2024-04-07 20:36:54
According to initial forecasts, the national conservative opposition party PiS emerged as the strongest force in the local elections in Poland with a slight lead.
In the election of the 16 regional administrations, 33.7 percent of the votes went to the PiS, as several television channels reported on Sunday, citing forecasts from the Ipsos Institute.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s liberal-conservative citizens’ coalition came in second with 31.9 percent. She achieved a great success in the capital Warsaw: the incumbent mayor Rafal Trzaskowski was confirmed in office in the first round of voting with 59.9 percent of the vote. “Here is today’s hero,” Tusk said of Trzaskowski on election night. The 52-year-old Trzaskowski was narrowly defeated by incumbent Andrzej Duda in the 2020 presidential election. He has ambitions to run once more in next year’s presidential election.
In the port city of Gdansk, Mayor Alexandra Dulkiewicz from Tusk’s party also won re-election in the first round with 62.3 percent of the vote. In several large cities, including Krakow and Breslau (Wroclaw), a runoff election on April 21 still has to decide who will fill the mayor’s office.
The PiS, which ruled Poland from 2015 to 2023, scored points in the predominantly Catholic east and south of the country. The result is above all an incentive for his party to work, said party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski with a view to the European elections in June.
According to forecasts, in the election of the regional administrations, 13.5 percent of the votes went to the Christian-conservative Third Way. The left-wing alliance Lewica ended up with 6.8 percent. Both parties form the government coalition at the state level with Tusk’s Citizens’ Platform. The right-wing extremist Konfederacja received 7.5 percent of the vote.
The 29 million eligible voters decided on the mayors of all municipalities and cities. They also elected members for all 16 regional assemblies, 380 district councils and 2,477 local councils. The official final result is only expected in the coming days.
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