Donald Tusk re-elected as Civic Coalition leader with overwhelming support

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has been re-elected as leader of the governing Civic Coalition (KO) with overwhelming support, securing 97 percent of the vote in the party's first internal elections since its merger last year.

Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk, 30 January 2026.

Photo: REUTERS/Kuba Stezycki/File Photo (cropped)

Tusk, the sole candidate, received 16,316 valid votes in favour out of 16,695 cast.

The result was announced on Monday by Deputy Speaker of the Sejm lower house of parliament Dorota Niedziela, who oversaw the election process.

Premier @DonaldTusk wybrany Przewodniczącym Koalicji Obywatelskiej z 97% poparciem❗️

Gratulujemy! 🙌

💬 Marszałek @DorotaNiedziela 👇 pic.twitter.com/6hjolsBwgI

— Koalicja Obywatelska (@Obywatelska_KO) March 9, 2026

Turnout stood at 78 percent of eligible, dues-paying members.

Sunday's vote was the first leadership election since the Civic Platform (PO) merged with the smaller Modern (Nowoczesna) and Initiative Poland (Inicjatywa Polska) parties under the KO banner in October last year.

Tusk first won a membership-wide vote in 2013, defeating centre-right conservative Jarosław Gowin.

He was later succeeded by Grzegorz Schetyna and then Borys Budka, before returning to the leadership in 2021 with 97 percent support and going on to become Prime Minister following parliamentary elections.

(ał)

Source: PAP