Poland’s deputy prime minister, who until now had led a junior party in the government, has lost his position as head of his Polish People’s Party, raising questions about the government’s continued make-up.

Poland’s business-friendly and pro-EU Civic Platform ousted prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s conservatives in parliamentary elections, early results said today, in the strongest showing for any single party since the eastern European country overthrew Communism in 1989.