Poland votes in local elections test for Polish PM Donald Tusk

Voters across Poland are casting ballots in local elections on Sunday four months after the government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk took power, ending eight years of conservative nationalist rule in the country.

Nearly 190,000 candidates are vying for positions as mayors and councillors across the nation of 38 million people.

Recent voter surveys have shown a close race is likely between Tusk's Civic Coalition and Law and Justice (PiS), the conservative party that governed the country from 2015.

The results will be closely watched in Brussels ahead of European Parliament elections in June.

Litmus test for liberal pro-European stance
The vote is being seen as a first electoral test for Tusk's coalition government.

Tusk has pledged to reverse the previous government's changes to the judicial system and public media, which were seen by the European Union as violating its democratic standards.

This led to frequently strained relations between Warsaw and Brussels.

However, change in several areas has been slow in coming, as new legislation will be needed, for example, to give the judicial system back its independence.

The strict abortion laws introduced by the PiS are also supported by some conservatives in Tusk's own coalition, hampering reforms.

Nonetheless, the reforms enacted by Tusk have already led to the unblocking of billions in EU funds that were frozen over the bloc's concern about the state of the rule of law under the PiS.

Tusk warns of backsliding

The prime minister himself has warned that a win for his liberal Civic Coalition (KO), the largest grouping in the ruling alliance, is vital if Poland is to not to slip toward a return of the nationalist rule of the PiS.

"Our dream — once a beautiful dream, and today an increasingly better reality — may end overnight," he told a rally in Warsaw on Friday.

"If someone believes that freedom, human rights, women's rights, democracy, free economy, self-government — that all this is permanent, will defend itself ... we will lose it all again."

The PiS has repeatedly rejected accusations that it undermined democracy and human rights during its time in power.

PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski has called on voters to show Tusk's government "a yellow card" — a warning given to players by soccer referees.

A second round of voting in mayoral races will be held on April 21.