Polish presidential candidates neck and neck on eve of runoff vote

Polls show close-run contest after first round in which one rural municipality was decided by a single voter

Poles will cast their votes on Sunday in the closest presidential runoff since the fall of communism, in an election that pits two different visions of the nation against each other.

In Poland's previous election in 2020, the conservative populist incumbent Andrzej Duda narrowly won the second-round vote against the pro-Europe mayor of Warsaw, Rafa Trzaskowski, by 51% to 49%.

This time it could be even closer. Polls show the difference between Trzaskowski and the nationalist rightwing historian Karol Nawrocki, who is backed by the Law and Justice party (PiS), which ruled Poland from 2015 to 2023, to be within the margin of error.