A narrower-than-expected win for Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) and a serious setback for Hungary’s governing Fidesz show eastern Europe’s illiberal nationalist parties are not entirely invincible, analysts and commentators have said. “It looks like this may be a small step in the right direction – but it’s clear the opposition still has an awful lot of work to do,” said Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform. The ruling party cast the election as a choice between a society of traditional Catholic values and a liberal elite that undermines family life, with critics accusing it of stoking homophobia and anti-LGBT sentiment. It was also rewarded by poorer, mainly rural voters for the 70bn-zloty (£14bn) social and welfare programmes it has rolled out.