Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski has admitted defeat in Poland's general election, after exit polls predicted victory for the Civic Platform party.

Oct.22.- Mr Kaczynski said his conservative Law and Justice Party had "failed against a wide front" after it polled about 31%, while its centre-right rival got 44%.

The election was called two years early after Mr Kaczynski's coalition collapsed over a corruption probe ... [ full text ]

Liberal opposition party score a stunning election victory over nationalist PM Jaroslaw Kaczynski

Poland's liberal opposition party last night scored a stunning election victory over the populist nationalist prime minister, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, and his twin brother president, Lech, putting an abrupt end to their self-styled "moral revolution" after only two years.

Two television exit polls gave the liberal conservative Civic Platform, led by Donald Tusk, a 13-point lead over Jaroslaw Kaczynski's nationalist Law and Justice party, confirming that the prime minister had disastrously miscalculated in calling an early election only halfway through his four-year term.

Exit polls showed the Civic Platform won around 44.2% of the vote. Law and Justice had 31.3%.

Mr Tusk's defeat of the rightwing Law and Justice party was fortified by the 8% won by the Peasants' party, Mr Tusk's preferred coalition partner, indicating that the two will be able to muster a parliamentary majority.

The prime minister conceded defeat last night. His brother, the president, does not face an election until 2010, but Mr Tusk's majority in the 460-seat lower house, plus the votes of the third-placed alliance of former communists and social democrats, which took 13%, should be enough to override a presidential veto ...

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