Polish parliament meets 1st time since populists reelected

Poland’s newly elected parliament is inaugurating its four-year term with a ceremonial sitting Tuesday, after elections last month gave a second term to the populist conservative Law and Justice party

Poland’s newly elected parliament is inaugurating its four-year term with a ceremonial sitting Tuesday, after elections last month gave a second term to the populist conservative Law and Justice party.

Though Law and Justice won the most votes, the result also created some new complications for the party and its 70-year-old founder, Jaroslaw Kacyznski.

While it captured a slim majority in the lower house, or Sejm, it lost control of the Senate, where opposition lawmakers now have 51 of the 100 seats. The Senate is much less powerful than the Sejm, but appoints the heads of some key state bodies and can slow down legislation.

Also, a new far-right party, Confederation, got almost 7% of the vote and enters parliament for the first time.