Duda to kick off presidency in August

Duda managed to garner 52 percent against rival Bronisław Komorowski’s 48 percent, according to an Ipsos late poll released in the early hours of Monday morning.

Official election results are expected to be released by the PKW State Electoral Commission on Monday evening. If confirmed, Duda will move in to the Presidential Palace at the beginning of August.

From the date of the PKW’s publication of the official results, a window of three days is foreseen for any election protests. The Supreme Court has 30 days from the publication of the results to confirm the validity of the ballot.

It is up to the Supreme Court to take into account any election protest, which may be submitted by anyone on the registered voters’ list. If any protest is taken further, three court judges decide whether the infringement – if any – had a direct influence on the final result.

If the Supreme Court annuls the result of the election, the speaker of the Sejm lower parliamentary house – in this case Radosław Sikorski – has five days to announce a new date for elections.

If the result is greenlighted, the PKW publishes the results in the Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw), with an official letter sent to the parliamentary speaker, the incumbent president as well as the president-elect.

The president-elect – Andrzej Duda – takes on the presidency after swearing an oath in front of the National Assembly – both parliamentary houses – on the day the current five-year term comes to an end, on 6 August.

Andrzej Duda will be the sixth Polish President after the country’s return to democracy in June 1989.

His predecessors were Wojciech Jaruzelski, who was elected by the National Assembly and served as President for less than a year, Lech Wałęsa, Aleksander Kwaśniewski who served for two terms, Lech Kaczyński – whose term of office was cut short with his tragic death in an air crash in April 2010 – and Bronisław Komorowski. (jb/mk)

Source: PAP