Poland To Hold Parliamentary Election On October 13 - Presidency

WARSAW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th August, 2019) Polish President Andrzej Duda approved parliamentary elections in Poland to be held on October 13, the president's press service said on Tuesday.

The Polish parliament has 460 seats in its lower chamber, the Sejm, and 100 seats in the senate. The minimum threshold to win a seat is 5 percent for individual parties and 7 percent for coalitions.

Albeit not all political parties of Poland have clearly articulated plans to run in the elections, the main contenders are expected to be the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party and the Civic Coalition (KO), which gathered around the largest opposition party Civic Platform (PO).

The Kukiz'15 party of punk rock musician Pawel Kukiz failed to agree on forming a coalition with the PiS and currently is negotiating with the Polish People's Party (PSL).

The latter, in turn, has long negotiated over joining the KO but failed to reach a consensus with its leaders.

The latest polls suggest that these parties are unlikely to make it above the minimum threshold, while the PiS is most probably going to win.

The national-conservative PiS party came first in the previous parliamentary elections in Poland in 2015 with 37.58 percent of the vote. The PO came second with 24.09 percent, followed by the Kukiz'15 with 8.81 percent, the Nowoczesna (Modern) party with 7.6 percent and the PSL with 5.13 percent.