Warsaw [Poland], May 20: Warsaw's pro-EU mayor Rafal Trzaskowski narrowly came out on top in the first round of voting in Poland's presidential election.
With all ballots counted, Trzaskowski won 31.36% of the vote. His main opponent, national-conservative candidate Karol Nawrocki, came in at 29.54%, the national election commission said on Monday.
With less than 2 percentage points separating the frontrunners, a runoff vote is set for June 1.
A key factor for round two could be voters who supported far-right candidates that were eliminated in the first round. However, the two far-right candidates had a strong showing, receiving a combined 21.15%.
Trzaskowski is from Prime Minister Donald Tusk's centrist Civic Coalition, and a win would allow Tusk more space to push his EU-friendly reform agenda that has been held up by the current nationalist president.
The opposition, the right-wing Law and Justice party (PiS) of current President Andrzej Duda, is backing Nawrocki.
Centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski was narrowly ahead in the first round of Poland's presidential election, an exit poll showed.
Trzaskowski, from the ruling Civic Coalition (KO), got 30.8% of the vote, according to the exit poll.
Nationalist historian Karol Nawrocki, who is backed by the right-wing opposition party Law and Justice (PiS), got 29.1% of votes, according to the vote.
Runoff elections are scheduled for June 1.
The presidential election saw a turnout rate of over 20% of eligible voters by midday, the Polish electoral commission has said.
Despite being four percentage points lower than the same time during the last presidential election in 2020, it is six percentage points higher than in 2015.
Poland has about 28.3 million eligible voters.
Source: Times of Oman
