2020 Polish presidential election
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Presidential elections were held in Poland on 28 June 2020. As no candidate received a majority of the vote, a second round was held on 12 July, in which incumbent president Andrzej Duda, running with the support of
Law and Justice Law and Justice ( pl, Prawo i Sprawiedliwość , PiS) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Poland. Its chairman is Jarosław Kaczyński. It was founded in 2001 by Jarosław and Lech Kaczyński as a direct su ...
, faced off against Civic Platform vice-chairman and
Mayor of Warsaw The city mayor of Warsaw, or more literally the ''city president of Warsaw'' (the official title in Polish is ''"prezydent miasta stołecznego Warszawy"'', literal translation ''"president of the capital city of Warsaw"'') is the head of the exec ...
Rafał Trzaskowski. Results from the second round of voting, announced by the National Electoral Commission (PKW) on 13 July, indicated that Andrzej Duda had won with 51.03% compared to Rafał Trzaskowski's 48.97%. The first round of voting was due to be held on 10 May 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland. On 6 May 2020, the
Agreement Agreement may refer to: Agreements between people and organizations * Gentlemen's agreement, not enforceable by law * Trade agreement, between countries * Consensus, a decision-making process * Contract, enforceable in a court of law ** Meeting o ...
party, which was in a governing alliance with the leading
Law and Justice Law and Justice ( pl, Prawo i Sprawiedliwość , PiS) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Poland. Its chairman is Jarosław Kaczyński. It was founded in 2001 by Jarosław and Lech Kaczyński as a direct su ...
party and was opposed to pursuing the original election date, reached an arrangement to set new dates for the election. The following day, the PKW declared that the election would not be able to take place on 10 May 2020. On 3 June 2020, the Marshal of the Sejm, Elżbieta Witek, ordered the first round of the election to be held on 28 June 2020 and scheduled the second round on 12 July 2020. According to the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the public broadcaster TVP "failed in its legal duty to provide balanced and impartial coverage" and "acted as a campaign vehicle for the incumbent".


Electoral system

The President of Poland is directly elected using a two-round system for a five-year term, with a two-term limit. Andrzej Duda's first term expired on 6 August 2020 when he reaffirmed his oath of office before the National Assembly, a joint session of the Sejm and
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
and began his second term. Pursuant to the provisions of the Constitution, the president must be elected by an absolute majority of valid votes. If no candidate succeeds in passing this threshold in the first round, a second round of voting is held with the two candidates who received the largest shares of the vote. In order to be registered to contest the election, a candidate must be a Polish citizen, be at least 35 years old on the day of the first round of the election, and have collected at least 100,000 voters' signatures by 10 June 2020 at midnight. Polls opened on election day at 07:00
CEST CEST or cest may refer to: * Central European Summer Time (UTC+2), daylight saving time observed in the central European time zone * Cognitive-Experiential Self-Theory * Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer, a subset of Magnetization transfer in ...
and closed at 21:00
CEST CEST or cest may refer to: * Central European Summer Time (UTC+2), daylight saving time observed in the central European time zone * Cognitive-Experiential Self-Theory * Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer, a subset of Magnetization transfer in ...
( UTC+2).


COVID-19, election timing, and controversy

The election was originally scheduled for 10 May 2020, which caused extreme political controversy related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many candidates, constitutionalists, and even politicians from the ruling coalition criticized the government's plan of holding the election as originally scheduled during the pandemic. As a compromise, the
Agreement Agreement may refer to: Agreements between people and organizations * Gentlemen's agreement, not enforceable by law * Trade agreement, between countries * Consensus, a decision-making process * Contract, enforceable in a court of law ** Meeting o ...
political party proposed lengthening the president's term by two years, which was supported by the Minister of Health,
Łukasz Szumowski Łukasz Jan Szumowski (born 3 June 1972) is a Polish cardiologist who served as Minister of Health from 2018 to 2020. He is also a member of the IX Sejm, representing the Płock (Nr. 16) constituency, elected from the lists of Law and Justice. ...
. This was rejected by the opposition. The main opposition party, Civic Platform, wanted the election to be held in May 2021. The ruling conservative party
Law and Justice Law and Justice ( pl, Prawo i Sprawiedliwość , PiS) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Poland. Its chairman is Jarosław Kaczyński. It was founded in 2001 by Jarosław and Lech Kaczyński as a direct su ...
also wished to change the electoral rules and to organize the election by postal voting only. Changing election rules less than six months prior to voting was ruled to be unconstitutional by the Constitutional Tribunal in 2011. Voting only by post is considered unconstitutional by some including Polish
Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
in a non-binding opinion.


Email requests by Poczta Polska for private data

At 02:26 early in the morning on 23 April, every Polish mayor and city council president received an anonymous, unsigned e-mail from Poczta Polska (Polish Post) saying that they were required to deliver the private data of 30 million Polish citizens including their PESEL (national identification number), date of birth, address, and other private data in a
.txt A text file (sometimes spelled textfile; an old alternative name is flatfile) is a kind of computer file that is structured as a sequence of lines of electronic text. A text file exists stored as data within a computer file system. In operat ...
file format lacking any passwords or security. Many Polish mayors and city council presidents, lawyers, and other citizens criticized the order to provide such private data, stating that the order violated the GDPR and Polish Law, since the legal act referred to in the email had no legal validity; it concerned a bill that was still undergoing legislative procedures. Citizens and other officials stated their intention to file a lawsuit to the prosecutor's office about the possibility of crimes being committed by the government-run Poczta Polska and by the politicians responsible for the regulation.


Electoral cards leakage

On 29 April 2020, 11 days before the planned election date, election candidate
Stanisław Żółtek Stanisław Józef Żółtek (born 7 May 1956) is a Polish politician who is the current leader of the Congress of the New Right. He was a Member of the European Parliament representing Lesser Poland and Świętokrzyskie. He was a candidate for ...
presented a copy of an electoral ballot at a press conference. The copies contained the names of all the candidates and other forms to be filled by voters. Żółtek said that he received the ballots from workers of one of the companies that was printing and preparing electoral documents. Poczta Polska notified the
Internal Security Agency The Agencja Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego (ABW), officially the Internal Security Agency (ISA) in English, is Poland's domestic counter-intelligence agency. The ABW is responsible for analyzing, reporting and preventing threats to Poland's inter ...
about the leak. As of 2 May 2020, Polish law did not authorise Poczta Polska to organise postal voting except in a small number of special cases.


Presidential election boycott

On 30 April 2020, three former Polish presidents and six prime ministers called for a boycott of 2020 presidential election, on the grounds that the election would be unconstitutional and could not guarantee the confidentiality of voters.


Election day change

On 6 May,
Jarosław Gowin Jarosław Adam Gowin (born 4 December 1961) is a Polish conservative politician and editor. Gowin served as Minister of Justice in the cabinet of Prime Minister Donald Tusk between 2011 and 2013, and as Minister of Science and Higher Education i ...
, the leader of Agreement, and Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of Law and Justice struck an agreement to move the election. The two parties had earlier been engaged in a political struggle over whether the election should proceed in May. On 7 May, the Sejm approved legislation for the election to be held via postal ballot. The same day, PKW announced that "The current legal regulation deprived the National Electoral Commission of the instruments necessary to perform its duties. In connection with the above, the National Electoral Commission informs voters, election committees, candidates, election administration and local government units that voting on 10 May 2020 cannot take place." The movement of the election day was met with support and opposition from both the "anti" and "pro" Law and Justice spheres of Polish politics. An opinion poll for
Rzeczpospolita () is the official name of Poland and a traditional name for some of its predecessor states. It is a compound of "thing, matter" and "common", a calque of Latin ''rés pública'' ( "thing" + "public, common"), i.e. ''republic'', in Engli ...
gauged public support for the Gowin-Kaczyński agreement at 43.5%, with 36.3% being against, and the rest undecided.


Judgment of WSA court

On 15 September 2020, the
Voivodship Administrative Court A voivodeship is the area administered by a voivode (Governor) in several countries of central and eastern Europe. Voivodeships have existed since medieval times and the area of extent of voivodeship resembles that of a duchy in western medieval ...
in Warsaw judged that the decision of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to hold the May elections exclusively through mail-in voting was " gross violation of the law and was issued without
egal Egal or Égal may refer to: People * Ali Sugule Egal (1936–2016), Somali composer, poet and playwright * Fabienne Égal (born 1954), French announcer and television host * Liban Abdi Egal, Somali entrepreneur * Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal (1928– ...
grounds" and violated article 7 of the
Polish Constitution The current Constitution of Poland was founded on 2 April 1997. Formally known as the Constitution of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Konstytucja Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej), it replaced the Small Constitution of 1992, the last amended version of ...
, article 157, paragraph 1 and article 187, paragraph 1 and 2 of the Electoral Code. The opposition demanded Morawiecki's resignation.


Candidate selection

The following candidates had been nominated by parties represented in the Sejm.


Law and Justice / United Right

Incumbent President Andrzej Duda was eligible to run for a second term. On 24 October 2019, in an open letter to the elected members of the Sejm and Senate,
PiS Pis ( oc, Pis) is a commune in the Gers department in southwestern France. Geography Localisation Hydrography The river Auroue forms most of the commune's eastern border. Population See also *Communes of the Gers department The fol ...
chairman Jarosław Kaczyński announced that the party will strongly support Andrzej Duda in next year's presidential election. In the first round he won a plurality of 43.5% and went on to face challenger Rafał Trzaskowski in the second round in which he won re-election with 51.03% of the vote. Nominee:


Civic Platform / Civic Coalition

Donald Tusk was widely expected to make a comeback in Polish politics and to run for President, all the more so given that his European office expired at the end of 2019. However, in November 2019, he announced he would not run for the Polish Presidency, citing that he has "a bag of difficult, unpopular decisions since prime minister" that would burden his candidacy. He is said to have been advised against a run by private opinion polls. He decided to run instead for the leadership of the
European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Founded by primarily Ch ...
. As a result, party leader
Grzegorz Schetyna Grzegorz Juliusz Schetyna () (born 18 February 1963) is a Polish politician who has been Civic Platform, Leader of Civic Platform and Leader of the Opposition from 26 January 2016 to 25 January 2020. He has served as Ministry of Foreign Affairs ...
decided to hold a convention in order to nominate a candidate for president. The
primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works * ...
was won by Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska. Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska resigned her candidacy on 15 May 2020 under pressure of falling poll numbers and her own party. After this, Rafał Trzaskowski became the new candidate of the Civic Coalition. He managed to receive over 1.6 million signatures, securing his eligibility to run in the election. After receiving 30.46% of the vote in the first round he was defeated by the incumbent Andrzej Duda in the second round, winning 48.97% of the vote. Nominee:


Ran, but withdrew before the election

* Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska
Deputy Marshal of the Sejm Deputy Marshal of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Wicemarszałek Sejmu RP) is a person elected to preside over Sejm (Polish lower chamber of parliament) sessions when the Sejm Marshal is not presiding. Throughout the course of the Third Rep ...
Declared, but lost at the primary convention: *
Jacek Jaśkowiak Jacek Jaśkowiak (born 10 March 1964) is a Polish politician and entrepreneur. He is the current mayor of the city of Poznań, Greater Poland Voivodeship, Poland, and a member of the Civic Platform political party. Life and education He graduat ...
– Mayor of Poznań. Declined: * Donald Tusk
President of the European Council The president of the European Council is the person presiding over and driving forward the work of the European Council on the world stage. This institution comprises the college of heads of state or government of EU member states as well as t ...
, former Prime Minister of Poland, and a candidate in
2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
. * Radosław Sikorski – Former Marshal of the Sejm, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, and a candidate in primary in
2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
. Later expressed interest to run after Kidawa-Błońska resigned, but was not considered by party leadership, which claimed to have chosen Trzaskowski 'unanimously'. * Bartosz Arłukowicz – Former Minister of Health. *
Tomasz Grodzki Tomasz Paweł Grodzki (born 13 May 1958) is a Polish politician, doctor and surgeon. He has served as Marshal of the Senate since 12 November 2019, defeating Stanisław Karczewski with a majority of 51 votes from the Senate. Biography Educati ...
Marshal of the Senate of Poland.


Polish Coalition

In December 2019, PSL chairman Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz announced that he would be launching a campaign for president. Declined * Paweł Kukiz – Leader of Kukiz'15, MP, and candidate in
2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
.


The Left

At the beginning of January 2020, Włodzimierz Czarzasty said that The Left would nominate
Robert Biedroń Robert Biedroń (; born 13 April 1976) is a Polish politician, former mayor of Słupsk, and LGBT activist who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2019. Biedroń was a member of the Sejm during its 7th session (2011–2 ...
. Declined *
Adrian Zandberg Adrian Tadeusz Zandberg (born 4 December 1979 in Aalborg) is a Poles, Polish historian and computer programmer, doctor of humanities and left-wing politician, serving as one of the co-leaders of Left Together, Razem (''Together''). Life His paren ...
MP, co-leader of
Lewica Razem Left Together () is a left-wing political party in Poland. It was formed in 2015 as "Together", and it was one of the eight nationwide committees standing in the 2015 parliamentary election. It was a member of the Progressive International, an ...
, and co-chairman of The Left.


Confederation Liberty and Independence

The party held an open primary, a first in Polish politics. The
2019–20 Confederation presidential primary The Confederation presidential primary, 2020 was held from November 2019 to January 2020 to decide the coalition's nominee for the 2020 presidential election. It was the first organized presidential primary in Poland since the 2010 Civic Platform ...
was modeled after the primary voting model common in the United States. Krzysztof Bosak was nominated during the final round of voting held at the convention in Warsaw on 18 January. Nominee: Declared, but lost in the primary election: * Konrad BerkowiczMP, and vice-chairman of KORWiN. * Grzegorz BraunMP, and chairman of KKP. * Artur DziamborMP, and vice-chairman of KORWiN. * Janusz Korwin-MikkeMP, and chairman of KORWiN. *
Paweł Skutecki Paweł Juliusz Skutecki (born 26 February 1975 in Bydgoszcz) is a Polish politician, journalist, anti-vax activist, and former deputy in the Sejm from 2015 to 2019. In 2015, he was elected to Sejm, starting from the Kukiz'15 list in the Bydgosz ...
– Former MP from Kukiz'15. * Krzysztof Tołwiński – Former MP from
Law and Justice Law and Justice ( pl, Prawo i Sprawiedliwość , PiS) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Poland. Its chairman is Jarosław Kaczyński. It was founded in 2001 by Jarosław and Lech Kaczyński as a direct su ...
. *
Jacek Wilk Jacek Wilk (born 17 August 1974 in Kocina, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship) is a Polish barrister, economist and politician. He was the official candidate of the Congress of the New Right party for the office of President of Poland in the 2015 Poli ...
– Former MP from KORWiN. *Magdalena Ziętek-Wielomska – Lawyer, philosopher, publicist and author, wife of
Adam Wielomski Adam Wielomski (born 1972) is a professor at the University of Natural Sciences and Humanities in Siedlce, where he teaches in the Institute of Social Sciences and Security of the Faculty of Humanities. Wielomski is the author and co-author of sev ...
.


Other candidates

These are candidates who collected the necessary 100,000 signatures supporting their candidacy to run, but were not supported by parties in the Sejm: File:Szymon.Hołownia.JPG, Television personality
Szymon Hołownia Szymon Franciszek Hołownia (born 3 September 1976) is a Polish journalist, politician, television personality, writer, political commentator and humanitarian activist. From 2008 to 2019 he co-hosted ''Mam talent!'', the Polish version of ''Got T ...
(Independent) File:Marek Jakubiak Sejm 2016.JPG, Former MP
Marek Jakubiak Marek Jakubiak (born 30 April 1959 in Warsaw) is a Polish politician and brewer. He was a member of the Sejm from 2015 to 2019 and a candidate for President in 2020. In 2015, he was elected to the Sejm, starting from the Kukiz'15 list in the Pło ...
(Federation for the Republic) File:Mirosław Piotrowski (Martin Rulsch) 1.jpg, Former MEP
Mirosław Piotrowski Mirosław Mariusz Piotrowski (born 9 January 1966 in Zielona Góra) is an independent Polish politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP). He was originally elected in 2004 with the League of Polish Families, then part of the Independe ...
(Real Europe Movement) File:Paweł.Tanajno.JPG, Entrepreneur
Paweł Tanajno Paweł Jan Tanajno (born December 19, 1975) is a Polish entrepreneur and politician. He studied law at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń and holds a degree in marketing. From 1995 to 2004 he ran a computer company Sferis. He was also a me ...
(Independent) File:Waldemar Witkowski Sejm 09 (cropped).JPG, Former Deputy Voivode
Waldemar Witkowski Waldemar Włodzimierz Witkowski (born 29 October 1953) is a Polish politician who is currently leader of the Labour Union (Poland), Labour Union, and was formerly one of the leaders of the Left and Democrats coalition, of which the Labour Union w ...
( Labour Union) File:Stanisław Żółtek.JPG, Former MEP
Stanisław Żółtek Stanisław Józef Żółtek (born 7 May 1956) is a Polish politician who is the current leader of the Congress of the New Right. He was a Member of the European Parliament representing Lesser Poland and Świętokrzyskie. He was a candidate for ...
( Congress of the New Right – PolEXIT)


Rejected candidates

These following candidates made electoral comitties but failed to submit 100,000 signatures supporting their run by the 26 March deadline: *Piotr Bakun – Economist *Marcin Bugajski – Political scientist *Roland Dubowski – President of the Association of Heirs of Polish War Veterans of the Second World War *Artur Głowacki – Businessman *Sławomir Grzywa – Leader of "Sami Swoi" ("All Good Friends") *Wiesław Lewicki – Chairman of "Normalny Kraj" ("Normal Country") *Andrzej Dariusz Placzyński – Businessman *
Leszek Samborski Leszek Samborski (born 19 May 1955 in Dębica) - is a Polish politician, formerly a member of Real Politics Union and now Civic Platform and Sejm deputy (June 2004 - 2005). References

Civic Platform politicians 1955 births Living people Pe ...
– Former Member of the Sejm *Grzegorz Sowa – Businessman associated with 1Polska.pl *Romuald Starosielec – Journalist supported by "Unity of the Nation" *Paweł Świtoń – Businessman *Krzysztof Urbanowicz – Political activist *Andrzej Voigt – Businessman *Jerzy Walkowiak – Political activist


First round political debates

* Newsweek – 15 June 2020 ''(cancelled)'' * TVP Info – 17 June 2020, 21:00; moderated by Michał Adamczyk. *
TVN24 TVN24 is a Polish 24-hour commercial news channel, launched on 9 August 2001. Being a part of the TVN Network, TVN24 has been owned since July 2017 by US-based media company Warner Bros. Discovery. It gained broader popularity after the Septem ...
– 19 June 2020 ''(cancelled)'' * Polsat News – 22 June 2020 ''(cancelled)'' * Onet – 24 June 2020 ''(cancelled)''


Second round political debates

Duda and Trzaskowski both refused to take part in debates at each other's preferred media outlet and a proposal from Duda and supported by Trzaskowski to hold a joint debate hosted by TVP, Polsat and TVN was rejected by TVP Director Jacek Kurski. * TVN,
TVN24 TVN24 is a Polish 24-hour commercial news channel, launched on 9 August 2001. Being a part of the TVN Network, TVN24 has been owned since July 2017 by US-based media company Warner Bros. Discovery. It gained broader popularity after the Septem ...
, Onet and WP joint debate – 19:25 ''(UTC+2)'', 2 July 2020 (''cancelled by Duda's withdrawal'') *TVP Townhall debate - 21:00 (''UTC+2''), 6 July 2020 (''only Duda appeared'') *Joint debate with more than 15 newsrooms, organized by Trzaskowski staff, announced the day before – 20:30 ''(UTC+2)'', 6 July 2020 (''only Trzaskowski appeared'')


Opinion polls


First round


Second round


Results

As there was no outright winner in the first round, the top two candidates - Andrzej Duda and Rafał Trzaskowski - advanced to the second round. Szymon Hołownia and Krzysztof Bosak placed third and fourth respectively. Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz and Robert Biedroń both underperformed expectations taking the fifth and sixth place. In the second round, there was a close race between Duda and Trzaskowski. Duda had a slight lead in 9:00 pm exit polls which gave him 50.4% of the vote to Trzaskowski's 49.6%. This was within the 2% margin of error leading to the pollster Ipsos announcing the race to be too close to call. Duda's vote share eventually amounted to 51.03%, securing his reelection.


Reactions

After voting had ended, Andrzej Duda invited Rafał Trzaskowski to the Presidential Palace to "shake hands" and "end the campaign". Trzaskowski rejected and said that they could meet after announcing the official election results. The next day, Trzaskowski congratulated Duda on his victory. US President Donald Trump,
President of the European Commission The president of the European Commission is the head of the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union (EU). The President of the Commission leads a Cabinet of Commissioners, referred to as the College, collectively account ...
Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary General
Jens Stoltenberg Jens Stoltenberg (born 16 March 1959) is a Norwegian politician who has been serving as the 13th secretary general of NATO since 2014. A member of the Norwegian Labour Party, he previously served as the 34th prime minister of Norway from 2000 to ...
,
Lega Nord Lega Nord (; acronym: LN), whose complete name is (), is a right-wing, federalist, populist and conservative political party in Italy. In the run-up of the 2018 general election, the party was rebranded as (), without changing its official n ...
leader and former Italian Minister of the Interior
Matteo Salvini Matteo Salvini (; born 9 March 1973) is an Italian politician who has served as Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Italian Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Minister of Infrastructure and Transport since 2022. He has been List of Federal ...
, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán,
Czech President The president of the Czech Republic is the head of state of the Czech Republic and the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic. The president mostly has ceremonial powers as the day-to-day business of the executive governm ...
Miloš Zeman,
Slovak President The president of the Slovak Republic ( sk, Prezident Slovenskej republiky) is the head of state of Slovakia and the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. The president is directly elected by the people for five years, and can be elected for ...
Zuzana Čaputová, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky congratulated Duda on his victory. Observers viewed the election results as illustrating a divided Polish society. They also predicted that PiS would continue pursuing its policies in a number of areas and clashing with the EU. Duda performed strongest among older, rural, and eastern voters.


Elections challenged

The Civic Platform party challenged results of the elections to the Polish Supreme Court, alleging irregularities and biased coverage by the state television. The appeal includes complaints from 2,000 people, containing accusations of problems with voter registry, ballot papers not being sent in time as well as issues with voting abroad. The TVP public broadcaster did not broadcast a single meeting of Trzaskowski with voters. Press.pl, a media-monitoring service, found that, between 3 and 16 June, nearly 97% of Wiadomości news stories devoted to Duda were positive while almost 87% of those on Trzaskowski were negative. The Supreme Court ruled the election valid, stating that doubts about the television's honesty notwithstanding, TVP was not the only media source available for voters, and that voters were free to choose what media to watch.


Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights report

The OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights investigated the election and found that it was "administered professionally despite the lack of legal clarity." The ODIHR also reported that the presidential campaign "was characterized by negative and intolerant rhetoric further polarizing an already adversarial political environment. ..the TVP ublic broadcasterfailed in its legal duty to provide balanced and impartial coverage. Instead, it acted as a campaign vehicle for the incumbent and frequently portrayed his main challenger as a threat to Polish values and national interests. Some of the reporting was charged with xenophobic and anti-Semitic undertones."


Notes


References


External links

* {{Authority control
Presidential President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese fu ...
Poland President President Presidential elections in Poland