Five things we know so far about Poland election results

Exit polls show that Poland's three biggest opposition parties have likely won a combined 248 seats in the 460-seat lower house of parliament, the Sejm. The largest of the groups is Civic Coalition, led by Donald Tusk, a former prime minister and European Union president. It won 31.6% of votes, the exit poll said.

“I have been a politician for many years. I’m an athlete. Never in my life have I been so happy about taking seemingly second place. Poland won. Democracy has won. We have removed them from power,” Tusk told his cheering supporters.

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

If the result predicted by the exit poll holds, the ruling Law and Justice party won but also lost. It got more seats than any other party but fewer than in the previous election and not enough to be able to lead a government that can pass laws in the legislature.

The Ipsos exit poll suggested that Law and Justice obtained 200 seats. Its potential partner, the far-right Confederation got 12 seats, a showing the party acknowledged was a defeat.

During the campaign many Poles described the vote as the most important one since 1989, when a new democracy was born after decades of communism. Turnout then was 63%.

Despite many uncertainties ahead, what appeared certain was that support for the governing party has shrunk since the last election in 2019 when it won nearly 44% of the vote, its popularity dented by high inflation, allegations of cronyism and bickering with European allies.

There is a high level of state ownership in the Polish economy, and the governing party has built up a system of patronage, handing out thousands of jobs and