Shock in Poland: The opposition declared victory

Shock in Poland: The opposition declared victory

This would allow the opposition parties to take power in a huge change of politics in the eastern member of the European Union (EU).

Poland under the Law and Justice (PiS) party has repeatedly clashed with the EU over the rule of law, media freedom, migration and LGBT rights since that party came to power in 2015.

Opposition parties have vowed to mend relations with Brussels and roll back reforms that critics say undermine democratic standards.

The Ipsos exit poll gave PiS 36.8 percent of the vote, which would give it 200 deputies in the 460-seat parliament. PiS's potential partner, the far-right Confederation, would gain 12 seats.

The opposition parties, led by the liberal Civic Coalition (KO), together, according to that survey, would get 248 parliamentary seats. KO itself received 31.6 percent of the vote.

The leader of the Civic Coalition, Donald Tusk, former prime minister and former president of the European Union, declared the beginning of a new era. PiS still received the largest number of votes, but less than in the previous elections and not enough to form a ruling coalition.

"I've been a politician for many years. I'm an athlete. I've never been so happy in my life to seemingly come second. Poland won. Democracy won. We removed them from power," Tusk told cheering supporters.

"This result could still be better, but we can already say today that this is the end of bad times, this is the end of the rule of Law and Justice," added Tusk.

PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski seems to have acknowledged the result that his party will not lead the government. He told supporters in his election headquarters that the result of his party, with almost 37 percent of the votes won, was a success, because it won the most votes in three parliamentary elections in a row.

"We must have hope and we must know that, regardless of whether we are in power or in the opposition, we will implement this (political) project in different ways and we will not allow Poland to be betrayed," Kaczynski said.