Warsaw: Poland's governing pro-European coalition parties came out top in local elections Sunday seen as a first test since the group's landmark win in a general election last year, exit polls said.
The right-wing Law and Justice (PiS), which governed for years before losing power to the pro-EU alliance of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, won the most votes for a single party at 33.7 percent, according to the IPSOS institute.
Tusk's centrist Civic Coalition (KO) won 31.9 percent, while its allies, the Christian-Democratic Third Way movement and the Left, scored 13.5 percent and 6.8 percent respectively.
The far-right Confederation party -- the only potential ally for the PiS -- won 7.5 percent.
Tusk celebrated another victory for the pro-EU alliance after the October 15 general election tjat returned him to power. "October 15 came again in April," he said.
Voters in the EU and NATO member of 38 million people chose mayors and local and regional government members from almost 200,000 candidates.
'Another step'
The Civic Coalition scored resounding wins in the race for mayor in the capital Warsaw and the port city of Gdansk, its two main strongholds.
Tusk ally Rafal Trzaskowski, who won a new term as mayor of Warsaw, said the results marked "another step on the road to making sure that the populists represented by the PiS never return to power".
Still, PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski rejoiced that his movement remained the country's biggest single party.
"The rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated," he said, borrowing the famous line from writer Mark Twain.
Poland's electoral commission said it expected to release the full results on Wednesday.
The election campaign focused largely on local issues, such as transport, housing and the reinforcement of local and regional governments after years of centralisation pushed by the PiS.
The campaign was marked by farmers' rallies -- in protest against European Union ennvironment regulations and cheap grain imports from Ukraine -- financial scandals linked to the previous government and a rift in the ruling coalition over bids to liberalise the abortion law.
As expected, turnout trailed the record-high 74.4 percent from last year's general election, which propelled the Tusk-led coalition to power.
The Ipsos exit poll put turnout at 51.5 percent, with young voters especially reluctant to take part, unlike in the general election.
