Poland's Foreign Affairs Ministry created 263 electoral commissions in consular offices around the world to allow Polish nationals living in abroad to vote in Sunday's election.

Due to the time difference, Poles in the US and in Canada were the first to cast their ballots on Saturday June 19. Traditionally their vote is more conservative than the average in Poland, and it seems that this election was no different.

TVN24 reported that Law and Justice’s (PiS) Jarosław Kaczyński, in second place domestically, amassed nearly 80 percent of the votes from the Polish community of Chicago, where Civic Platform’s (PO) Bronisław Komorowski received just 16 percent support.

Around 38,000 people registered to vote in the US, of which turnout stood at 80-90 percent. That was a lot higher than in the 2007 parliamentary elections, Paweł Maciąg, spokesperson for the Polish Embassy in Washington, told Rzeczpospolita.

Of the estimated 750,000 Poles living in the UK, 46,000 registered to vote. This is around 2,000 fewer than for the 2007 parliamentary elections, the daily reported.

The Polish community in the UK, a group which emigrated comparatively recently and remains in contact with its homeland and current affairs, were expected to support Bronisław Komorowski over Jarosław Kaczyński.

Gazeta Wyborcza reported that over 2,500 soldiers currently in duty in Afghanistan were registered to vote.