Second round of presidential election starts in Poland
A presidential runoff vote started in Poland at 7am on Sunday and is planned to end at 9pm.
Poles will elect their next president for a five-year term. Polish presidents can serve a maximum of two terms. The incumbent, Andrzej Duda, will conclude his second term in August.
There are two candidates running for president. Rafal Trzaskowski, a centrist presidential candidate from the governing Civic Coalition (KO) is facing off against Karol Nawrocki, a candidate backed by the socially-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) opposition party.
Trzaskowski won the first round of the presidential election on May 18, with a narrow lead of 31.36 percent of the vote, against Nawrocki's 29.54 percent.
Over 28.8 million Poles are eligible to vote.
There are 32,143 polling stations, including 511 abroad and five on ships.
The National Electoral Commission (PKW) will hold four press conferences today, at 10am, 1:30pm, 6:30pm and finally at 10pm, after the vote is concluded.
A ban on electioneering, publication of opinion polls and promotion of individual candidates or lists, including online, came into force at midnight on Friday to Saturday and will last until the end of voting scheduled for 9pm this evening.
Breaking the electoral silence is punishable by a fine of up to PLN 1 million (EUR 238,000).
Shortly after 9pm, public television station TVP and private television stations are expected to publish the results of exit polls.
The official runoff results will likely be announced on Monday morning or Monday afternoon, Sylwester Marciniak, the PKW head, told reporters on Friday. (PAP)
at/ jd/ know/
