Opposition candidate Karol Nawrocki won Poland’s presidential election after 100% of the ballots were counted, the election commission said on Monday.
The candidate won 50.89% of the vote and won in the second round. His rival, Rafal Trzaskowski, representing the ruling Civic Coalition, received 49.11%.
Nawrocki will now officially become the new head of state.
In the Polish presidential election held on May 18, candidates from the Civic Coalition, Rafal Trzaskowski, and from the largest opposition party, Law and Justice (PiS), Karol Nawrocki, went through the second round. The chairman of the Polish Electoral Commission, Sylwester Marciniak, said that 63 violations of the “day of silence” before the presidential election had been recorded, most of them involving campaigning on the internet.
According to a sociological survey, the favourite in the presidential race was Rafal Trzaskowski, who served as mayor of Warsaw. Nawrocki was in second place.
According to the newspaper Rzeczpospolita, the majority of the nationally oriented electorate supported Nawrocki in the second round of the presidential election. In turn, Trzaskowski was supported in the second round by voters who had previously voted for candidates from the left and centrist forces.
During a fierce election campaign in recent weeks, the two politicians offered very different visions for Poland. The winner will replace outgoing President Andrzej Duda, an ally of PiS, who will step down in August after completing two terms. Although the role of president in Poland is largely ceremonial, he has some influence over foreign and defence policy and has the crucial right to veto new legislation. This decision can only be overturned by a 60% majority in parliament, which Donald Tusk’s government does not have.
