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Poles to vote in presidential election on Sunday

26.06.2020 14:30
Poles will head to the ballot box to vote in a presidential election on Sunday.
Photo:
Photo:PAP/Darek Delmanowicz

Eleven contenders are in the race, including incumbent President Andrzej Duda, who is running for another five years in office.

If none of the candidates wins more than 50 percent the vote, under Polish election rules, a second round will be held two weeks later, on July 12.

Under a set of rules approved by parliament and signed into law earlier this month, the election will be conducted via a mixed system of postal and traditional in-person voting.

Polling stations will open at 7 a.m. and close at 9 p.m. on Sunday.

A media blackout begins on Friday at midnight under which domestic news organisations are prohibited from publishing opinion polls showing the level of support for candidates.

The ban lasts until polling stations close. Political campaigning is also forbidden during this period.

A record 387,000 Poles living abroad have registered to vote by absentee ballot in the country's presidential election, a deputy Polish foreign minister said this week.

Conservative incumbent Andrzej Duda, who has been president since 2015, is seeking re-election for a second term.

Duda’s rivals in the race include centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski; celebrity journalist Szymon Hołownia; far-right hopeful Krzysztof Bosakleftist Robert Biedroń; and middle-of-the-road politician Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, leader of the rural-based Polish People’s Party (PSL).

The five other candidates are entrepreneur-turned-politician Marek Jakubiak, academic Mirosław Piotrowski, businessman Paweł Tanajno, politician and social activist Waldemar Witkowski, and self-employed business owner Stanisław Żółtek.

The Polish presidential vote was originally scheduled for May 10, but failed to go ahead amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Poland's main opposition party, the centrist Civic Platform (PO), in mid-May chose Warsaw's Trzaskowski as its new pick for head of state to replace deputy parliamentary Speaker Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska.

(gs/pk)

Source: Polish Radio, IAR, PAP, wybory.gov.pl