Poland will maintain the primary spherical of voting in its presidential election on Sunday.
It is a hotly contested race between two essential candidates – one from Civic Platform, the lead celebration within the ruling Civic Coalition, and the opposite an unbiased backed by the primary opposition celebration, Legislation and Justice (PiS).
Whereas a lot of the ability rests with the prime minister and parliament in Poland, the president is ready to veto laws and has affect over army and international coverage choices. The present president, Andrzej Duda, who’s from PiS, has used his veto to dam reforms to the justice system that the federal government has been attempting to enact for a while.
Moreover, stories of international election interference have just lately spooked voters who’re primarily involved with points such because the Russia-Ukraine warfare, immigration, abortion rights and the economic system.
Right here is all we all know concerning the upcoming vote:
How does voting work?
Polish residents aged 18 or older can vote. There are about 29 million eligible voters. On Sunday, they are going to choose a single candidate from a listing of registered presidential candidates. If a candidate wins at the very least 50 % of the vote, they win the election. If all candidates fall in need of the 50 % threshold, the nation will vote in a second spherical for the 2 prime contenders from the primary spherical on June 1. The winner of that contest will change into president. The election is predicted to go to a second spherical.
Presidents might serve a most of two five-year phrases in Poland. The present president reaches the top of his second time period on August 6.
What time do polls open and shut in Poland?
On Might 18, polls will open at 7am (05:00 GMT) and shut at 9pm (19:00 GMT).
What’s at stake?
In 2023, present Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s Civic Coalition ascended to energy, ending eight years of rule by the PiS celebration’s authorities.
Whereas Tusk promised to reverse unpopular judicial reforms enacted by PiS, President Andrzej Duda, a former nationalist ally of the celebration, has hampered Tusk’s efforts by utilizing his presidential energy to veto laws.
What are the important thing points?
Key points dominating this election embrace the Russia-Ukraine warfare.
When the warfare first broke out in February 2022, Poland threw its full help behind Ukraine, welcoming a couple of million Ukrainian refugees who crossed the border with out paperwork.
On Might 10, Tusk, alongside different European leaders, visited Kyiv and gave Russian President Vladimir Putin an ultimatum to enact an unconditional 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine.
Nonetheless, relations between Poland and Ukraine have grown tense. Earlier this 12 months, Polish farmers led protests, arguing the market had been flooded with low cost agricultural merchandise from Ukraine.
There are additionally rising stories of Ukrainian refugees going through discrimination in Poland, in addition to resentment about welfare supplied to them.
There have been rising fears of a spillover of Russian aggression to Poland attributable to its proximity to Ukraine. On Might 12, the Ministry of Overseas Affairs in Warsaw stated an investigation had revealed that Moscow’s intelligence businesses had orchestrated a large fireplace at a procuring centre in Warsaw in Might 2024.
A number of candidates for the presidential election have proposed elevating the defence funds to five % of GDP.
Poles even have financial issues about taxes, housing prices and the state of public transport.
Abortion is a key concern in Poland. Poland has among the strictest abortion legal guidelines in Europe. Girls are solely allowed to have abortions in circumstances of rape or incest or if their life or well being are in danger.
In August 2024, Tusk acknowledged that he didn’t have sufficient backing from parliament to ship on one in every of his key marketing campaign guarantees and alter the abortion regulation.
Opinion can be cut up on whether or not LGBTQ rights ought to be restricted or expanded within the nation.
The nation can be divided over how concerned it ought to be with the European Union (EU), with the PiS taking the stance that the nation could be higher off forming an alliance with the US than the EU.
Who’s working?
A complete of 13 candidates are vying for the presidency. The highest 4 candidates are:
Rafal Trzaskowski
Trzaskowski, 53, has been the liberal mayor of Warsaw since 2018 and is an ally of Tusk, affiliated with the PM’s political alliance, Civic Coalition. He’s additionally a senior member of the Civic Platform celebration (PO), which heads the Civic Coalition. Trzaskowski was narrowly defeated by Duda within the 2020 presidential election.
Throughout his time as mayor, he was lauded for investing in Warsaw’s infrastructure and tradition. He proposes to extend defence spending to five % of gross home product (GDP) and to develop Poland’s arms and know-how trade.
Trzaskowski has liberal views. He’s pro-Europe and one in every of his marketing campaign guarantees contains strengthening Poland’s place within the EU. One other one in every of his pledges is to calm down abortion legal guidelines, nonetheless, he has been quiet on this concern in the course of the run-up to the presidential election. He has additionally been supportive of the LGBTQ group and has attended pleasure parades. This might alienate some extra conservative voters who reside outdoors city centres.
For that reason, right-wing voters might vote in opposition to him within the second spherical of voting. Trzaskowski may additionally lose help from centrist and progressive voters, who’re annoyed by Tusk’s lack of ability to carry reform to abortion legal guidelines.
Karol Nawrocki
Nawrocki, 42, is a conservative historian standing as an unbiased candidate backed by the PiS celebration.
His educational work has been centred round anti-communist resistance. He presently administers the Institute of Nationwide Remembrance, the place his removing of Soviet memorials has angered Russia. He administered the Museum of the Second World Struggle in northern Poland from 2017 to 2021.
His marketing campaign guarantees embrace decreasing taxes and pulling Poland out of the EU’s Migration Pact and Inexperienced Deal. He additionally needs to allocate 5 % of GDP to defence. Nawrocki is essential of giving extra rights to LGBTQ {couples}.
Nawrocki has had a fair proportion of controversies prior to now. In 2018, he printed a e book a couple of infamous gangster below the pseudonym “Tadeusz Batyr”. In public feedback, Nawrocki and Batyr praised one another, with out revealing they have been the identical particular person.
Slavomir Mentzen
Mentzen, 38, is a far-right entrepreneur who leads the New Hope celebration, a member of the Confederation coalition. He has levels in economics and physics; owns a brewery in Torun; runs a tax advisory agency; and is essential of presidency regulation, wishing for vital tax cuts.
Mentzen has used social media platforms to attach with youthful voters.
He believes that Poland mustn’t take sides within the Russia-Ukraine warfare. He desires to make sure the Polish structure overrides EU legal guidelines and desires to withdraw from the EU Inexperienced Deal. He opposes LGBTQ rights and opposes abortion, even in circumstances of rape.
Forward of the 2019 election for the European Parliament, he stated: “We don’t need Jews, homosexuals, abortion, taxes or the European Union.” Since then, he has tried to distance himself from this assertion.
Whereas Poland gives free larger schooling, Mentzen dropped in opinion polls after he advocated for tuition charges in state colleges in late March.
Szymon Holownia
Holownia, 48, is a former journalist and tv personality-turned-politician. He’s the speaker, or marshal, of the decrease home of parliament, the Sejm.
In 2020, he based a centrist motion referred to as Polska 2050, which burgeoned into a celebration and ended up becoming a member of Tusk’s coalition.
Holownia needs to advertise regional growth alongside higher entry to inexpensive housing and bettering the general public transport system. He says he desires to cut back paperwork, help Polish companies and develop Poland’s home arms manufacturing capabilities.
Different candidates
Three leftist candidates are additionally working the election together with Deputy Senate Speaker Magdalena Biejat, 43, an advocate for ladies’s rights, minority rights, inexpensive housing and abortion entry; Adrian Zandberg, 45, who has made comparable guarantees to Biejat; and educational and lawmaker Joanna Senyszyn, a former member of the Polish United Staff’ Social gathering.
Different candidates embrace far-right Grzegorz Braun, who was pilloried globally for utilizing a hearth extinguisher to place out Hanukkah candles in parliament in 2023, and journalist and YouTuber Krzysztof Stanowski, 42, who doesn’t have a political programme and desires to point out Poles behind the scenes of the marketing campaign whereas elevating cash for charity.
What do the opinion polls say?
As of Might 12, Trzaskowski was within the lead with the help of 31 % of voters, in line with Politico’s polling mixture. Nawrocki was in second place with 25 %, whereas Mentzen had 13 % and Holownia had 7 %.
When will we all know the outcomes?
As quickly as polls shut, Ipsos will launch an exit ballot primarily based on surveys undertaken at 500 randomly chosen polling stations. Whereas this isn’t the official outcome, it’s anticipated to be extremely indicative of which approach the vote goes. Partial outcomes might begin to emerge on Sunday evening or Monday.
In Poland, voting at all times takes place on a Sunday. In 2020, the official outcomes for the primary spherical of voting have been confirmed on Tuesday morning.
What’s the election interference controversy about?
On Wednesday, Poland stated it had uncovered a potential election interference try through ads on Fb.
“The NASK Disinformation Evaluation Heart has recognized political advertisements on the Fb platform which may be financed from overseas. The supplies have been displayed in Poland,” in line with an announcement by NASK, which is Poland’s nationwide analysis institute coping with cybersecurity. “The promoting accounts concerned within the marketing campaign spent extra on political supplies within the final seven days than any election committee.”
The NASK assertion didn’t specify which international locations’ monetary backers of the marketing campaign have been believed to be primarily based in. Fears of Russian election interference are excessive in Europe after Romania declared a do-over of its November presidential election after stories emerged of alleged Russian election interference. The primary spherical of the repeat election happened on Might 4, with the second spherical attributable to occur on Might 18. This was after far-right politician Calin Georgescu, who was polling in single digits in the course of the marketing campaign, surprisingly emerged victorious.
