Polish Centrist Ekes Out Win in First Round of Presidential Polls

Polish liberals performed worse than expected in a presidential election on May 18, an exit poll showed, as Mr Rafal Trzaskowski from the ruling centrists Civic Coalition scraped to victory, setting up a close fight for Warsaw's pro-European path.

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WARSAW - Polish liberals performed worse than expected in a presidential election on May 18, an exit poll showed, as Mr Rafal Trzaskowski from the ruling centrists Civic Coalition scraped to victory, setting up a close fight for Warsaw's pro-European path.

Mr Trzaskowski placed first with 31.2 per cent of the vote, ahead of Mr Karol Nawrocki, the candidate backed by the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, who had 29.7 per cent of the vote, according to an Ipsos exit poll.

The gap was much narrower than the 4 to 7 percentage points seen in opinion polls before the vote.

The two candidates will compete in a second round of the presidential election on June 1 to determine whether Poland sticks firmly on the pro-European track set by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk or moves closer to nationalist admirers of US President Donald Trump.

"We are going for victory. I said that it would be close and it is close," Mr Trzaskowski told supporters.

"There is a lot, a lot of work ahead of us, and we need determination."

Mr Nawrocki also told supporters he was confident of victory in the second round and called on the far-right to get behind him and "save Poland".