BACKGROUND
The second round of the Polish Presidential elections was held on June 1, 2025, as a result of no candidate securing a majority result in the first round. For information and Exeposé’s coverage of the first round, click here.
By this means, the two top candidates from the first round made it through – the centrist-left Civil Platform’s Rafał Trzaskowski, who scored 31,36% of all votes in the first round, and the independent, but right-wing nationalist Law and Justice-backed, Karol Nawrocki, who scored 29,54% of all votes in the first round.
Many supporters of other candidates from the first round had to make a tactical choice of who to vote for if their initial preferred candidate did not secure one of the top spots.
Poles in Exeter were able to cast their votes at a designated polling station in Wonford.
EXIT POLLS
The initial exit poll conducted by Ipsos suggested a majority win for Rafał Trzaskowski, with a predicted 50,3% of examined votes, compared to 49,7% for Karol Nawrocki.
Two hours later, however, a late poll further conducted by Ipsos, revealed that Rafał Trzaskowski was no longer in the lead, with his result falling to 49,3%.
This put Karol Nawrocki in first place with 50,7% of all votes, which was held up throughout the night as votes from within the country’s borders, as well as from Polish polling stations around the world, were counted.
FINAL RESULTS
Ultimately, Karol Nawrocki has secured the Presidential role with a total of 10,606,877 votes, scoring him a 50,89% majority.
Rafał Trzaskowski, on the other hand, scored a 10,237,286 total of votes, meaning a 49,11% vote share.
The turnout was higher in the second round of the election across the country and from abroad, with an impressive 71,7% of all those eligible going out to cast their vote. This showed a 4.4% increase from the first round, which had 67,31% of Poles voting.
The results of Poles voting in the UK showed an impressive majority for Rafał Trzaskowski, with 60,72%, or 92,477, of all votes cast for the Warsaw mayor.
39,28%, or 59,812 votes, were cast for Karol Nawrocki – but this was not enough for the Civil Platform candidate to secure a win, despite the majority support from Poles living in the UK.
ANALYSING THE ELECTION RESULT
Ultimately, Rafał Trzaskowski lost the election by a mere 370,000 votes. The result was incredibly close, and it is currently the closest result that any Polish Presidential election has seen in history.
The close result means that half of the country will now see a president whom they did not vote for – suggesting potential flaws of the Polish voting system and reinforcing its disproportionate nature.
For the Polish legislative body, the Sejm, which is currently controlled by the Civic Coalition – a political alliance of the Civic Platform and other minority parties, such as the Left, formed in opposition to the Law and Justice and Confederation parties – this means a gridlock resulting from a Law and Justice-backed President (the executive branch), and a legislative branch in which Karol Nawrocki’s party does not have a majority.
This will ultimately make it difficult for the Sejm to pass any major pieces of legislation, as the Polish President currently holds constitutional veto powers.
Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk has since called a confidence vote within his government, in an attempt to strengthen the Civic Coalition to be able to pass legislation easily. The Prime Minister has vowed to “not stop even for a moment” and “get to work” in his legislative agenda.
With Poland’s economy growing thus far as to nearly equalling the total GDP of eight of its neighbouring countries combined, at an impressive $980 billion, and with a record turnout in this election, the future for Poland holds increasing global potential.
However, electing an anti-EU, pro-nationalist, and Trump-backed President could have detrimental setbacks for the country’s growth and global presence in the future.
Despite this, considering how close the result was within this election, there is great hope in the legislative body, the Sejm, which is working around the clock to ensure the President stays within his constitutional powers and does not cross them.
The next Parliamentary elections are to be held in Poland in 2027.
*Sources referenced have been translated directly by the writer and editor, Magdalena Kanecka, and have not been manipulated or interpreted to prove or disprove any political means.
