President Komorowski: Local election results valid

President Bronislaw Komorowski. Photo: PAP/Jacek Turczyk

Komorowski's comments came after conservative opposition party Law and Justice slammed the official results, with the party garnering a four percent lower vote share than an exit poll had forecast.

''As always after an election result, some are satisfied, others are disappointed - this is normal in a democracy,'' Komorowski said following a meeting with constitutional experts.

''It's worth bearing in mind that the outcome of an election is always decided by the actual votes cast by the electorate, and not by surveys or exit polls,'' he added.

As regards the two largest parties, an exit poll on 16 November had given Law and Justice 31.5 percent of the vote concerning elections to regional assemblies, while Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz's centre-right Civic Platform was forecast to garner 27.3 percent.

Yet following delays owing to computer glitches, the National Electoral Commission (PKW) ultimately gave Law and Justice 26.85 percent, and Civic Platform 26.36 percent. The latter won the most actual seats (179) compared with Law and Justice's (171).

Komorowski argued that in spite of the chaos with the delayed vote count ''there are no grounds to question the validity of the elections.''

Meanwhile, former president Lech Walesa has said that ''democracy looks bad when such simple things are messed up.

''We need to do something about it,'' he added.

However, Walesa dismissed the idea of a rerun of the elections, saying that instead, ''everything should be done'' to stop vote count problems from occurring again.(nh)

Source: PAP