Poland's ruling Civic Platform party proved its strength Monday as it beat the opposition Law and Justice Party in several key races in the municipal elections, according to initial poll results, DPA reported.
The centre-right Civic Platform won some 33 per cent of the vote in regional councils, according to the national election commission. The opposition Law and Justice party, led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, had 23 per cent of the vote, according to a count of half of the ballots cast.
The municipal elections are regarded as a barometer of the political mood ahead of next year's parliamentary elections. They appeared to show dwindling support for Kaczynski's conservative party, which has criticised the government's plans to quickly adopt the euro currency and build warm relations with Russia.
Exit polls Sunday night said that Civic Platform candidate Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz was re-elected with 51.6 per cent as the mayor of of Warsaw, one of the most prestigious positions up for grabs in the elections.
Kaczynski said Law and Justice would have won the elections if it wasn't for two parliamentarians who were expelled from his party and formed their own association. Then-parliamentarian Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska had repeatedly criticized the party's confrontational approach to domestic and foreign policy.
Some 48,000 regional positions around the country were filled in the Sunday municipal elections.
Kaczynski waged a fairly buttoned-down campaign in the country's presidential elections earlier this year, held after his twin brother Lech, the former president, was killed in April in a plane crash in Russia. He was defeated in that race by Civic Platform's Bronislaw Komorowski.
Since then, Kaczynski has returned to his trademark combative style of politics, seeking to stop the decline in support for his party, which has dwindled to some 22 per cent in opinion polls.
Final results are expected Tuesday.