Poland heads to round two of presidential election
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Poland holds a knife-edge second round of the presidential election on Sunday as the country chooses between a centrist liberal and a right-wing nationalist.
Turnout holds the key to the contest between Rafal Trzaskowski of ruling centrists Civic Coalition (KO) and Karol Nawrocki, backed by nationalists Law and Justice (PiS).
Parliament holds most power in Poland but the president can veto legislation so the vote is being watched closely in neighbouring Ukraine, as well as in Russia, the U.S. and across the EU.
Voting began at 7 a.m. (0500 GMT) and is due to end at 9 p.m., with exit polls published soon afterwards. The electoral commission says it hopes final results will be announced on Monday morning or early afternoon.
Almost 29 million Poles are eligible to vote. Over 32,000 district electoral commissions were established in the country and 511 abroad.
Opinion polls show that the difference between the candidates is within the margin of error.
#Election silence
Poland observes strict election silence laws (otherwise known as an election blackout), which ban political agitation and canvassing, as well as the publication of poll results. The election silence period went into effect at midnight at the turn of Friday and Saturday, and will conclude at the moment the polling stations close.
The only data regarding the vote that can be expected to be released during the day by the National Electoral Commission (PKW), a permanent body tasked with overseeing the organization and validity of the electoral process, are the results regarding the turnout at noon and 5 p.m.
Exit poll results can therefore be expected at 9 p.m., unless PKW extends the election silence period.
This is a rare occurrence, however, usually connected to the electoral process being in some way hampered, for example, in cases when a polling station had to be closed due to unforeseen circumstances, preventing the voters from casting their ballots.
#Results
PKW will subsequently release official partial results as the individual polling stations submit their tallies, with the final outcome of the vote most likely to be expected sometime on Monday.
