The first round of presidential elections has started in Poland: 13 candidates

Today, May 18, the first round of presidential elections began in Poland. Polling stations will be open from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. If no candidate receives an absolute majority of votes (50 percent plus 1 vote), the second round of elections will be held on June 1, UNN writes with reference to Rzeczpospolita.

These elections are the eighth presidential elections in Poland since 1989. According to the publication, Poles can vote in more than 32,000 places: polling stations in the country and 511 polling districts abroad. Former President Lech Walesa has already voted at a polling station at the University of Gdańsk. Today, 13 candidates are competing for the presidency.

• Artur Bartoszewicz (economist); Magdalena Bijat (candidate from the New Left);
• Grzegorz Braun (Member of the European Parliament);
• Szymon Holovnia (Marshal of the Sejm, candidate from the Third Way);
• Marek Jakubiak (Member of Parliament from the Free Republicans group);
• Maciej Maciak (leader of the Movement for Prosperity and Peace);
• Slawomir Mentzen (candidate from the Confederation);
• Karol Nawrocki (President of the Institute of National Remembrance, candidate supported by the Law and Justice party);
• Joanna Senyszyn (former SLD member, economist);
• Krzysztof Stanowski (journalist), Rafal Tszaskowski (Mayor of Warsaw and candidate from KO);
• Marek Woch (candidate from the Non-Partisan Local Government Party);
• Adrian Zandberg (Member of Parliament, candidate from the Razem party).

Fine for violating the election silence

The election silence will last until the end of voting. A violation of it is any element of an active election campaign, that is, public persuasion or encouragement to vote in a certain way.

Agitation at the polling station is also prohibited. Violation of the ban on agitation during the election silence entails a fine, the highest of which is 500,000 zlotys and up to 1 million zlotys for publishing the results of polls, the publication notes.

If none of the district election commissions extends the voting, the election silence will end at 6:00 p.m.

At 9:30 a.m., the National Election Commission will provide information on the first hours of voting;

at 1:30 p.m. – will be announced, among other things:

• voter turnout as of 12:00;
• at 6:00 p.m. – information on attendance as of 5:00 p.m.;

The last NEC conference is scheduled for 10:00 p.m.

Let us remind you

Earlier, UNN wrote that political scientist Maleev stressed that the presidential elections in Poland will definitely affect Ukraine, no matter who the Poles elect, and not in the most positive way.

First of all, despite the attitude of Nawrocki and Tszaskowski to the situation in which Ukraine finds itself and the war, both candidates profess the idea that Ukraine should apologize for the Volyn tragedy.

And they will both demand this from Ukraine before joining the European Union. And they will put it as a condition, he noted.