Poland's opposition likely to take power: updated exit poll

WARSAW -- Poland's opposition is likely to form the country's new government as an updated exit poll showed on Monday afternoon that the opposition parties would jointly win a majority in the parliament.

According to the latest results published by global polling research firm Ipsos, although the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party has come first in the country's parliamentary elections, with 36.1 percent of the vote in a United Right coalition with smaller groups, it failed to muster a majority in the new parliament.

On the part of the opposition, the Civic Coalition (KO) finished in second place with 31.0 percent, the Third Way alliance came third with 14.4 percent, and the New Left party came fourth with 8.6 percent, according to the survey.

In terms of seats in the Sejm, the 460-member lower house of parliament, the KO is expected to win 158 seats, the Third Way alliance 61 seats and the New Left 30 seats. Combiningly, the opposition can secure 249 seats, while the PiS and its ally only take 196 seats.

Ipsos said its "late poll" findings combined exit poll data with partial official results based on 90 percent of the vote, and would vary only slightly from the final election results.

The official results of the vote were expected to be announced by midday on Tuesday.

The National Electoral Commission said on Monday that the turnout of the parliamentary elections, according to data from 28.56 percent of the electoral districts, amounted to a record 71.99 percent.