Opposition parties appear to have won enough votes in Poland’s general election to oust the ruling right-wing populist Law and Justice (PiS) party, almost complete results show.

With more than 99% of votes counted, PiS led with 35.64%, while Donald Tusk’s liberal Civic Coalition party had 30.48%.

But Mr Tusk is now most likely to be able to form a broad coalition.

That would end eight years of rule under PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

The National Electoral Commission will give the final result on Tuesday. Although the winning party is expected to be offered the chance to form a government, Mr Kaczynski will fall well short of the 231 seats he needs to form a majority parliament, the Sejm.

According to a final exit poll published on Monday, a partnership with the far-right Confederation would leave the socially conservative PiS 20 seats below the required number.

“This is the end of the bad times, this is the end of the PiS government,” Donald Tusk declared on Sunday night.

The opposition had already warned Poles it was their “last chance” to save democracy. The National Election Commission put the turnout at 74% , the highest since the fall of communism in 1989.

“Poland won, democracy has won,” Mr Tusk, 66, told a large crowd of jubilant supporters in Warsaw.

His Civic Coalition will look to form a government with the centre-right Third Way, which saw a surge in support with around 14.4% of the vote, and the New Left on around 8.5%. Between them, they would easily reach a majority, with the final exit poll giving them 249 seats in the 460-seat parliament.

Poland’s stock market surged by more than 6% and its currency, the Zloty, also rose on the expectation of a new government.

Speaking after the exit poll on Sunday night, Mr Kaczynski warned voters he did not know if the party’s “success will be able to be turned into another term in power”.

International observers said on Monday that parties had been able to campaign freely before Sunday’s vote, but PiS had enjoyed a “clear advantage” through biased state media coverage and the misuse of public funds.

State TV’s election night coverage broadcast Mr Kaczynski’s address to supporters in full, but gave little room to his main rival.

Although polls closed at 21:00 local time on Sunday, voters queued well into the night in Warsaw and Krakow, and into the early hours in Wroclaw.

Pollster Ipsos said the proportion of 18-29-year-old voters was bigger than those aged over 60.

Law and Justice came to power in 2015, and it has emphasised Catholic family values, increasing the minimum wage and raising child support and pensioner payments.

It has also imposed a near-total ban on abortion in 2021 and been accused of politicising the judiciary, by staffing top courts with judges sympathetic to the ruling party.

Mr Tusk has vowed to improve relations with the EU and unlock €36bn (£30bn) of EU Covid pandemic recovery funds frozen in a row over the PiS judicial reforms. His coalition has also vowed to liberalise abortion laws.

Poland has also been a staunch supporter of Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion last year and taken in a million refugees.

PiS leaders did show signs of wavering in recent weeks, but that was seen as an attempt to court far-right voters and whoever leads the next government is expected to maintain Poland’s support for its neighbour.

Poland may not get a new government before December, after PiS ally President Andrzej Duda said the winning party would be given the first chance of forming a coalition because that is the Polish tradition.

Assuming the PiS candidate chosen by the president fails to win a vote of confidence in parliament, the Sejm would then appoint a candidate who would also try to form a coalition and win a confidence vote.

Mr Tusk and his allies could start talks as early as this week, even if they may have to wait several weeks for the chance to form a coalition.