Poland votes in tight election as Europe watches

Warsaw: Poland voted on Sunday in a tight presidential election that will be decisive for the future of the country s pro EU government. Centrist W...

Warsaw: Poland voted on Sunday in a tight presidential election that will be decisive for the future of the country's pro-EU government. Centrist Warsaw mayor Rafal Trzaskowski is expected to win 30 percent of the vote, according to opinion polls, ahead of nationalist historian Karol Nawrocki on 25 percent.

That would put both through to a run-off on June 1 at a fraught moment for Europe. Russia's invasion of Ukraine drags on, far-right populists continue to make electoral gains and ties with Washington are under strain.

Voting ends at 9 pm (1900 GMT), when exit polls are expected. The final official results of the contest, in which 13 candidates are running, are expected on Monday.

"These are very important elections," voter Marcin Woloszynski, a 42-year-old economist, told AFP.

"They offer two diametrically opposed visions of Poland... a democratic, European, open, confident, honest Poland on one side, and the opposite on the other," he said after casting his ballot in Warsaw, where support for Trzaskowski is particularly high.