Poland holds tight vote with EU role at stake

WARSAW - Poles voted on June 1 in a tight presidential election with major implications for the country’s role in Europe, and for abortion and LGBTQ rights.

Warsaw’s liberal Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, 53, an ally of the centrist government, faced off against nationalist historian Karol Nawrocki, 42, with polls predicting an extremely close finish.

With the run-off election coinciding with Poland’s annual children’s holiday, Mr Trzaskowski wrote on Facebook: “May it be a really good Children’s Day. For everyone.”

Dr Nawrocki, a lifelong boxer, said “I will win” after voting in Warsaw. “Poland should be strong, Poland should be independent,” he told reporters.

Polls close at 9pm in the country. Poland is a member of the European Union and Nato that borders Ukraine, and has been a key supporter of its neighbour in the war against Russia.

An exit poll is expected as soon as ballots close and election officials predict the final result will be known on June 2.

“I’m voting for Trzaskowski. He’s educated, speaks many languages, is intelligent, just all round great,” said Ms Agnieszka Lewinska, a 56-year-old cleaner in the town of Halinow just outside the capital.

Warsaw pensioner Lila Chojecka, 60, said she cast her ballot for Dr Nawrocki.

“Catholic values are important to me. I know he shares them,” she told AFP news agency, calling the candidate “hope for Poland”.

Turnout was 24.83 per cent at noon – a whisker more than at that time in the 2020 presidential run-off.

‘Particularly important’ vote

A victory for Mr Trzaskowski would be a major boost for the progressive agenda of the government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a former European Council president.

It could mean significant social changes such as the introduction of civil partnerships for same-sex couples and an easing of the near-total ban on abortion.

Presidents in Poland, a fast-growing economy of 38 million people, have the power to veto legislation and are also the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

Victory for Dr Nawrocki would embolden the populist Law and Justice Party, which ruled Poland between 2015 and 2023, and could lead to fresh parliamentary elections.

Many Nawrocki supporters want stricter curbs on immigration and advocate conservative values and more sovereignty for the country within the EU.

“We should not give in to European pressure,” 40-year-old Agnieszka Prokopiuk, a homemaker, said ahead of the vote.

“We need to make our own way... and not succumb to trends from the West,” she told AFP in the city of Biala Podlaska in eastern Poland near the Belarus border.

Ukraine

Dr Anna Materska-Sosnowska, a politics expert, called the election “a real clash of civilisations” because of the wide policy differences between the candidates.

Many Trzaskowski voters support greater integration within the EU and an acceleration of social reforms.

Ms Malgorzata Wojciechowska, a tour guide and teacher in her 50s, said Polish women “unfortunately do not have the same rights as our European friends”.

“I hope that Rafal Trzaskowski will relaunch the debate on abortion so that we can finally live in a free country where we can have our own opinion,” she told AFP.

The election is also being closely watched in Ukraine, which is seeking to bolster international diplomatic support in its negotiations with Russia as its resistance to Moscow’s invasion grinds on.

Dr Nawrocki, an admirer of US President Donald Trump, opposes Nato membership for Kyiv and has called for curbs on benefits for the estimated one million Ukrainian refugees in Poland.

He used his last campaign hours on May 30 to leave flowers at a monument to Poles killed by Ukrainian nationalists during World War II.

“It was a genocide against the Polish people,” he said.

The election’s final result is expected to hinge on whether Mr Trzaskowski can mobilise enough supporters and whether far-right voters will cast their ballots for Dr Nawrocki.

Far-right candidates got more than 21 per cent of the vote in the election’s first round, which Mr Trzaskowski won by a razor-thin margin of 31 per cent against 30 per cent for Dr Nawrocki. AFP