Opinion polls published in the days before the vote showed that the two largest political formations were neck and neck.

The coalition government established four months ago in Poland is facing its first test in the local elections, where voting begins in the morning. There are approximately 190 thousand candidates competing for local government positions in the Central European country with a population of 38 million.

Polish voters went to the polls in the local elections, which were the first serious test for the coalition government formed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

Voters will elect mayors as well as members of municipal councils and provincial councils. In Poland, which escaped communism 35 years ago, if the mayoral candidates fail to win at least 50 percent of the votes in the first round, the second round of voting will be held two weeks later, on April 21.

Opinion polls published in the days before the vote showed the two largest political formations running neck and neck: the Civic Coalition, the electoral coalition led by Tusk's centrist and pro-European Union Civic Platform party, and the National Conservative party, which governed the country from 2015 until last year.

Several other groups follow these two main groups, including the Third Way coalition, the Left, and the radical right-wing Confederation party.

Tusk's coalition government, including the Third Way and the Left, jointly won national elections in October. This result, with record participation, marked the end of the eight-year turbulent rule of Law and Justice, which was accused by the European Union of violating democratic standards with its changes in the judicial system and public media.

Prime Minister Tusk won the election with promises to reverse many of these changes and is trying to implement this program. Tusk's attempts to restore independence to the judicial system is a long process that will require the adoption of new laws.