Foreign policy, LGBTQ rights and abortion under Prime Minister Donald Task were major issues in the campaign trajectory.
Polish voters are voting to elect the next president, which is expected to be a close contest between Warsaw’s liberal mayor and conservative historians.
The poll opened at 7am (05:00 GMT) in Sunday’s election. The results of the exit voting are expected to be announced after the votes close at 9pm (7:00 GMT). The final official results of the contest run by 13 candidates are expected on Monday.
The frontrunners are Rafal Truzaskowsky, the pro-European mayor of the Polish capital, and Karol Naulocki, a historian backed by nationalist law and the judicial party who lost power 18 months ago.
Neither is expected to reach the 50% threshold required for a victory and could be leaked on June 1st.
The election is closely monitored whether it supports a return to the nationalist vision of law and justice that ran the country from 2015 to 2023, or whether it supports the European parental path set by Prime Minister Donald Tass.
Task was elected prime minister in December 2023 after breaking laws and justice that had been engaged in repeated disputes with the European Union.
The Polish president has restricted administrative power, but is the commander of the military, capable of carrying out foreign policy and rejecting the law.
The fear of security is imminent
The campaign has revolved primarily around foreign policy at a time when security concerns in Poland, a key NATO and EU member adjacent to war-torn Ukraine, fearing that US commitment to European security could shaking by Donald Trump-era President.
Trzaskowski, the assistant leader of Tusk’s Centre-Right Civic Platform, has committed to cementing Poland’s role as a major player in the heart of Europe, in contrast to law and justice.
“I will definitely strengthen NATO’s relationship with partners within the EU,” Trzaskowski told the state’s TVP information on Friday.
Social issues were also a major theme on the campaign trail, as Now Rocky framing herself as a guardian of conservative values and eliciting support from liberal voters for pledges to support abortion and LGBTQ rights.
Malgorzata Mikoszewska, a 41-year-old tourist agency employee, told AFP News that she is a fan of Trzaskowski’s liberal attitude on social issues.
“More than anything, I want to liberalize the abortion and sexual minority laws,” she said.
Apartment Scandal
Now Rocky’s campaign was supported this month when I met up with Trump at the White House’s oval office.
However, he was later charged by an elderly man that he had purchased a Gdansk apartment from the elderly, and was promised to provide lifelong care to the man. Nawrocki denied the allegation.
Polish authorities have reported attempts to foreign interference during the campaign. This includes denial-of-service attacks targeting political parties’ websites in Tusk’s ruling coalition, and allegations by state research institutions that political ads on Facebook are funded from overseas.
“Nowrocky as president could lead to paralysis of the government and ultimately lead to the collapse of the ruling coalition,” political scientist Anna Mattelka Sosnowska told AFP.
His victory will see “returning with new powers of populists” in the next general election, she said.
The new president will replace Andrzej Duda, who will serve two terms and not qualify for standing again.
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