This past weekend saw Donald Tusk—former Polish prime minister and the head of the largest opposition group, Civic Coalition—declare victory for his party following the 2023 Polish parliamentary elections on October 15th. The elections marked Poland's highest voter turnout in the history of its democracy. On this week's episode of The Eastern Front, Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia speak with Łukasz Fyderek, assistant professor at the Institute of the Middle East and Far East at Jagiellonian University, to break down the Polish elections and discuss its regional implications. What was the biggest surprise to come out of the elections? Are the results a rejection of the governing Law and Justice party's "German-bashing"? To what extent will Poland's foreign policy change with the formation of a new government, particularly with regard to Polish-Ukrainian relations?

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