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Polish Opposition Party Wins Landslide Victory
Polish voters have handed victory to the opposition Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), a party with roots in the country's former communist regime, exit polls show.
The Democratic Left is set to take around 45% of the vote, which would enable it to form Poland's first single party government since the collapse of Communism in 1989.
The elections also marked the political extinction of the Solidarity bloc (AWS), which failed to win any seats, according to two separate exit polls.
Solidarity was the party that led Poland out of communism, but a BBC correspondent in Warsaw says its four-year rule has been marked by lower economic growth, higher unemployment and a series of scandals.
Preliminary results reported on Polish television showed the SLD winning 44.9% of the vote, enough for 231 seats in the 460-seat parliament, the Sejm.
The opposition is now made up of a clutch of small parties.
Civic Platform, which like the Democratic Left strongly supports Poland's bid to join the European Union, came second with about 13% of the vote.
But the exit polls suggest that about a quarter of seats will go to parties opposed to EU membership.
The preliminary results included nearly 10% support for a radical fringe party called Self-Defence which objects to joining the EU and which has in the past organised roadblocks to protest at government policies.
The Peasant Party, a long-established farmers grouping garnered 9.9%, while Solidarity won just 4.4% - it needed 8% to stay in parliament.
Turnout appeared low reflecting a docile campaign which was overshadowed by the recent attacks in the US, which led to political parties cancelling major rallies and other events.
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