Poland's eurosceptic conservatives win national vote
Poland's eurosceptic opposition conservatives, the Law and Justice party (PiS), won October 25's general election, preliminary official results showed on October 26, as the country shifted towards nationalism and left-leaning economics.
PiS secured 37.6% of the vote, the country's election body said, with the ruling Civic Platform (PO) coming in second with 24.1%.
An official division of parliamentary seats was not available yet, but analysts said the result would likely give PiS a small absolute majority, marking the biggest victory by a single party since Poland shed communism in 1989.
"The success of Law and Justice is beyond doubt. The party will most likely have an outright majority," said Kazimierz Kik, a political scientist at the Jan Kochanowski University in the city of Kielce.
PiS returns to power after eight years in opposition, bolstered by a growing sense of unease in Poland over immigration and austerity abroad.
Once a party of primarily older, less educated people from small towns, PiS also appears to have broadened its electorate, tapping into growing discontent among younger voters over their share of Poland's economic success.
Led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, twin brother of late president Lech, PiS has promised to increase state control of the economy, tax banks and stop privatization. It also wants to lower the retirement age and says 'no' to adopting the euro any time soon.
Its opposition to relocating migrants fleeing war in the Middle East and Africa to Poland will likely set it on a collision course with its key European Union allies.
The European Commission and neighboring Germany - which both had strained ties with the last PiS-led government that fell apart in 2007 - said they hoped for good relations with the new government.
It will not be led by the combative Kaczynski, but by Beata Szydlo, his party loyalist with no foreign policy credentials.