Polish Elections: Opposition Declares Victory

(Patria) - Polish opposition leader Donald Tusk said three opposition parties had enough votes to win the general election on Sunday after an exit poll projected they had enough combined support to unseat the ruling conservative party, AP reported.

An Ipsos exit poll shows the opposition together likely won 248 seats in the 460-seat lower house of parliament, the Sejm. The ruling Law and Justice party, according to the projection, won 200 seats, while the far-right Confederation won 12 seats.

“I am the happiest man in the world,” Tusk said.

“Democracy has won. Poland has won,” he added.

Law and Justice leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski acknowledged the outcome was uncertain. Kaczynski told supporters at his headquarters that his party’s result, of nearly 37% of the vote, according to the exit poll, was a great success, but admitted he might not be able to retain power.

“The question before us is whether this success can be translated into another term for our government, and we don’t know that yet. But we must have hope and we must know that, regardless of whether we are in power or in opposition, we will implement this project in different ways,” Kaczynski said.

The exit poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. The three opposition parties, Tusk’s Civic Coalition, Third Way, and The New Left, ran on separate lists but with the same promises to seek to oust Law and Justice and restore good ties with the European Union. Votes are still being counted, and the state electoral commission says it expects final results by Tuesday morning.