Poland's civil rights activists are cautiously optimistic about the new government

By Rob Schmitz

Published October 21, 2023 at 8:30 AM EDT

Poland's right-wing ruling party lost the national elections. But activists do not predict the winners will undertake major changes in LGBTQ and abortion policies.

Rob Schmitz

Rob Schmitz is NPR's international correspondent based in Berlin, where he covers the human stories of a vast region reckoning with its past while it tries to guide the world toward a brighter future. From his base in the heart of Europe, Schmitz has covered Germany's levelheaded management of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rise of right-wing nationalist politics in Poland and creeping Chinese government influence inside the Czech Republic.

See stories by Rob Schmitz

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