WARSAW Ñ PolandÕs chief right-wing opposition party, out of power for nearly a decade, came roaring back in parliamentary voting Sunday, apparently seizing control of the government with a platform that mixes calls for higher wages with appeals to traditional Catholic values. Private exit polls, released immediately after voting ended Sunday evening, showed the party, Law and Justice, drawing 39.1 percent of the vote, trouncing Civic Platform, the center-right party that has led Poland since 2007, which got 23.4 percent.

Law and Justice immediately declared victory and Civic Platform conceded defeat, although the final results will not be made official until Tuesday.

ÒPolish life can be different,Ó said Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of Law and Justice. ÒWe can be proud of it. We will never have to be ashamed of ourselves, as we did many times in the past, through no fault of ours.Ó

ÒThere will be no vengeance,Ó he said. ÒNo personal conflicts, no getting even, no kicking of those who fell Ñ even if they fell because of themselves, and rightly so.Ó

Mr. Kaczynski, a former prime minister and the twin brother of President Lech Kaczynski, who was killed in a 2010 plane crash, did not run as the partyÕs candidate for prime minister. Although he is expected to wield power behind the scenes Ñ it was he who was the chief speaker at SundayÕs victory celebration Ñ the prime ministership will go to another party veteran, Beata Szydlo.

A somber Civic Platform conceded defeat and touted its accomplishments.

ÒWe havenÕt wasted these eight years,Ó said Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz. ÒPoland today is a country which develops economically with single-digit unemployment. This is the state weÕre leaving Poland to those who won the election.Ó

In an especially telling result, highlighting how Poland was joining many regional neighbors in a shift to the right, none of the countryÕs left-wing or social democratic parties appeared to have qualified for seats in Parliament for the first time in PolandÕs post-communist history

ÒLet us not lose spirit,Ó said Barbara Nowacka, head of the Left Alliance. ÒAlthough society tell us, ÔNo, we want the right,Õ we do know that the time for the left will come and then we will be waiting, strong and determined, with our heads high.Ó

With 38 million residents, Poland is both the largest and the most economically vibrant nation in Eastern Europe and has emerged in recent years as a regional leader. Still, disenchanted voters have proved increasingly tired of hearing about a thriving economy that they feel has left too many behind and that still lags far behind those of more prosperous, Western European nations.

Under PolandÕs complex voting rules, a party can take control of the government without the need for a coalition partner even if it draws less than 40 percent of the vote, depending on how many of the smaller parties cross the 5 percent threshold required to earn seats in the new Parliament.

Although the exit polls seemed to suggest that Law and Justice might end up with a majority in Parliament while three smaller parties drew enough votes to get in, as well, the official roster of those that were able to cross the threshold will not be released until Monday. Only then will it become clear whether Law and Justice can form a government on its own, or will need to seek a coalition partner.

Civic Platform has been under a cloud since last summer, when several government officials were caught making profane and impolitic comments on illegal wiretaps. It suffered a further blow when its leader, Donald Tusk, resigned as prime minister last year to become president of the European Council in Brussels.

ÒThe carnival that is the election is over,Ó Mr. Kaczynski told Law and Justice supporters on Sunday. ÒNow it is time for real work. We must remember about modesty, which binds us.Ó