President Andrzej Duda wins cliffhanger re-election in Poland

Duda won a new five-year term with 51 per cent against 49 per cent for Warsaw’s liberal mayor Rafal Trzaskowski

Experts say the close result means the governing PiS party will face a more confident opposition

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Polish President Andrzej Duda. Photo: Reuters

Published: 7:44am, 13 Jul 2020Updated: 5:47pm, 13 Jul 2020

Polish President Andrzej Duda has squeezed past his europhile rival to win re-election, official results showed on Monday, but the narrow victory puts the populist right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party government on the back foot.

A close ally of US President Donald Trump, Duda has vowed to tighten already highly restrictive laws against abortion and has campaigned against “LGBT ideology”.

The incumbent won a new five-year term with 51 per cent in Sunday’s vote against 49 per cent for Warsaw’s liberal mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, who had promised to mend ties with the European Union.

Experts said the result means the governing party, which has been criticised at home and abroad for controversial reforms of the judiciary seen as eroding democratic freedoms, will face a more confident opposition.

Rafal Trzaskowski, presidential candidate for the Civil Party. Photo: Bloomberg

“Despite Trzaskowski’s defeat, his strong performance looks like a new beginning, a new dynamic for the opposition,” Andrzej Rychard, a political scientist at Warsaw University, told local media.