POLAND: Poles voted in local elections yesterday in the first major test of a ruling coalition that has secured economic growth despite internal wrangling.
Opinion polls suggest Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski's Law and Justice party may do well in the countryside with the centre-right Civic Platform, the main opposition party, polling better in the big cities. These centres are engines of Poland's rapid economic growth, which may exceed 5 per cent this year.
A good result for Law and Justice could encourage it to abandon its uneasy coalition with leftist and rightist fringe parties and call an early general election, some analysts say.
A big win for the opposition could hurt Mr Kaczynski's efforts to consolidate power, less than one month after a deal that prevented his coalition falling apart.
Financial markets were steady suggesting traders expected a mixed result with no party gaining a decisive victory.