Polls set to close in tight presidential race in Poland – live

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Both candidates cast their votes earlier today, surrounded by their closest family members.

And both of them voted in Warsaw, where they will also host their results parties tonight.

Warsaw's Mayor and member of the ruling centrist Civic Coalition Rafał Trzaskowski (R) and his wife, Małgorzata Trzaskowska, (C) cast their votes at a polling station in Warsaw, Poland, during the second round of the presidential elections. Photograph: Wojtek Radwański/AFP/Getty Images

Karol Nawrocki, a non-partisan Presidential candidate supported by the right wing Law and Justice Party casts his ballot with his wife, Marta Nawrocka, and his family in Warsaw, Poland. Photograph: Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

Poland chooses its next president

Good evening, or dobry wieczór, from Warsaw, Poland.

We are less than 90 minutes away from the polls closing in what is the expected to be the closest Polish presidential election after the fall of communism in 1989.

A person with her pet votes in the second round of the Presidential election in Warsaw, Poland. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

The race pits the pro-European Warsaw mayor, Rafał Trzaskowski, backed by Donald Tusk’s politically-diverse governing coalition, against the historian and former amateur boxer Karol Nawrocki, endorsed by the populist-right Law and Justice (PiS) party that governed the country between 2015 and 2023.

Reporting from Warsaw, I will bring you all the key updates throughout the evening as we hope to find out who will be the next president of Poland.

Why does it matter, I hear you ask? Well, it’s Europe’s sixth largest economy, the highest GDP spender on defence within Nato, and a (so far) supportive ally of Ukraine. That’s to start with.

You can read our primer on what it means for Poland’s domestic politics and the position of the current government, led by former European Council president Donald Tusk, here.

If you fancy a broader look at Poland’s place in Europe and what tonight’s result could mean for that, here’s a broader analysis on that issue.

If you don’t want to read the entire thing just yet, don’t worry – I will bring you some key bullet points here.

The polls close 9pm local (8pm BST), and we will get exit polls numbers straight away.

It’s Sunday, 1 June 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa here.

Let’s go. Zaczynamy.

People cross a bridge as in background can be seen Warsaw’s skyscrapers including the Palace of Culture and Science (C-L) as Poles vote during the second round of the presidential elections. Photograph: Sergei Gapon/AFP/Getty Images