Poland’s radical right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party won the most votes in local elections in Poland, according to exit polls.

Still, despite winning 33.7% of the vote, according to the exit poll by Ipsos, the former ruling party, which lost power in the general election last October, appeared on course to secure a majority in just three regional assemblies, down from six it had held before the Sunday vote.

The incumbent Civic Coalition, led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, came in at 31.9% but looked fairly certain to be able to form regional coalitions with its partners, the Third Way and the Left, which won 13.5% and 6.8% of the vote, respectively.

The far-right Confederation party won 7.5% of the vote. The turnout in the election was a lowly 51.5%, lower than the 54.9% in 2018 and dramatically below 74.4% in the general election vote in October.

Poland’s 16 regions are important because of their role in managing billions from EU funds. The exact distribution of seats in regional assemblies – and therefore likely coalitions – are expected on April 10 when the official results are out.

Even though PiS looked unlikely to strengthen its position in the regions, the party's Chairman Jaroslaw Kaczynski was exuberant as he took the floor at PiS’ headquarters on  election night.

“This result shows that we have plenty of work to do,” Kaczynski said, referring to a raft of elections coming up in Poland.

"It might have given us a majority in the national election so we have to make sure it happens when the next national elections comes," Kaczynski also said.

There is an European Parliament election in June followed by the presidential contest in the spring of 2025.

The presidential vote is particularly crucial for PiS, as having a president is the party’s surest best to counter the Tusk government effectively - much like the incumbent President Andrzej Duda has been doing since Tusk's first day in office.

Tusk, however, appeared as pleased as Kaczynski – especially with his Civic Coalition’s results in mayoral contests in key Polish cities. In Warsaw, the incumbent mayor Rafal Trzaskowski easily won with 59.8% of the vote.

"The road to making Polish democracy truly strong, to being certain that PiS populists will never return to power, is not easy. I am glad that another step on this road has been taken," Trzaskowski said.

PiS fared especially poorly in the biggest cities, managing to force a run-off vote – which takes place when no mayoral candidate wins more than 50% of the vote – in just one city, Poznan. Elsewhere, PiS candidates did not even make it to the run-offs.