Poland’s conservative Law and Justice party wins election – preliminary results

The PiS candidate for the job is Beata Szydlo.

That said, now that the elections are out of the way, PiS could adopt a more pragmatic stance while as a result of the refugee crisis, Poland has experienced its own heated migration debate which should at the very least lead to a greater understanding of the dilemma Mr Cameron is facing. Together with Law and Justice, the two groups are short of the two-thirds needed to amend Poland’s constitution.

She says “we are the same as our countrymen…. We must always remember that we are serving”.

Additionally, increasing pressure from the European Union on climate change reform has proved hard to swallow for many voters in Poland, one of the biggest coal-mining countries in Europe. If the results are confirmed, it would translate to 44 seats in the 460-seat lower house of parliament.

They also worry that the party’s plans to make banks bear the brunt of converting loans denominated in Swiss francs into local zloty to shield Polish home-owners from losses could trigger a banking crisis.

An energetic professional who used to work at the World Bank, Petru appealed to young urban Poles. Among his proposals is a lower flat tax of 16 percent on personal income, corporations and as a sales tax. Exit polls are expected immediately after voting ends.

The British prime minister, David Cameron, has in the past expressed support for Law and Justice and has included his Conservative party in the same European parliament grouping, but the Polish shift to the right may not necessarily be supportive of his efforts to renegotiate Britains relationship with the EU.

Lech Kaczynski’s clashes with Polish gay rights activists gained him global notoriety.

After declaring victory on Sunday, the leader of PiS Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the twin brother of Poland’s late president Lech Kaczynski, paid tribute to his brother, who died along scores of Polish statesmen in a 2010 jet crash in Smolensk, western Russian Federation.

“We are heading for a new era”, party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski said in his acceptance speech.

This year, Mr. Kaczynski’s party toned down its message. Its lead over the outgoing ruling coalition had narrowed by Monday morning compared with initial estimates giving its rival, the center-right Civic Platform party, 137 seats, the poll showed. President Andrzej Duda, elected earlier this year, is also from PiS.

“We could revise the outlook to stable if we saw reversals regarding fiscal consolidation, macroeconomic management, or monetary policy”, said S&P lead analyst on Poland, Felix Winnekens.

PiS scored 37.58 percent of the vote, the state electoral commission said.

Its rival, the center-right Civic Platform party, won 23.4% of the vote and 133 seats, the poll showed.

Voter turnout was estimated at 51.6%.

Smaller parties including the anti-establishment movement of rocker Pawel Kukiz took the rest.

Rating agency Standard and Poor’s said the outcome of the vote had no immediate impact on Poland’s A- rating with a positive outlook, but added that policy measures planned by Law and Justice could dampen investor confidence.

Interpreter Slawomir Krantz, 49, voted for Civic Platform, which he described as a “lesser evil”, because he fears other parties might spoil the stability Poland has achieved.

“I hope we enter parliament in such numbers that it will allow us to make a crack in the system, allowing the citizens, the nation to win back control over the state, which has been taken away from them”, Kukiz told a campaign rally.