Foreign policy under Prime Minister Donald Tusk, LGBTQ rights and abortion were major questions on the campaign track.
Voters in Poland votes to elect the next president in what should be a close competition between the liberal mayor of Warsaw and a conservative historian.
The surveys opened at 7 a.m. (05:00 GMT) during the Sunday elections, and the results of the exit polls should be released after the surveys closed at 9 p.m. (7:00 p.m. GMT). The final official results of the competition, in which 13 candidates arise, are expected on Monday.
The favorites are Rafal Trzaskowski, the pro-European mayor of the Polish capital, and Karol Nawrocki, a historian supported by the Nationalist Party of Law and Justice, who lost power 18 months ago.
Neither of them should reach the 50% threshold required for victory, which runs on June 1.
The election is closely monitored to find out if the voters approves the pro-European path established by Prime Minister Donald Tusk or promote a return to the nationalist vision of law and justice, which led the country from 2015 to 2023.
Tusk was elected Prime Minister in December 2023 after defeating the law and justice, which had participated in repeated disputes with the European Union.
The Polish president has limited executive powers but is commander -in -chief of the armed forces, directs the foreign policy and can oppose his veto to the legislation.
Security fears are looming
The campaign has largely revolved around foreign policy at an era of increased security concerns in Poland, a key member of NATO and the EU bordering Ukraine torn by war, and fears that the commitment of the United States to European security will be ahead of President Donald Trump’s era.
Trzaskowski, deputy chief of the Civic Civic Platform on the right of Tusk, is committed to the role of Poland as a major actor at the heart of Europe, unlike the law and justice, which was often in contradiction with Brussels for the concerns of the rule of the law.
“I would certainly strengthen relations with our partners … within NATO and the EU,” Trzaskowski told State Broadcaster TVP Info on Friday.
Social problems have also been a major theme on the campaign campaign with Nawrocki resulting as a guardian of conservative values and Trzaskowski attracting the support of liberal voters for his commitments to support abortion and LGBTQ rights.
Malgorzata Mikoszewska, an employee of the 41 -year -old tourism agency, told AFP’s news agency that she was a fan of the liberal position of Trzaskowski on social issues.
“Above all, I hope for the liberalization of the law on abortion and sexual minorities,” she said.
Apartment scandal
The Nawrocki campaign received a boost when he met Trump in the White House Oval office this month.
But it then took a blow on allegations according to which he had bought an apartment in Gdansk from an elderly man in exchange for a promise to provide life care for man, who was not delivered. Nawrocki denied allegations.
Polish authorities have reported attempts at foreign interference during the campaign, including service denial attacks targeting the web websites of the Tusk in power coalition and allegations by a state research institute that political advertising on Facebook were funded abroad.
“With Nawrocki as president, the government would be paralyzed, which could possibly lead to the fall of the ruling coalition,” political scientist Anna Materska-Sosnowska told AFP.
His victory could see “the return of populists with renewed strength” in the next general elections, she said.
The new president will replace Andrzej Duda, who has served two terms and is not eligible to stand up.
