Duda's victory -- if confirmed by final results -- would be seen by the nationalist ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party as a validation of the populist policies it has pursued since coming to power in 2015.During campaigning, Duda sought to mobilize his more conservative, largely rural base with appeals to traditional Catholic values and a promise to maintain popular social welfare policies, such as a child allowance and lower pension age.His focus on the issue of LGBTQ rights -- at one point describing them as an "ideology" worse than Soviet-era communism -- highlighted the deep cultural divisions in this Central European nation of 38 million people.Duda's reelection may help the PiS consolidate power after losing control of Poland's upper house, the Senate, to the opposition in parliamentary elections last October. Voting is under way in Poland’s presidential election, with the incumbent, Andrzej Duda, up against a field of challengers including the liberal mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski. "Thank you to all my fellow Poles who voted for me and cast their votes.

"In response, Trzaskowski thanked Duda on Twitter for the invitation, but added, "I think that the most appropriate time will be after the election results have been announced."

"That's why it is very important to restore good relations with our closest neighbors. More controversially, the PiS has said it wants to complete its overhaul of the judiciary - a policy criticised by the EU and many other international organisations for undermining the rule of law in Poland. You can use the button below to limit the display to the most recent poll in each state where at least one poll is available. "I think there will certainly be electoral protests and I think the whole issue will end up in the Supreme Court," Warsaw University political scientist Anna Materska-Sosnowska told AFP news agency.The election had been due to take place in May, when Mr Duda was higher in the polls and stood a better chance of winning in the first round.Although the coronavirus pandemic had not yet peaked, the government was desperate for the May vote to go ahead.It eventually backed down when a junior coalition partner joined the opposition in saying the PiS was putting politics before public health.President Duda's victory means the governing PiS party can now implement its programme unhindered until the next parliamentary elections in three years. It is Poland's slimmest presidential election victory since the end of communism in 1989.



Trzaskowski got 49.6%. Poland election: Clash of ideals as voters choose head of state Duda vs Trzaskowski: The fight for Poland's future Poland presidential election heads for second round Polish election: Andrzej Duda says LGBT 'ideology' worse than communism These are external links and will open in a new window Poland should again be a constructive member of the European Union rather than being marginalized, he said. Poland’s governing party beat back the biggest threat to its nationalist transformation during its half-decade rule, with incumbent Andrzej Duda narrowly winning Sunday’s presidential election. Here are the most recent polls for the 2020 presidential election.


Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. But passing legislation to limit foreign ownership of critical private media is difficult under EU rules and risks antagonising Poland's chief ally, the US, as one of the country's most popular broadcasters, TVN, is owned by an American company. 06/28/2020 03:12 PM EDT.
Its ruling coalition still narrowly controls the lower house, the Sejm.

The PiS may want to use Mr Duda's victory to pursue greater political control of local government and the private media.

During the campaign Mr Duda came under heavy criticism after At a press conference on Monday morning, the heads of the electoral commission said they were not sure when complete results would be announced, as some polling stations had yet to submit their counts.But with 99% of all constituencies reporting, those tallies were not expected to affect the result.

This is echoed by Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung, which says Mr Trzaszkowski is "a hero, even without a victory".In neighbouring Slovakia, the Aktuality.sk website says Mr Duda's victory will tempt the ruling party to "see just how far they can go". '"Polityka finds a positive for the losing side and says Mr Trzaskowski "breathed new life" into a "lethargic" opposition.