20 June 2010 (first round)
4 July 2010 (second round) 2015 → 53.0% 47.0% | 8,933,887 7,919,134 Start date June 20, 2010 | |
 | ||
Turnout 54.94% (first round)
55.31% (second round) Winner Bronisław Komorowski | ||
The popular election of the President of Poland was held on 20 June 2010. As no candidate received a majority of votes in the first round, a second round was held on 4 July 2010. Bronisław Komorowski, candidate of Civic Platform, defeated Jarosław Kaczyński, candidate of Law and Justice. The global financial crisis, flooding in Poland and the Smolensk disaster were the main themes in the last months of the election campaign.
Contents
Background
After President Lech Kaczyński's death in a plane crash on 10 April 2010, the Constitution required the Marshal of the Sejm to declare the date within two weeks, with the election to take place on a weekend within the following 60 days, i.e. 20 June at the latest. On 21 April, the Marshal, Bronisław Komorowski, announced the election date as 20 June 2010. Candidates were required to register by 26 April 2010 (with 1,000 signatures of voters in support) and submit 100,000 signatures by 6 May 2010.
Originally, Kaczyński was up for re-election between 19 September and 3 October; the exact date would have been announced between 23 May and 23 June, before the end of his first five-year term of office.
Two candidates for the election died in the crash. Incumbent Lech Kaczyński was nominated as the Law and Justice party candidate (he had yet to accept the nomination, but it was widely believed that he would do so), and Jerzy Szmajdziński was to have run for the Democratic Left Alliance.
Senate by-elections to fill the three seats whose senators died in the crash – Krystyna Bochenek (PO), Janina Fetlińska (PiS) and Stanisław Zając (PiS, himself elected in a by-election on 22 June 2008 to replace Andrzej Mazurkiewicz) – were held on the same day.
Candidates
In total, 23 candidates (all of them men) registered with the Polish National Electoral Commission on, or just following, the 26 April deadline. 17 of the 23 candidacies were accepted by the commission, whilst the remaining 6 were rejected because they had not gathered the required 1000 signatures.
Only ten candidates collected the required 100,000 signatures and were eligible to run for president.
Rejected candidates
Withdrawn
Dead
First round
There were 10 candidates in the first round of voting. Bronisław Komorowski of Civic Platform received 41.5% and Jarosław Kaczyński of Law and Justice received 36.5%, causing a second round of voting between the two. The other eight candidates were eliminated.
Second round
Soon after exit polls were released in the second round, Jarosław Kaczyński conceded that he had been defeated. Bronisław Komorowski appeared to tentatively claim victory, stating: "Tonight we will open a small bottle of champagne and tomorrow we will open a big bottle." The exit polls put Komorowski ahead of Kaczyński by 53% to 47%. On the following day, Komorowski was declared the winner of the election. The final result put Komorowski with 53.01% of the vote, and Kaczyński with 46.99%.
Komorowski's win resulted in Civic Platform holding both the Presidency and the government (under Prime Minister Donald Tusk). Correspondents in US and British business newspapers suggested that Komorowski's win would mean closer engagement with the European Union, and such domestic economic reforms as deficit reduction.