Replies

Polish PM admits election defeat

Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski has admitted defeat in Poland's general election, after exit polls predicted victory for the Civic Platform party.

Mr Kaczynski said his conservative Law and Justice Party had "failed against a wide front" after it polled about 31%, while its centre-right rival had 44%.

The election was called two years early after Mr Kaczynski's coalition collapsed over a corruption probe.

Turnout seemed substantially higher than the 12-year low in the 2005 poll.

The prime minister's twin brother, Lech Kaczynski, is Poland's president.

The Law and Justice Party (PiS) has pursued former communists and adopted a sceptical approach to the European Union, while Civic Platform (PO) has promised a more business-friendly administration with closer ties to Europe, correspondents say.

Learning lesson

The turnout of 55% was the highest since the fall of communism in 1989.

Most polling stations closed at 2000 (1800 GMT), with a handful delaying closure after opening late for technical reasons, and others running out of ballot papers.

Many Poles are polarised by the prime minister's policies

Voters were electing members of 460-seat lower house, the Sejm, and the 100-seat Senate.

Mr Kaczynski voted in the early afternoon in Warsaw, chatting with other voters as he queued.

"We have to accept the will of the voters, that's obvious," he said after voting, according to Reuters news agency.

"We won't get angry at the people and lessons from this campaign will be learned."

His rival, Mr Tusk, also cast his vote in the capital city.

"Of course I expect to win, but I also know perfectly well that it will not be easy and the battle goes on until the last minute," he was quoted as saying.

Democratic disillusion

Poles have became disillusioned with democracy following a succession of unhappy coalition governments, says the BBC's Adam Easton in Warsaw.

The country is polarised over the figure of the 58-year-old prime minister, who commands both strong support and deep opposition, says our correspondent.

He has given extra power to anti-corruption agencies and purged former communists, while promoting an assertive foreign policy and traditional Catholic values.

Among his supporters, Andrzej Sulkowski said he voted for Law and Justice "because this party is telling the truth and doing something".

"In their two years of government they did what they could," he told the Associated Press news agency.

But one of Mr Tusk's supporters, Jan Zawisz, said he "didn't like being talked down to for the last two years".

ROUNDUP: Poland's liberals win landslide, oust Kaczynski twin

Poland's liberal Civic Platform (PO) scored a landslide victory in Sunday's snap parliamentary elections, ousting the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) minority government of Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, according to exit polls.

In his victory speech PO leader Donald Tusk thanked voters "who showed all of Europe that in times of difficulty Poles can take care of their country in an extraordinarily responsible fashion."

"We'll do everything to make Poland a good home for you," he vowed, ending the emotional address by singing the Polish national anthem along with hundreds of PO party faithful gathered at a victory rally in Warsaw.

"I wish Tusk success. I congratulate him," Prime Minister Kaczynski said in the wake of the crushing defeat.

He vowed that PiS would be a "hard and decisive opposition," apparently ruling out any coalition with the archrival liberals.

The business-friendly PO scored 44 per cent, racing past the PiS which took 31 per cent of the vote, according to voters surveyed outside polling stations in exit polling by Poland's PBS DGA for the commercial TVN24 news channel.

The left-wing LiD took 12 per cent while the conservative Polish Peasants' Party (PSL) scored nearly 8 per cent, exceeding the 5-per- cent threshold required to enter Parliament. No other party reached 5 per cent.

If the actual vote count mirrors the exit poll results, the PO would have 227 seats, just four seats short of a 231-member absolute majority in Poland's 460-seat Parliament. PiS took 158 seats, according to the poll result, while the LiD scored 47 and the PSL took 27 seats in the PBS DGA poll.

It was not immediately clear which party, if any, the PO would consider teaming with to form an outright majority. A coalition union with the PiS appeared to have been be ruled out by Kaczynski himself.

Turnout soared to a record-breaking 55.3 per cent, the highest result since Poland's first fully democratic parliamentary election in 1991.

It stood in stark contrast to the record low 40-per-cent turnout in Poland's last parliamentary ballot in September 2005, which handed Kaczynski's PiS a narrow 2.9-per-cent victory over the liberals.

Sunday's snap ballot came two years early due to the failure of Kaczynski's minority government to forge a stable majority coalition in Poland.

If confirmed by Poland's State Elections Commission in official results, most likely on Tuesday, the PO victory will mean that political power in Poland will cease to be concentrated in the hands of the Kaczynski twins.

President Lech Kaczynski's term in office ends in 2009.

With a population of 38 million, Poland was by far the largest of 10 mostly ex-communist states to have joined the European Union in 2004 and has since become a key player in the 27-member bloc.

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/241730/ROUNDUP_Poland_s_liberals_win_landslide_oust_Kaczynski_twin