WARSAW, July 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A late exit poll in Poland’s presidential runoff Sunday showed the conservative, populist incumbent, Andrzej Duda, leading against the liberal, pro-Europe mayor of Warsaw, but with the race still too close to call.
It appeared to be the closest election in Poland’s history, reflecting the deep divisions in this European Union nation. Although the country is struggling with the coronavirus pandemic and problems in its health and education systems, the campaign was dominated by issues of culture and saw strains of homophobia and anti-Semitism.
The late exit poll by the Ipsos institute showed Duda with 50.8% of the vote and challenger Rafal Trzaskowski with 49.2%. An earlier exit poll had showed Duda with 50.4% and Trzaskowski 49.6%. The polls had margins of error of plus-or-minus 1 percentage point and 2 points, respectively.
Official results are not expected until Monday or Tuesday.
Duda, who is backed by the ruling right-wing Law and Justice party and the government, campaigned on traditional values and social spending in this mostly Catholic nation as he sought a second 5-year term.
Duda’s campaign also cast Trzaskowski as someone who would sell out Polish families to Jewish interests, tapping into old anti-Semitic tropes in a country that was home to Europe’s largest Jewish community before being decimated by Germany in the Holocaust.
Trzaskowski, a former European Parliament lawmaker, jumped into the race relatively late to oppose Duda’s and Law and Justice’s erosion of democratic rights under the ruling party. He represented the centrist opposition Civic Platform party, which was in power in from 2007 to 2015.
The turnout was around 70%, which would be a record high for a presidential election in the 30 years since Poland threw off communism, embraced democracy and later gained membership in NATO and the EU.
Long lines outside some polling stations Sunday night forced them to stay open past their official closing time of 9 p.m. for what many considered to be one of the most crucial elections in these three decades of democracy.
At an election night event, Trzaskowski said he still believed the numbers could turn in his favor. Exit polls do not reflect the votes cast from abroad, and a majority of them were expected to go to Trzaskowski.
He said he was still dreaming of a Poland “that knows how to rebuild a united society, that is proud of it’s tradition, that is looking to the future, that is just, European, tolerant, where no one divides us.”
If Duda is reelected, the populist Law and Justice party will keep a close ally in the president and maintain its hold on almost all key instruments of power in the nation of 38 million people. A win for Trzaskowski would give him the power to veto laws passed by the ruling conservatives and give Poland a less contentious relationship with European Union officials.
The ballot was supposed to be held in May but after much political wrangling was delayed by health concerns amid the coronavirus pandemic. Some 30 million voters were eligible to cast ballots. In the first round with 11 candidates, Duda got 43.5% support and Trzaskowski 30.5%.
Due to the pandemic, the voting was held under strict sanitary regulations. Poland has registered over 37,000 infections and almost 1,600 virus-related deaths. Voters had to wear masks and gloves, maintain a safe distance and use hand sanitizer. They used their own pens to mark ballots. — NNN-AGENCIES
