Two favorites in Poland, the centrist mayor of Warsaw, Rafal Tchaskowski, and the radical right-wing historian Karol Nawrocki, have advanced as expected to the second round of the election to be held on June 1, an exit poll by the Ipsos agency showed, the Guardian reports.
However, as Tšaskovski pointed out immediately after the results were announced, the race is very close. The gap between the candidates is significantly smaller than previous estimates predicted.
Although tonight's victory could be called a victory, these results certainly raise concerns in Tšaskovski's team ahead of the second round of the election in two weeks. In third place is far-right libertarian Slavomir Mencen, who won 15,4%, clearly attracting a portion of disappointed voters, as was to be expected.
The surprise came in fourth place: far-right candidate Gregorz Braun, who is under investigation for extinguishing Hanukkah candles with a fire extinguisher in the Polish parliament, won 6,2%. This exceeded all expectations and overtook all left-wing candidates.
The speeches by Tchaskovski and Navrocki this evening already clearly indicate the directions in which the fight will be conducted in the second round.
Tchaskowski is already appealing to left-wing voters, promising to liberalize abortion laws and pressuring the government to implement necessary reforms. He is portraying Navrocki as a radical candidate, warning voters that he is not Andrzej Duda, the current conservative president, but someone even more right-wing.
On the other hand, Nawrocki is making it clear that he must win to prevent Prime Minister Donald Tusk from taking over all power, calling on right-wing and far-right voters to support him in the second round to save Poland.
This rhetoric is expected to dominate the next two weeks. The race is extremely close, and the votes of the eliminated candidates could be a key factor in the final outcome.
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