Adam Easton
BBC Warsaw correspondent
Reuters
Warsaw Mayor Rafal Truzaskovsky was slightly ahead of his conservative rival, according to a poll released when the vote ended.
According to exit polls, Warsaw’s liberal mayor Rafal Truzaskowsky won a narrow victory in Polish presidential elections, but a second-round spill with conservative historian Karol Nowrocky will be called for to decide on the next president.
According to a poll released when the vote ended, Trzaskowski, the deputy leader of Prime Minister Donald Tass’s Centlist Citizens Platform (PO) party, won 30.8% of the vote.
Nawrocki came in second with 29.1% of votes.
If the vote is confirmed by the final official result – not expected until late Monday – Trzaskowski and Nawrocki will compete in the second round on June 1st as none of the 13 candidates won more than 50% of the vote.
“We’re going to win,” Trzaskowski told his supporters at a rally in Sandomierz in southern Poland. But he said it requires a lot of work and “big determination.”
“I’m sure all Poland will win,” he said.
He pledged to work with the coalition of Prime Minister Tass to liberalize the country’s strict abortion laws and accelerate reforms in Polish judiciary.
Trzaskowski performed worse than the poll predicted before the vote.
Polish presidents have mostly ritual powers, but can reject government laws. The coalition of tasks does not have enough parliamentary majority to overturn the presidential veto.
Tusk failed to provide many of his campaign promises, as it was not only due to incumbent conservative President Andrzej Duda’s rejected government laws, but also due to a division within the coalition over issues such as abortion and civil partnership.
Trzaskowski’s victory will eliminate the president’s veto, but Nawrocki will be an even more severe obstacle than Duda.
Nawrocki told his supporters of Gdansk that Tusk must stop acquiring total power in Poland.
He called supporters of two far-right candidates, Slawomir Mentzen, who won 15.4% in third place, and Grzegorz Braun, who won 6.2% in fourth place, to “save Poland” from Tusk.
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Conservative historian Karol Naucky ranked second in 29.1% of votes, according to exit polls
Many will depend on which candidates are able to mobilize voters in the second round.
Nawrocki was unknown nationwide before Law and Justice (PIS) chose him as a candidate. However, he has improved his job, and PIS has traditionally been good at putting votes.
Trzaskowski will need to win votes from his centralist supporters, but he will also need to get people who will support junior coalition partners, left (Magdalena biejat) and conservative third-way (Szymon Holownia).
Another concern for Trzaskowski is better than the far-right candidate expects, as many supporters don’t vote for him.
Mentzen’s results have been strong and continued to improve his far-right coalition party since entering Congress in 2019.
Who will he, mainly young voters, come back to the leak?
Many support Nowrocky because of his Catholic and family-friendly views, but they dislike the left-wing economic policy of Piss’ generous national interests.
Menzen is an anti-establishment candidate, and some of his supporters may not want to vote for either Nau Rocky or Truzaskovsky, representing two political parties that have dominated Polish politics for 20 years.
The outcome of far-right MEP Grzegorz Braun was a troubling surprise for Polish liberal voters.
Brown made the headline in 2023 when he put out a candle to the Jewish menorah of the Polish Parliament, along with fire extinguishers, after the Hanukkah festival ceremony.
Brown called the festival “devil.” In a presidential debate last month, he said: “The Jews have too much about the issue of Poland.”
