Poland's local elections test Tusk's new government after 4 months in power

Poland's local elections on April 7 test Tusk's coalition government against Law and Justice party.

Voters across Poland are casting ballots in local elections on April 7 in the first electoral test for the coalition government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk nearly four months since it took power.

Voters will elect mayors, members of municipal councils and provincial assemblies. Nearly 190,000 registered candidates are running for local government positions in the central European nation of 38 million people. Run-off votes will take place on April 21, in cases where mayoral candidates do not win at least 50% of the vote in the first round.

Opinion polls released in the days ahead of the vote showed the two largest political formations running neck-and-neck: Tusk's Civic Coalition, an electoral coalition led by his centrist and pro-European Union Civic Platform party, and Law and Justice, a national conservative party that governed the country from 2015 until last year.

Several other groups trail the two main groups, including the Third Way coalition, the Left and the radical right-wing Confederation party.

Mr. Tusk's coalition government, which includes the Third Way and the Left, won the national election in October. The result spelt the end of eight bumpy years of rule by Law and Justice, which the European Union accused of violating democratic standards with its changes to the judicial system and public media.

Mr. Tusk won on promises to reverse many of those changes and is trying to implement that programme, but it isn't easy. His attempts to restore independence to the judicial system are a long process that will require the passage of new legislation.

The promise to liberalise the strict abortion law is being hampered by conservatives in his own coalition.