Poland ruling Law and Justice party wins EP elections, exit polls

Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-27 06:36:24|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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WARSAW, May 26 (Xinhua) -- Poland ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) won 42.4 percent votes in the European Parliament elections on Sunday, European Coalition (KE) won 39.1 percent votes, exit polls showed.

Law and Justice party won 24 seats, European Coalition (KE) won 22 seats.

Only two other parties will have representatives in the European Parliament: newly formed social-democratic party Wiosna (Spring) won 3 seats, polling at 6.6 percent, and far-right alliance Konfederacja (Confederation) won 3 seats, polling at 6.1 percent.

"Today is a very important day. We have to value it. Our euro-parliamentarians will be facing enormous challenges. But the decisive battle for the future of our fatherland will be in the autumn, and then we must win and we must do it by an even bigger margin," PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski said upon the announcement of the results, speaking at the headquarters of his party while party members and supporters shouted "Jaroslaw, Jaroslaw" and "Thank you".

"This is just the first half of the game. We built the European Coalition and this is a great success," KE leader Grzegorz Schetyna said in reaction to the poll results, referring to the fact that five opposition parties had come together to form KE and confront PiS united.

"We united the opposition, but we know that this is just the beginning of our road. We showed that we can and we want to be together. This is the key to winning in October," Schetyna added, emphasising that the results announced Sunday night were not yet final.

According to the latest numbers announced by the State Electoral Commission, 31.5 percent of Poles had voted, indicating that this year Poland has seen a record showing in European elections.

Voters looked at the European vote as a preview for the general elections to take place this fall, and governing Law and Justice (PiS) and the European Coalition (KE) had been neck and neck in voters' preference for the last weeks before the elections.

Poles voted to fill 52 seats in the European Parliament - 51 until the time the UK leaves the European Union.