We are getting closer, we're inches from electoral win. We must stay united and we shall prevail in October. This is our goal, said the leader of the Civic Platform Grzegorz Schetyna right after exit polls from EU elections in Poland had been published.
Poland's ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) came out narrowly ahead in Sunday's European Parliament vote, seen as test of the party's nationalist, eurosceptic platform before a national election later in the year.
A late poll by pollster IPSOS showed PiS winning 43,1% of votes, up from 31.8% in the EU ballot five years ago and 37.6% during Poland's 2015 parliamentary election.
The opposition European Coalition, comprising the Civic Platform formerly led by European Council President Donald Tusk and a group of leftist and rural politicians, scored second with 38,4%.
Schetyna: we have built the European Coalition and that's a big success
"This was only the first half of the match. We all love sports. We all know that everything is still ahead of us. We have made a big step forward together. We have built the European Coalition and that's a big success," said Civic Platform leader Grzegorz Schetyna.
He thanked "Polish women and men who voted for us". He added that "nearly seven million votes cast on European Coalition is a great success".
"We're still in exit polls reality. We have achieved a great result, we've built a coalition, we're very close, we're inches away. I would like to ask everyone to wait for the final results before drawing conclusions. We should really remain patient because the future is ours," said Schetyna.
"It's the beginning of a long road. We're getting closer, we're inches from electoral win. We must stay united and we shall prevail in October. This is our goal," Schetyna stressed in his speech.
"We have shown that we can and we want to be united and that's the key to a win in October," he added.
Schetyna thanked Polish People's Party, Democratic Left Alliance, Modern Party, the Greens and Polish Initiative for a joint electoral campaign.
Poland's parliamentary elections have been scheduled for October 2019.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 News in English, PAP, Reuters
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: tvn24