Warsaw: Karol Nawrocki, an independent candidate backed by the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, won Poland's presidential runoff election, according to the final vote count released by Polish National Electoral Commission (PKW) early Monday. 

The final result, reading "Elected in the second round," was written next to Nawrocki's name on the public website of PKW on Monday.

Nawrocki, a historian and head of Poland's Institute of National Remembrance, received 50.89 per cent of the vote in the presidential runoff, ahead of Rafal Trzaskowski, the ruling Civic Coalition (KO) candidate and mayor of Warsaw, who garnered 49.11 per cent, Xinhua news agency reported.

This was Nawrocki's first presidential campaign -- an uphill battle from the start. He consistently trailed Trzaskowski in polls, including Sunday evening's initial exit survey.

Born in 1983 in Gdansk, Nawrocki is set to succeed the incumbent president Andrzej Duda, whose second and final term ends on August 6.

The departing president, Andrzej Duda, like Mr. Nawrocki, is an ally of Law and Justice, and frequently vetoed laws passed by Mr. Tusk’s majority in Parliament or sent them for review by courts stacked with loyalists of the previous government. He was ineligible to run again because of term limits.

An early exit poll released Sunday (June 1, 2025) evening suggested Trzaskowski was headed to victory before updated polling began to reverse the picture hours later.

The outcome indicates that Poland can be expected to take a more nationalist path under its new leader, who was backed by US President Donald Trump. (IANS)