Warsaw mayor Trzaskowski wins second term but Kraków heading for run-off vote

The first official results from Sunday’s local elections in Poland have begun to emerge. Among the victors was Warsaw’s incumbent mayor Rafał Trzaskowski – a leading figure in Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s centrist Civic Coalition (KO) – who won a second term in office.

Trzaskowski received 57.4% of the vote, well ahead of second-place Tobiasz Bocheński (23.1%), representing the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS), the main national opposition. Magdalena Biejat of The Left (Lewica) was third on 12.9%.

By winning a majority of votes, Trzaskowski avoided having to face a second-round run-off vote in two weeks against Bocheński. The size of his victory is also likely to add to speculation that he will be KO’s candidate for next year’s presidential elections, as he was in 2020.

Warszawa pełne wyniki pic.twitter.com/IyVGqwAiYI

— Maciej Głogowski (@MaciejGlogowski) April 8, 2024

In Poland’s second-largest city, Kraków, a run-off vote will be needed, after Aleksander Miszalski of KO won with only 37.2% of the vote. He will face independent candidate Łukasz Gibała (26.8%), in a second round on 21 April. The winner will replace outgoing mayor Jacek Majchrowski.

Among incumbent mayors to win a further term in official results so far are Aleksandra Dulkiewicz of KO, who won in Gdańsk with 58%; Marcin Krupa, an independent supported by KO, who won in Katowice with 62.4%; and Hanna Zdanowska of KO, who won in Łódź with 59.3%.

In Poznań, incumbent mayor Jacek Jaśkowiak of KO missed out on an outright victory, with 43.7%, and will face a run-off against Zbigniew Czerwiński of PiS (20.3%).

In Wrocław, incumbent mayor Jacek Sutryk (34.3%), an independent supported by KO, will also face off against Izabela Bodnar (29.8%) of the centrist Poland 2050 (Polska 2050).

Official results from elections to nine of Poland’s 16 provincial parliaments have also been announced. We will report on them all once the remaining seven are confirmed.

„Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated,” said Jarosław Kaczyński, after exit polls indicated his opposition PiS party won the most votes in yesterday’s local election

PM Donald Tusk admitted that his KO group „failed in the east and the countryside” https://t.co/Umqx6EQFw3

— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) April 8, 2024

Main image credit: Dawid Zuchowicz / Agencja Wyborcza.pl

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Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.