Donald Tusk, the former Polish PM, is on course to return to office

Donald Tusk has a good chance of securing power in Poland. The former European Council President won the parliamentary elections in Poland over the Law and Justice party, which is currently ruling.

Former Prime Minister Tusk claimed victory on behalf of the opposition led by his Civic Platform Party.

After almost all votes had been counted, the PiS led by Jaroslaw Kacynski appeared on the verge of losing power. It failed to achieve a majority, even when a far-right coalition partner was included.

After 95 percent of districts had been counted on Monday night, official results showed that PiS won 37 percent of the vote. Civic Platform was at 29.1percent, and likely coalition partners, centre-right Third Way, and leftwing Lewica, were at a combined 22.8%. Confederation, the far-right party, only managed 7.2 percent. Two exit polls had predicted that PiS wouldn’t win a majority at Poland lower house Sejm.

In anticipation of a possible Tusk return, Poland’s currency and the stock market rose strongly on Monday . The Warsaw WIG Index was up by 3.5 percent, and the zloty rose by 1.9 percent against the euro. It settled at 4.49 zlotys per euro to be 1 percent stronger for the day.

During his campaign Tusk promised to return Warsaw to a pro-European course, restore the independence of judges and release billions in EU funding that had been withheld by European Commission due to a spat over judicial reforms with the PiS Government.

This election is the most important one for the EU this year. It could redefine, after feuding for years, the relationship between Brussels, and the largest state in Central and Eastern Europe.

“This is the end for bad times.” Tusk told cheering supporters on Sunday night that the PiS regime was over. “We really did it.” “Poland won, democracy won.”

Kaczynski, at the PiS headquarters on Sunday, told his supporters that there was still a chance for his party’s third term to begin. The ultra-conservative leader said, “We have days ahead of us of fighting and tensions.” “We need to have hope, and we must know that we will implement the project differently, whether we are at power or in opposition.”

If the results show that PiS remains the biggest party in the parliament, President Andrzej duda will likely give the PiS the first chance to form a new government.

According to Ipsos’ preliminary data, the turnout is on track to be a record for Poland since its return to democracy. The projection was that the voter turnout would reach nearly 74%, the highest level in over three decades and surpass the 63.4% recorded in 1989, when communism was toppled.

In contrast, the PiS government called for a referendum in which only 40% of voters participated. This is not enough to make it binding. Tusk called for a boycott. In the referendum, voters were asked questions on a number of issues, including border security, stopping illegal migration, maintaining the current retirement age, and blocking foreign investors from buying state-owned businesses.

Over 600,000 Poles registered to vote abroad – almost twice as many four years ago. The government has set a deadline of 24 hours following the Sunday polling closure for counting overseas ballots. This could mean that some votes will not be included in the final count.