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PM Kopacz: elections ‘a victory for Polish democracy’

01.12.2014 10:36Aktualizacja: 11.09.2020 04:37Read in 3 minutes

Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz has hailed Sunday’s local elections as a win for Civic Platform, as the ruling centre-right party managed to win mayoral posts in a number of major cities.

Speaking after the announcement of the exit polls, Sunday evening, Kopacz thanked Poles for voting, saying that the elections “are a victory for Polish democracy”.

PM Kopacz: elections ‘a victory for Polish democracy’

“Civic Platform won in Gdansk, Wroclaw, but first and foremost Warsaw and Poznan,” Kopacz underlined, raising hopes that the final results, which are expected to be released, Monday, “will also prove to be as favourable”.

Meanwhile, head of the major opposition Law and Justice, Jaroslaw Kaczynski said that his party is gaining traction in the polls and voiced that his party will do well in the general and presidential elections, both billed for next year.

“These are good results […] which are promising in terms of the future,” Kaczynski said, underlining that Law and Justice “has to work hard, [but] this work gives positive effects”.

Law and Justice managed to win a number of cities in Poland’s east, with the party’s candidates taking up mayoral posts in Siedlce, Ostroleka, Biala Podlaska, Zamosc and Lomza.

Official: Gronkiewicz-Waltz secures third term in Warsaw

In Warsaw, Civic Platform’s Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, who gained 58.64 percent according to the official results released on Monday morning, thanked voters “who put their trust in me for a third time”.

Her rival, Law and Justice’s Jacek Sasin, garnered 41.36 percent of the ballot, according to final figures from electoral commission.

The official results were markedly similar to exit-polls released on Sunday. The final figures reveal that Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz secured 342,857 votes, while Jacek Sasin polled 241,790 ballots. Over 8,000 ballot papers were declared invalid.

Speaking after the exit polls were announced, Gronkiewicz-Waltz said “together we will all build Warsaw over the next four years” and that Warsaw will become a “friendly, accesible, active and comfortable capital in Central Europe”.

However, Warsaw’s incumbent said that she will not stand for elections in four years time, saying that “after twelve years it is worth changing leaders”.

Commenting on Gronkiewicz-Waltz’s victory, Sasin said that “we were close to making changes in Warsaw so that the city would be better managed”.

“There are many people in Warsaw who want change, […] who believe that Gronkiewicz-Waltz’s governing of Warsaw is damaging,” Sasin underlined, adding that “what is needed is […] greater interest in people”.