WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The latest news as Poles vote in a parliamentary election. All times local:
9:15 p.m.
Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz has conceded defeat after an exit poll showed that her pro-European Civic Platform party faced a decisive defeat by the right-wing Law and Justice party.
The exit poll by Ipsos shows that Law and Justice won 39.1 percent of Sunday’s parliamentary vote. If confirmed by official results, which are expected Monday, that would give Law and Justice 242 seats in the 460-seat lower house of parliament, allowing it to govern alone.
That would mark the best showing yet for the party in a parliamentary election.
According to the exit poll, Civic Platform would get 133 seats and only three other parties would make it into parliament: a party led by rock star Pawel Kukiz, a new pro-business party named Modern Poland and the Polish Peasants Party.
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9:05 p.m.
An exit poll shows that the conservative Law and Justice party has won the parliamentary election in Poland with 39.1 percent of the vote.
The exit poll by the Ipsos agency shows that Civic Platform, the pro-business and centrist party that has governed for the past eight years, took only 23.3 percent in Sunday’s vote.
If the exit poll is confirmed by official results, it would mark the first time Law and Justice will govern this central European nation of 37 million people since 2007. Lawmakers are elected for four-year terms.
Official results are expected Monday.
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7:30 p.m.
Authorities say nearly 39 percent of eligible voters had cast ballots in Poland’s general election by late afternoon, with four hours of voting left to go.
Sylwester Marciniak, an official with the State Electoral Commission, said more than 11.7 million of Poland’s 30.9 million eligible voters had cast their ballots by 5 p.m. on Sunday.
Exit polls and preliminary turnout are expected when the polls close at 9 p.m. local time (2000 GMT.)
Opinion polls have consistently showed the conservative opposition Law and Justice party ahead of the ruling Civic Platform party.
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3:35 p.m.
Authorities say 16.47 percent of eligible voters had cast their votes in Poland’s general election at noon.
The head of the State Electoral Commission, Wojciech Hermelinski, says that 4.9 million of Poland’s 30.9 million eligible voters had cast their ballots by noon on Sunday, in the voting for 460 Parliament members and 100 Senators.
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11:05 a.m.
Voters in Warsaw are voicing criticism of the establishment while declaring support for an array of new, small right- and left-wing parties.
Retired physicist Adam Jadacki and his wife, Janina, say they voted for the modern party, Nowoczesna “because it is the only sensible and rational party, free of emotions and of political infighting.”
The couple say they believe the party has “sound economic plans, not some empty promises” like the ruling Civic Platform party.
Nowoczesna is a new force founded by an economist who focuses on creating sound state finances.
Lawyer Katarzyna Bielska says she supports a coalition of left-wing parties in order to end Civic Platform’s eight-year-rule while not backing the favored conservative Law and Justice party.
Interpreter Slawomir Krantz says he voted for Civic Platform because he fears other parties might spoil the stability Poland has achieved.
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11:05 a.m.
A fire has broken out at a polling station in Poland, forcing officials to move the voting station to a nearby school.
Wojciech Hermelinski, the head of the state electoral commission, says the fire broke out Sunday morning in Biskupin, near the northern Polish city of Bydgoszcz, after only six people had voted in a small wooden building. He says nobody was hurt and officials were able to secure all the documentation.
Poles are voting to pick 460 lawmakers to the lower house of parliament and 100 to the Senate. Whichever party wins the most votes gets the chance to form the next government.
Opinion polls in recent days show that the expected winner is Law and Justice, a socially conservative party that favors greater welfare spending to help the poor.
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