Law and Justice hails breakthrough in local elections
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
17.11.2014 09:15
Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of conservative opposition party Law and Justice, has claimed victory in Poland's local elections, with exit polls indicating his party will dominate regional assemblies.
Law and Justice leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski (R) with 2015 presidential candidate Andrzej Duda (L) and MP Mariusz Blaszczak. Photo: PAP/Pawel Supernak
“Victory in the local elections is very good news,” Kaczynski said late on Sunday, with the outcome regarded as a barometer of how the public will vote in 2015's general election.
An exit poll by Ipsos gave Law and Justice 31.5 percent, Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz's centre-right party 27.3 percent, junior coalition partner The Polish Peasants' Party 17 percent, and the Democratic Left Alliance 8.8 percent.
“We can even win in the reality that we have at the moment in Poland, and that is very important,” he added, echoing longstanding claims that his party is stigmatised by large sections of the media.
Kaczynski also made an apparent reference to the expulsion of three members of his party a week ago over a travel expenses fraud scandal.
“We can only win when we are completely clean,” he said.
MEP Andrzej Duda, Law and Justice's freshly announced candidate for 2015's presidential elections, told the Onet news portal that he “knew that the mood was going in the direction of Law and Justice.
“I knew that people had had enough of seven years of disastrous rule,” he said, referring to the coalition of centre-right Civic Platform and the Polish Peasants' Party, which has held power in Poland's lower house of parliament since 2007.
About 2500 leaders of local administration, including city mayors, are in line to be elected, together with 47,000 councillors.
Although the victory of some mayoral candidates appears clear-cut, exit polls indicate that a second round will be necessary in several major cities, including Bydgoszcz and Gdansk.
“We have two weeks of hard work ahead of us,” Kaczynski commented.
Speaker of parliament Radoslaw Sikorski said that the Civic Platform-Polish Peasants’ Party coalition had actually “got a good result” in the elections, but added that Civic Platform “needs to get it together. (nh)