Poland’s ruling party declares victory in divided nation

Leader of Poland's ruling party Jaroslaw Kaczynski speaks in reaction to exit poll results right after voting closed in the nation's parliamentary election that is seen crucial for the nation's course in the next four years, in Warsaw , Poland, on Sunday, Oct. 13, 2019. (AP Photo)
Leader of Poland's ruling party Jaroslaw Kaczynski speaks in reaction to exit poll results right after voting closed in the nation's parliamentary election that is seen crucial for the nation's course in the next four years, in Warsaw , Poland, on Sunday, Oct. 13, 2019. (AP Photo)

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s conservative ruling party Law and Justice won the most votes in a general election Sunday in the deeply divided nation and appeared, according to an exit poll, to have secured a comfortable majority in the parliament to govern for four more years.

The exit poll, conducted by the research firm Ipsos, projected Law and Justice won 43.6 percent of the votes. That would translate into a majority of seats — 239 — in the 460-seat lower house of parliament.

The poll said that a centrist pro-European Union umbrella group, Civic Coalition, would come in second with 27.4 percent. The biggest party in the coalition is Civic Platform, which governed Poland from 2007-15.

Other parties expected to surpass a 5 percent threshold to get into parliament were a left-wing alliance, which was projected to have 11.9 percent; the conservative agrarian Polish People’s Party with 9.6 percent; and a new far-right alliance called Confederation with 6.4 percent.

The exit poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points, and the final results, which are expected by Tuesday, could shift, as they have in past elections.

A prominent journalist, Konrad Piasecki, said “at the moment it looks like the largest triumph in the history of parliamentary elections” in Poland. But he also cautioned even if the results are slightly different from the exit polls that could result in a significant change to the distribution of seats in parliament.

Law and Justice has governed Poland since 2015 and is popular for its social conservatism and generous social spending. It ran a campaign that highlighted its social programs and vowed to defend traditional Roman Catholic values against an onslaught of gay rights and other liberal ideas from the West.

It has been accused of weakening the rule of law in the young democracy with an overhaul of the judicial system that has given the party more power over the courts and has drawn criticism as well for using state media as a propaganda outlet and hostile rhetoric toward the LGBT community.