People in Poland are voting today in a knife-edge presidential election between a populist incumbent closely allied with US President Donald Trump and a europhile liberal keen to mend fences with Brussels.

People in Poland are voting today in a knife-edge presidential election between a populist incumbent closely allied with US President Donald Trump and a europhile liberal keen to mend fences with Brussels.
The result will be decisive for the future of Poland’s right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party government, which has relied on its ally, the incumbent Andrzej Duda, to push through judicial reforms that have set Poland on a collision course with the European Union over the rule of law three decades after the fall of communism.
Mr Duda is facing a challenge from Warsaw mayor Rafal Trzaskowski of the opposition Civic Platform (PO) party and the latest polls show an almost even split between the two.
Voters at a polling station in Warsaw’s leafy Mokotow district wore masks, used hand sanitiser and their own pens in a bid to stem coronavirus infections at the ballot box.
The vote had been due in May – at a time when Mr Duda was riding high in the polls – but was delayed because of the pandemic.
Mr Duda’s support has slipped considerably since then, partly because of the virus fallout, which is pushing Poland into its first recession since communist rule.
Polls opened early this morning and will close at 7pm Irish time, with an exit poll scheduled shortly after that and the first official results only expected tomorrow morning.
Experts are warning that today’s result could be so close that legal challenges and protests may ensue.
In the first round on 28 June, Mr Duda came first with 43.5% and Mr Trzaskowski second with 30.4%.
But Mr Trzaskowski will be hoping to sweep up votes from Poles who supported other opposition candidates.