Polish far right eyes role as kingmaker after this year’s elections

Poland’s mainstream opposition has this week belatedly woken up to a reality that has long been apparent: that the far right party - the Confederation may hold the balance of power after this autumn’s elections, and would therefore play a large role in deciding who – if anyone – can form a government.

Polling has long indicated the strong possibility that neither the current ruling camp – centred around the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party – nor the main opposition – in which the centrist Civic Platform (PO) is the primary force – will win the 231 seats in the lower-house Sejm needed to hold a majority.