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Poland sees record turnout in presidential runoff as nation splits east and west

02.06.2025 16:30
The second round of Poland’s presidential election saw a turnout of 71.63 percent, the highest ever recorded for a presidential election in the country."
Polands presidential runoff saw a record-high turnout and a deeply divided electorate, with centrist Rafał Trzaskowski dominating in the west and right-wing winner Karol Nawrocki drawing strong support in the east and southeast.
Poland's presidential runoff saw a record-high turnout and a deeply divided electorate, with centrist Rafał Trzaskowski dominating in the west and right-wing winner Karol Nawrocki drawing strong support in the east and southeast.Photo: PAP/Marcin Obara/Rafał Pietruszka/WBdata.pl

Voter engagement was even higher among Poles abroad, with over 84% - approximately 608,000 people - casting their ballots, according to Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Although this marked a record turnout for a presidential election, it still fell short of the participation seen in the most recent parliamentary vote. In October 2023, 74.38% of eligible voters went to the polls - 2.75 percentage points more than on Sunday.

Rafał Trzaskowski, the centrist mayor of Warsaw and the candidate of the ruling Civic Coalition (KO), secured 49.11% of the vote - a total of 10,237,286 ballots - with strong support across western and central Poland.

He led in regions including West Pomerania (northwest), Lower Silesia (southwest), Silesia (south), Masovia (central), around Poznań and Lubin in the west, Opole (southwest), Kuyavia-Pomerania (northwest), and Warmia-Masuria (northeast).

Karol Nawrocki, the candidate backed by the right-wing opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party and the head of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), won with 50.89% of the vote - a total of 10,606,877 ballots.

His strongest support came from the eastern and southeastern regions, including Podlasie, Lublin and Świętokrzyskie, and Łódź in central Poland, as well as Podkarpacie and the Kraków area in the south.

 (mp)

Source: MSZ/PKW/X/@wbdata/IAR/PAP