Voter Turnout Rises in Poland’s Presidential Election Runoff

WARSAW, Poland — On June 1, Poland held the second round of its presidential elections, with voter turnout exceeding that of two weeks ago.

At a press conference on Sunday at 6:30 PM, Sylwester Marciniak, head of the National Electoral Commission (PKW), announced the latest voter turnout figures. The commission reports that there are 29,815 electoral commissions and 28,291,891 eligible voters in the country.

As of 5 PM, a total of 15,534,938 ballots had been issued, resulting in a turnout of 54.91 percent. This figure is higher than the turnout at the same time during the first round on May 18, when 50.69 percent of eligible voters had participated. In the previous presidential election runoff on July 12, 2020, the turnout was reported at 52.10 percent at the same hour.

Marciniak noted that, as of 5 PM, the highest turnout was observed in the Mazowieckie Province with 2.4 million voters, 58.51 percent, followed by Malopolskie with 1.48 million (57.23 percent) and Lodzkie with 1 million (56.1 percent). The regions with the lowest turnout included Opole (0.34 million voters, 48.05 percent), Warmian-Masurian (0.51 million, 50.77 percent), and Lubusz (0.37 million, 51.83 percent).

In major cities, voter turnout surpassed 55 percent by 5 PM. The highest rates were seen in Warsaw (61.45 percent), Poznań (59.41 percent), Toruń (59.27 percent), Kraków (58.98 percent), and Wrocław (58.43 percent). In contrast, Gdańsk had the lowest turnout at 54.63 percent.

Regionally, the highest participation was noted in Krynica Morska, located in the Pomorskie Province, with 81.75 percent, while the lowest was in the gmina of Walce, in the Opolskie Province, at 36.4 percent.