Poland’s opposition Law and Justice party – conservative and Eurosceptic – has won parliamentary elections. The party is expected to have enough seats to govern alone – something unprecedented in 26 years. Exit polls suggest it got 39% of the vote. Its leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski claimed victory, and the outgoing Prime Minister, Ewa Kopacz of the centrist Civic Platform, admitted defeat. Law and Justice (PiS) has strong support in poorer, rural areas.

If the numbers suggested by the exit poll are confirmed, it will be the first time since democracy was restored in Poland in 1989 that a single party has won enough seats to govern alone. Prime Ministerial candidate Beata Szydlo said she was grateful for the support of the Polish people.

Law and Justice won big because they offered simple, concrete policies for the many in Poland that feel untouched by the country’s impressive economic growth. It offered higher child care benefits and tax breaks for the less well-off.

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