Poland's Solidarity facing defeat

Poland: Support for Solidarity has plummeted

WARSAW, Poland -- Poles are voting on Sunday in an election that could see the demise of Solidarity -- a key movement in Poland's conversion to democracy.

The opposition alliance is on course to win a clear parliamentary majority and wipe out the ruling Solidarity coalition, according to national opinion polls

The coalition built around Solidarity is down to about seven percent support while two new centre-right parties have been able to take advantage of its troubles and are garnering around 10-12 percent support.

If those figures are translated into votes Solidarity -- and other parties in its coalition -- would not get the required eight percent of votes to secure seats in the 460-seat Sejm, or lower house of parliament

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Support for Solidarity and it allies has plummeted after a number of corruption scandals and the emergence of the Civil Platform and Law and Justice parties.

The opposition SLD, or Democratic Left Alliance, has been gaining between 43 and 52 percent backing in recent polls, which would allow them to form a Cabinet without needing to strike coalition deals.

In one of the last campaign speeches President Aleksander Kwasniewski - an SLD man - gave tacit support for the group without mentioning it by name.

"Poland needs a government with a stable parliamentary majority...with which I shall be able to work," he said in a TV address on Friday.

Poland observed a 24-hour ban on campaigning on Saturday ahead of the general election.