohesion funds that were already in Poland’s national budget.
The survey results can be explained by the satisfaction of a large part of Polish society with the government’s performance during the floods. Tusk visited the affected areas in the first days after the disaster and personally monitored the government’s actions, meeting regularly with members of local governments.
The government’s handling of the crisis was welcomed by 44.7% of Poles, while 42.8%, of which most were PiS and Confederation voters, had the opposite view, an earlier poll by UCE Research for Onet reads.
On Saturday, the government amended the 2025 draft state budget to include the support for the flood-affected regions and the money for their long-term recovery.
(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl)
Source: euractiv.com
