With 99.96% of the votes counted, the Polish Electoral Commission released the results of the Oct. 15 elections in the morning of Oct. 17.
The ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party won 35.4%, followed by the centrist Civic Coalition at 30.68%, the center-right Third Way at 14.41%, the New Left at 8.6%, and far-right Confederation at 7.16%.
Voter turnout was at 74.37%, the electoral commission reported. In the Senate, PiS won 34.86%, followed by 28.93% for the Civic Coalition, 11.55% for the Third Way, 6.76% for Confederation, and 5.28% for the New Left.
PiS, which has been in power since 2015, lacks enough support to build rule without forming a coalition as they will not hold the 248 seats in parliament needed to rule alone.
The centrist Third Way, which is composed of the agrarian Polish People's Party (PSL) and the Poland 2050 movement, ruled out any talks with the PiS on forming a new government on Oct. 16.
The opposition is therefore expected to build a coalition government, as they will hold the majority of the seats.
Donald Tusk, Civic Coalition leader, already declared victory shortly after the exit poll predicted that the three opposition parties would secure a majority in the Polish Parliament on Oct. 15.
"Poland won, democracy has won. This is the end of the bad times, this is the end of the ruling party, PiS," Tusk said.
Martin Fornusek
