POLAND PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: Duda wins with 51.2% votes
By Bartholomew Madukwe
Poland's National Electoral Commission has declared the incumbent President, Andrzej Duda, as winner of Sunday's presidential election, with 51.2% of the votes.
Duda's challenger, Rafal Trzaskowski, is the socially liberal mayor of Warsaw while the incumbent and present President is a social conservative allied with the government, led by the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party.
According to the opposition Civic Platform (PO) group - which backed Trzaskowski, it was collecting information on voting "irregularities" after the polls closed on Sunday, including reports of Poles abroad not receiving their voting packages in time to take part in the election.
Addressing journalists on Monday, the heads of the electoral commission said they were not sure when complete results would be announced, as some polling stations had yet to submit their counts.
It was gathered that with 99% of all constituencies reporting, those tallies were not expected to affect the result.
The election had been due to take place in May, when Duda was higher in the polls and stood a better chance of winning in the first round.
President Duda's victory means the governing PiS party can now implement its programme unhindered until the next parliamentary elections in three years.
Since the fall of communism in 1989, the presidential election was the closest and high turnout recorded means President Duda won a clear mandate.
KINGDOM OF POLAND
With a population of nearly 38.5 million people, Poland is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union.
The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented its longstanding political association with Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest (over 1,000,000 square kilometres – 400,000 square miles) and most populous nations of 16th and 17th century Europe, with a uniquely liberal political system which adopted Europe's first written national constitution, the Constitution of 3 May 1791.
With the passing of prominence and prosperity, the country was partitioned by neighbouring states at the end of the 18th century, and regained independence in 1918 with the Treaty of Versailles.
After a series of territorial conflicts, the new multi-ethnic Poland restored its position as a key player in European politics. In September 1939, World War II began with the invasion of Poland by Germany, followed by the Soviets invading Poland in accordance with the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.
Approximately six million Polish citizens, including three million of the country's Jews, perished during the course of the war. As member of the Eastern Bloc, the Polish People's Republic proclaimed forthwith was a chief signatory of the Warsaw Treaty amidst global Cold War tensions. In the wake of the 1989 events, notably through the emergence and contributions of the Solidarity movement, the communist government was dissolved and Poland reestablished itself as a presidential democratic republic.
Poland is a member state of the Schengen Area, the United Nations, NATO, the OECD, the Three Seas Initiative, the Visegrád Group, and guested at the G20.
It is a developed country, which maintains a high-income economy along with very high standards of living, life quality, safety, education, and economic freedom.
Alongside, Poland has a developed educational system, the state also provides free university education, social security, and a universal health care system.
POLAND'S GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
Poland is a representative democracy, with a president as the head of state. The government structure centers on the Council of Ministers, led by a prime minister. The president appoints the cabinet according to the proposals of the prime minister, typically from the majority coalition in the Sejm. The president is elected by popular vote every five years. The current president is Andrzej Duda and the prime minister is Mateusz Morawiecki.
Polish voters elect a bicameral parliament consisting of a 460-member lower house (Sejm) and a 100-member Senate (Senat). The Sejm is elected under proportional representation according to the d'Hondt method, a method similar to that used in many parliamentary political systems. The Senat, on the other hand, is elected under the first-past-the-post voting method, with one senator being returned from each of the 100 constituencies.
POLAND'S ECONOMY
Poland's economy and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is currently the sixth largest in the European Union by nominal standards, and the fifth largest by purchasing power parity. It is also one of the fastest growing within the Union. Around 60% of the employed population belongs to the tertiary service sector, 30% to industry and manufacturing, and the remaining 10% to the agricultural sector. Although Poland is a member of EU's single market, the country has not adopted the Euro as legal tender and maintains its own currency – the Polish złoty (zł, PLN).
Having a strong domestic market, low private debt, low unemployment rate, flexible currency, and not being dependent on a single export sector, Poland is the only European economy to have avoided the recession of 2008. Since the fall of the communist government, Poland has pursued a policy of liberalising the economy.
The country is the 25th largest exporter of goods and services in the world and its most successful exports include machinery, furniture, food products, clothing, shoes and cosmetics. These account to approximately 55% of the total GDP, as of 2018. Poland's largest trading partners include Germany, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, France and Italy.
Poland's National Electoral Commission has declared the incumbent President, Andrzej Duda, as winner of Sunday's presidential election, with 51.2% of the votes.
According to the opposition Civic Platform (PO) group - which backed Trzaskowski, it was collecting information on voting "irregularities" after the polls closed on Sunday, including reports of Poles abroad not receiving their voting packages in time to take part in the election.
Addressing journalists on Monday, the heads of the electoral commission said they were not sure when complete results would be announced, as some polling stations had yet to submit their counts.
The election had been due to take place in May, when Duda was higher in the polls and stood a better chance of winning in the first round.
President Duda's victory means the governing PiS party can now implement its programme unhindered until the next parliamentary elections in three years.
Since the fall of communism in 1989, the presidential election was the closest and high turnout recorded means President Duda won a clear mandate.
With a population of nearly 38.5 million people, Poland is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union.
The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented its longstanding political association with Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest (over 1,000,000 square kilometres – 400,000 square miles) and most populous nations of 16th and 17th century Europe, with a uniquely liberal political system which adopted Europe's first written national constitution, the Constitution of 3 May 1791.
With the passing of prominence and prosperity, the country was partitioned by neighbouring states at the end of the 18th century, and regained independence in 1918 with the Treaty of Versailles.
After a series of territorial conflicts, the new multi-ethnic Poland restored its position as a key player in European politics. In September 1939, World War II began with the invasion of Poland by Germany, followed by the Soviets invading Poland in accordance with the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.
Approximately six million Polish citizens, including three million of the country's Jews, perished during the course of the war. As member of the Eastern Bloc, the Polish People's Republic proclaimed forthwith was a chief signatory of the Warsaw Treaty amidst global Cold War tensions. In the wake of the 1989 events, notably through the emergence and contributions of the Solidarity movement, the communist government was dissolved and Poland reestablished itself as a presidential democratic republic.
Poland is a member state of the Schengen Area, the United Nations, NATO, the OECD, the Three Seas Initiative, the Visegrád Group, and guested at the G20.
It is a developed country, which maintains a high-income economy along with very high standards of living, life quality, safety, education, and economic freedom.
Alongside, Poland has a developed educational system, the state also provides free university education, social security, and a universal health care system.
POLAND'S GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
Poland is a representative democracy, with a president as the head of state. The government structure centers on the Council of Ministers, led by a prime minister. The president appoints the cabinet according to the proposals of the prime minister, typically from the majority coalition in the Sejm. The president is elected by popular vote every five years. The current president is Andrzej Duda and the prime minister is Mateusz Morawiecki.
Polish voters elect a bicameral parliament consisting of a 460-member lower house (Sejm) and a 100-member Senate (Senat). The Sejm is elected under proportional representation according to the d'Hondt method, a method similar to that used in many parliamentary political systems. The Senat, on the other hand, is elected under the first-past-the-post voting method, with one senator being returned from each of the 100 constituencies.
POLAND'S ECONOMY
Poland's economy and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is currently the sixth largest in the European Union by nominal standards, and the fifth largest by purchasing power parity. It is also one of the fastest growing within the Union. Around 60% of the employed population belongs to the tertiary service sector, 30% to industry and manufacturing, and the remaining 10% to the agricultural sector. Although Poland is a member of EU's single market, the country has not adopted the Euro as legal tender and maintains its own currency – the Polish złoty (zł, PLN).
Having a strong domestic market, low private debt, low unemployment rate, flexible currency, and not being dependent on a single export sector, Poland is the only European economy to have avoided the recession of 2008. Since the fall of the communist government, Poland has pursued a policy of liberalising the economy.
The country is the 25th largest exporter of goods and services in the world and its most successful exports include machinery, furniture, food products, clothing, shoes and cosmetics. These account to approximately 55% of the total GDP, as of 2018. Poland's largest trading partners include Germany, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, France and Italy.
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