Polish opposition leader Donald Tusk declared the beginning of a new era for his country after opposition parties appeared to have won enough votes in Sunday’s parliamentary election to oust the governing nationalist conservative party.
Exit polls suggest the ruling Law and Justice party won the most seats, but not enough to lead a government which can pass laws.
The Ipsos exit poll suggested Law and Justice obtained 200 seats and the far-right Confederation – a likely partner – got 12 seats, a showing the party acknowledged was a defeat.
Three opposition parties are likely to have won a combined 248 seats in the 460-seat lower house of parliament, the Sejm.
Civic coalition, the largest of the groups led by former prime minister and ex-European Union president Mr Tusk, won 31.6% of the votes, the exit poll said.
Mr Tusk told his supporters: “I have been a politician for many years. I’m an athlete. Never in my life have I been so happy about taking seemingly second place.
“Poland won. Democracy has won. We have removed them from power.
“This result might still be better, but already today we can say this is the end of the bad time, this is end of Law and Justice rule.”
Mr Tusk’s Civic Coalition and rival opposition parties, Third Way and the New Left, ran on separate tickets but with the same promises of seeking to oust Law and Justice and restore good ties with the European Union.
Law and Justice leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski told supporters his party’s result, at nearly 37 per cent of the vote according to the exit poll, was a success.
“We must have hope, and we must also know that regardless of whether we are in power or in the opposition, we will implement this (political) project in various ways, and we will not allow Poland to be betrayed,” he said.
If Law and Justice is the party with the most seats, it would most likely get the first chance to try to build a government.
President Andrzej Duda, an ally of Law and Justice, has the job of finding a party to try to form a government.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Polsat News Mr Duda “will entrust the mission of forming the government to the winning party and in this first step we will certainly try to build a parliamentary majority.”
The exit poll results put turnout at a record 72.9 per cent.
