Poles are set to vote on Sunday in a knife-edge presidential election with main implications for the nation’s position in Europe and for abortion and LGBTQ rights.Warsaw’s pro-EU mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, 53, an ally of the centrist authorities, faces off towards nationalist historian Karol Nawrocki, 42.Opinion polls predict an especially shut race with Nawrocki on 50.1 per cent and Trzaskowski on 49.9 per cent, a tiny distinction throughout the margin of error.Polls are open between 0500 GMT and 1900 GMT within the EU and Nato nation, which borders Ukraine and has been a key supporter of its neighbour towards Russia.An exit ballot is anticipated as quickly as ballots shut and election officers predict the ultimate end result will likely be identified on Monday.A victory for Trzaskowski could be a significant enhance for the progressive agenda of the federal government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a former European Council president.It might imply important social modifications such because the introduction of civil partnerships for same-sex {couples} and an easing of the near-total ban on abortion.Presidents in Poland, a fast-growing financial system of 38 million folks, have the facility to veto laws and are additionally the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.Victory for Nawrocki would embolden the populist Legislation and Justice (PiS) occasion, which dominated Poland between 2015 and 2023, and will result in contemporary parliamentary elections.Many Nawrocki supporters need stricter curbs on immigration and advocate for conservative values and extra sovereignty for the nation throughout the European Union.“We must always not give in to European stress,” 40-year-old Agnieszka Prokopiuk, a homemaker, mentioned forward of the vote.“We have to make our personal approach… and never succumb to tendencies from the West,” she informed AFP within the metropolis of Biala Podlaska in japanese Poland close to the Belarus border.Tomasz Czublun, a 48-year-old mechanic, mentioned: “The European Union is vital however the sovereignty of our nation is way more vital.”
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Anna Materska-Sosnowska, a politics professional, known as the election “an actual conflict of civilisations” due to the large coverage variations between the candidates.Many Trzaskowski voters help larger integration throughout the EU and an acceleration of social reforms.Malgorzata Wojciechowska, a tour information and trainer in her fifties, mentioned Polish ladies “sadly wouldn’t have the identical rights as our European associates”.“I hope that Rafal Trzaskowski will relaunch the talk on abortion in order that we will lastly stay in a free nation the place we will have our personal opinion,” she informed AFP.The election can also be being intently watched in Ukraine, which is looking for to bolster worldwide diplomatic help in its negotiations with Russia as its resistance to Moscow’s invasion grinds on.Nawrocki, an admirer of US President Donald Trump, opposes Nato membership for Kyiv and has known as for curbs on advantages for the estimated a million Ukrainian refugees in Poland.He used his final marketing campaign hours on Friday to depart flowers at a monument to Poles killed by Ukrainian nationalists throughout World Warfare II.“It was a genocide towards the Polish folks,” he mentioned.The election’s last result’s anticipated to hinge on whether or not Trzaskowski can mobilise sufficient supporters and whether or not far-right voters will forged their ballots for Nawrocki.Far-right candidates bought greater than 21 per cent of the vote within the election’s first spherical, which Trzaskowski received by a razor-thin margin of 31 per cent towards 30 per cent for Nawrocki.
