Conservative victory confirmed in Poland
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-09-26 15:52

Vote counting following the Polish parliamentary election confirmed the victory of the two conservative parties fighting the first national vote since the country joined the European Union last year.

With 60 percent of the votes counted, the victory for the center-right was slightly less impressive than suggested by exit polls on Sunday.

Nevertheless, the result was a dramatic call for change, and a ticket for reform in the new EU member, marking the rejection of the legacy of communism once and for all.

The vote count gave the Catholic Law and Justice party (PiS) 26.56 of the vote, and a likely 151 seats in the 460-seat parliament.

The free-market Civic Platform was second with 24.08 percent of the vote, and a likely 123 seats.

The two parties have confirmed their intention to form a coalition, which the vote assures a comfortable majority.

Finishing third with a likely 67 seats was the Samoobrona (Self-Defence) party, a grouping that frequently changes its political leanings, ahead of the ruling Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), which has been seriously tainted by corruption and was likely to win only 51 seats.

The ultra Catholic and nationalist League of Polish Families with a possible 36 seats and the Peasants party with 30 seats were the only other parties with the more than five percent of the vote needed to enter parliament.

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