Trzaskowski led with 30.8 percent of the vote, narrowly ahead of Nawrocki at 29.1 percent, setting up a runoff on June 1, according to an Ipsos exit poll for three television networks.
The poll, conducted for broadcasters TVP, TVN24 and Polsat News, put libertarian candidate Sławomir Mentzen third on 15.4 percent, followed by far-right figure Grzegorz Braun, with 6.2 percent, and left-wing opposition lawmaker Adrian Zandberg, with 5.2 percent.
Lower-house Speaker Szymon Hołownia, co-leader of the center-right Third Way alliance, came in sixth with 4.8 percent. He was followed by Magdalena Biejat, a senator with the co-governing New Left party, who secured 4.1 percent.
The remaining 4.4 percent of the vote was shared among six other candidates: left-wing veteran Joanna Senyszyn; right-wing Republican Marek Jakubiak; celebrity journalist Krzysztof Stanowski; economist Artur Bartoszewicz; lawyer Marek Woch; and pro-Russian activist Maciej Maciak.
Voter turnout was estimated at 66.8 percent, higher than the 64.5 percent recorded in the first round of the 2020 presidential election.
The National Electoral Commission said it hopes to release official results by Tuesday, though chairman Sylwester Marciniak told reporters that figures may arrive sooner if overseas ballots are counted quickly.
Trzaskowski, 52, backed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s pro-EU Civic Coalition, has pledged to support deeper European integration and Ukraine's bid for membership.
Nawrocki, 45, a historian and head of Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance, is endorsed by the nationalist Law and Justice party (PiS), which lost parliamentary elections in October 2023 but still commands significant public support.
Poland's president has limited executive powers but can veto legislation, appoint judges and is commander-in-chief of the armed forces. A Nawrocki win could impede Tusk’s reform plans, while a victory for Trzaskowski would give the ruling coalition more power to push through its agenda.
Ipsos was expected to publish a "late-poll" projection around midnight local time.
(jh/gs)
Source: Polskie Radio 24