Poland gives pro-European liberals a big win

THE POLLS EUclosed at 9pm on October 15th, but those still queueing were allowed to cast their votes, so at one polling station near Wroclaw balloting continued until almost 3am. A pizzeria delivered 300 free pies to those standing outside. “Better to wait four hours than four years,” a voter there told , a newspaper. Many had worried that the vicious campaign would discourage voters from showing up. Instead turnout reached 74%, Poland’s highest rate ever—higher even than in the election in 1989 that brought an end to communism.Indeed, this election may have been Poland’s most important since 1989. Rule-of-law advocates said it was the last chance to stop the country’s right-wing populist government from seizing control of the courts, filling the state with apparatchiks and wrecking Poland’s standing in the . The voters gave the opposition a surprisingly decisive victory. That augurs a change of direction for Poland and a big setback for Europe’s hard right.