2025 Polish presidential election

Presidential elections will be held in Poland on 18 May 2025. If no candidate secures more than 50% of the vote, a second round will be held on 1 June 2025.^[1] Incumbent president Andrzej Duda is ineligible for re-election, as he is term-limited.

2025 Polish presidential election

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Opinion polls

Candidate Karol Nawrocki Rafał Trzaskowski Szymon Hołownia Party PiS[a] KO TD   Candidate Magdalena Biejat Sławomir Mentzen Adrian Zandberg Party The Left[a] Confederation Razem

Incumbent President Andrzej Duda Independent[b]

Electoral system

The President of Poland is elected for a five-year term using the two-round system; if no candidate receives a majority of the vote in the first round, a run-off is held between the top two candidates. Presidents serve a five-year term and can be re-elected once. The second term of Andrzej Duda expires on 6 August 2025, and the president-elect will take the oath of office on that day, before the National Assembly (a joint session of the Sejm and the Senate).

Background

Tusk's cabinet

In December 2023 as a result of the 2023 Polish parliamentary election, Donald Tusk's cabinet, comprising of Civic Coalition, Poland 2050, the Polish People's Party, and the New Left, began governing the country. Tusk's coalition does not have enough votes to bypass the presidential veto, for which it would need 276 votes.^[2]

Economic policy

Since coalition's rise to power, steps have been taken to deregulate the economy, cut welfare spending and balance the budget. In February 2025, Tusk invited billionaire Rafał Brzoska and Google CEO Sundar Pichai^[3] to deregulate the Polish economy and cut labor regulations. Tusk's proposal of Brzoska has led to media labelling him as the "Polish Elon Musk".^[4][5][6] Tusk has been accused of granting Google a monopoly over the Artificial Intelligence sector in Poland via his investment agreements with Pichai.^[7]

Social policy

The ruling coalition was composed of mostly centrist or slightly right leaning parties. However, the New Left also being part of the cabinet, postulated voting to decriminalize abortion. The Sejm rejected the proposal in July 2024. Facing opposition within the ruling coalition of a large section of the Polish People's Party, the vote failed with 218 votes against and 215 for decriminalization.^[8]

Candidate selection

Registered candidates

Name	Born	Campaign	Last position/job	Party		Endorsed by
Artur Bartoszewicz	18 January 1974 (51) Suwałki, Podlaskie		Lecturer at the Collegium of Socio-Economics of the Warsaw School of Economics		Independent[9]
Magdalena Biejat	11 January 1982 (43) Warsaw, Mazovia		Deputy Marshal of the Senate (2023–present) Member of the Sejm (2019–2023) Senator (2023–present)		Independent		The Left New Left[10] Polish Socialist Party[11] Labour Union[12]
Grzegorz Braun	11 March 1967 (58) Toruń, Kuyavia–Pomerania		Leader of the Confederation of the Polish Crown (2019–) Member of the Sejm (2019–2024) MEP for Lesser Poland (2024–present) 2015 presidential election candidate		Confederation of the Polish Crown		Congress of the New Right[13]
							KORWiN[13][c]
							PolExit
							Real Europe Movement
Szymon Hołownia	3 September 1976 (48) Białystok, Podlaskie		Marshal of the Sejm (2023–present) Member of the Sejm (2023–present) Leader of Poland 2050 (2021–present) 2020 presidential election candidate		Poland 2050		Third Way Poland 2050 Polish People's Party[14] Centre for Poland[15]
Marek Jakubiak	30 April 1959 (66) Warsaw, Mazovia		Leader of Federation for the Republic [pl] (2018–present) Member of the Sejm (2015–2019, 2023–present) 2020 presidential election candidate Entrepreneur and brewer		Federation for the Republic [pl]		Free Republicans Federation for the Republic Kukiz'15 Freedom and Prosperity
Maciej Maciak	30 August 1970 (54) Włocławek, Kuyavia-Pomerania		Leader of RDiP (2023–present) Journalist, youtuber		Independent		Prosperity and Peace Movement
Sławomir Mentzen	20 November 1986 (38) Toruń, Kuyavia–Pomerania		Chairman of New Hope (2022–present) Member of the Sejm (2023–present) Entrepreneur and tax advisor		New Hope		Confederation New Hope National Movement
Karol Nawrocki	3 March 1983 (42) Gdańsk, Pomerania		President of the Institute of National Remembrance (2021–present) Director of the Museum of the Second World War (2017–2021) Chairman of the Siedlce District Council in Gdańsk (2011–2017)		Independent		United Right Law and Justice Renewal of the Republic of Poland[16]
							United Beyond Boundaries[17]
Joanna Senyszyn	1 February 1949 (76) Gdynia, Pomerania		Member of the Sejm (2001–2009, 2019–2023) MEP for Lesser Poland (2009–2014)		Independent		Democratic Left Association[18]
							Nonpartisans[19]
Krzysztof Stanowski	21 July 1982 (42) Warsaw, Mazovia		Journalist, youtuber Kanał Zero and KTS Weszło owner		Independent
Rafał Trzaskowski	17 January 1972 (53) Warsaw, Mazovia		Mayor of Warsaw (2018–present) Vice-Chairman of the Civic Platform (2020–present) 2020 presidential election second round		Civic Platform		Civic Coalition Civic Platform Modern Polish Initiative The Greens
							Alliance of Democrats[20]
Marek Woch	17 December 1978 (46) Kąkolewnica, Lublin		Leader of the Bezpartyjni Samorządowcy (2024–present)		Bezpartyjni Samorządowcy[21][d]		Social Alternative [Wikidata]
							Labour Party[23]
							Slavic Union[23]
Adrian Zandberg	4 December 1979 (45) Aalborg, Denmark		Co-leader of Partia Razem (2022–present) Member of the Sejm (2019–present)		Partia Razem

Declined or withdrew

Civic Coalition

• Radosław Sikorski – lost party primary election to Rafał Trzaskowski^[24][25]

Congress of the New Right / PolExit

• Stanisław Żółtek – MEP for Lesser Poland and Świętokrzyskie (2014–2019), leader of the Congress of the New Right and PolExit; withdrew to endorse Grzegorz Braun^[26]

Labour Union

• Waldemar Witkowski – leader of Labour Union (2006–present), senator (2023–present); resigned from running to endorse Magdalena Biejat^[12]

Social Alternative

• Krzysztof Andrzej Sitko [Wikidata] - withdrew to endorse Marek Woch^[27]

Independents

• General Rajmund Andrzejczak – Chief of the General Staff of Polish Armed Forces (2018–2023)^[28]
• Katarzyna Cichos – withdrew to endorse Marek Woch^[29]
• Dorota Gawryluk – journalist^[30]
• Jan Hartman – philosopher and opinion journalist^[31]
• Lieutenant Colonel Jacek Siewiera – head of National Security Bureau (2022–2025)^[32]
• Sylwia Spurek – MEP for Greater Poland (2019–2024)^[33][34]

Candidate registration

Group of citizens willing to register a candidate in the election must establish an electoral committee (Polish: komitet wyborczy) of at least 15 members, and submit a notice to the National Electoral Commission supported with 1,000 citizens' signatures.^[35] To register a candidate, an electoral committee must present to the PKW 99,000 more endorsement signatures.^[36] On 11 April 2025, the following committees and candidates have applied for registration:^[37][38][39]

Electoral committees

	Candidate	Status	Date
1	Sławomir Mentzen (KWiN)	Candidate registered	3 February
2	Rafał Trzaskowski (KO)	Candidate registered	17 March
3	Grzegorz Braun (KKP)	Candidate registered	10 March
4	Szymon Hołownia (TD)	Candidate registered	24 March
5	Adrian Zandberg (Razem)	Candidate registered	24 March
6	Wiesław Lewicki (NK)	Candidacy rejected	9 April
7	Maciej Maciak (RDiP)	Candidate registered	9 April
8	Magdalena Biejat (Lewica)	Candidate registered	31 March
9	Marek Woch (BS)	Candidate registered	31 March
10	Marek Jakubiak (K’15)	Candidate registered	4 April
11	Karol Nawrocki (PiS)	Candidate registered	21 March
12	Wojciech Papis (B)	Notice accepted
13	Romuald Starosielec (RNP)	Candidacy rejected	11 April
14	Paweł Tanajno (PL!SP)	Candidacy rejected	11 April
15	Dawid Jackiewicz (ind.)	Candidacy rejected	9 April
16	Aldona Skirgiełło (SRP)	Notice accepted
17	Dominika Jasińska [Wikidata] (ind.)	Notice accepted
18	Joanna Senyszyn (SLD)	Candidate registered	31 March
19	Krzysztof Tołwiński (FRONT)	Notice accepted
20	Eugeniusz Maciejewski (PIAST-JMENiŚ)	Notice accepted
21	Katarzyna Cichos (ind.)	Notice accepted / withdrew[e]	8 March
22	Piotr Szumlewicz (ind.)	Notice accepted
23	Jan Kubań (ind.)	Notice accepted
24	Włodzimierz Rynkowski (ZS)	Notice accepted
25	Marcin Bugajski [Wikidata] (ind.)	Notice accepted
26	Jolanta Duda (ind.)	Notice accepted
27	Artur Bartoszewicz (ind.)	Candidate registered	17 March
28	Kamil Całek [Wikidata] (ind.)	Notice accepted
29	Krzysztof Andrzej Sitko [Wikidata] (AS [Wikidata])	Notice accepted / withdrew[f]	29 March
30	Jakub Perkowski (FdR [pl])	Notice accepted
31	Sebastian Ross (ind.)	Notice accepted
32	Marta Ratuszyńska (DR)	Notice accepted
33	Stanisław Żółtek (KNP)	Notice accepted / withdrew[g]	20 March
34	Krzysztof Stanowski (ind.)	Candidate registered	11 April
35	Robert Śledź (PIN)	Notice accepted
36	Adam Nawara (PL!SP)	Notice accepted
37	Grzegorz Kołek (ind.)	Notice accepted
38	Tomasz Ziółkowski (ind.)	Notice accepted
39	Roman Jackowski (ind.)	Notice accepted
40	Piotr Daniel Lechowicz (KWiN)	Notice accepted
41	Robert Więcko (ind.)	Notice accepted
42	Zbigniew Litke (ind.)	Notice accepted
43	Grzegorz Niedźwiecki (ind.)	Notice rejected
44	Maria Leśniak-Wojciechowska (RNP)	Notice rejected
45	Katarzyna Łysik (ind.)	Notice accepted
46	Dariusz Eligiusz Staszczak (ind.)	Notice rejected
47	Artur Szostak (P3)	Notice rejected
48	Andrzej Jan Kasela (ind.)	Notice accepted
49	Krzysztof Kaszewiak (ind.)	Notice rejected
50	Zbnigniew Józef Burzyński (WiS)	Notice rejected
51	Mieczysław Eugeniusz Sendecki (ZS)	Notice rejected
52	Sławomir Grzywa (SS)	Notice rejected
53	Krzysztof Olaf Samberger (ind.)	Notice rejected

Campaign

First round

Sławomir Mentzen was the first candidate to begin an electoral campaign on 31 August 2024, drawing criticism and accusations of illegality from politicians of other parties for its early start.^[40] Marshal of the Sejm Szymon Hołownia from the Poland 2050 party declared his candidacy on 13 November.^[41] The Civic Coalition selected its candidate in a presidential primary on 22 November after Minister of Foreign Affairs Radosław Sikorski challenged presumptive nominee, Mayor of Warsaw Rafał Trzaskowski, who was the Civic Coalition's 2020 presidential candidate.^[42] Following the Civic Coalition primary, Institute of National Remembrance chairman Karol Nawrocki was endorsed by the Law and Justice party on 24 November as an officially independent candidate, as he never belonged to any political party.^[43]

Speculation swiftly began on whether PiS would replace Nawrocki when it was revealed that he had contact with a future criminal as part of his time as a boxer two decades prior, for which he was constantly attacked by opposing politicians.^[44] Polling showed, however, that the vast plurality of people did not expect Nawrocki to be replaced.^[45]

In the lead-up to the election much controversy arouse, when a portion of the party subsidy was withheld from Law and Justice. The issue emerged, after the National Electoral Commission ruled the party's financial report for the 2023 parliamentary campaign, and consequently its 2023 annual report, to be flawed. As a result, both the campaign dotation and the annual subsidy were reduced by approximately 11 million PLN. The ruling was appealed to the Supreme Court, where the Extraordinary Review and Public Affairs Chamber decided in favour of the party. This legally bound the Commission to change its verdict, which happened on 30 December 2024. However, as the legitimacy of this particular Supreme Court chamber has been questioned by the ruling government and CJEU due to the ongoing rule of law crisis since 2017, the Minister of Finance Andrzej Domański refused to transfer the disputed funds.^[46][47][48]

PiS launched the "Electoral Protection Movement" (Polish: Ruch Ochrony Wyborów), operated primarily by former Minister of Education Przemysław Czarnek,^[49] with the intention of safeguarding the democratic conduct of the election and protecting it from electoral fraud, stating that the governing majority is already altering and manipulating electoral law.^[50][51]

During the campaign, both Trzaskowski and Nawrocki campaigned along the right wing of politics; Trzaskowski proposed to limit welfare programs for non-working Ukrainian refugees^[52] which was proposed in the Sejm by Law and Justice on 20 January to "check" the genuinity of Trzaskowski's proposal,^[53] meanwhile Nawrocki accused the ruling coalition of sexualizing children, demonstratively throwing a copy of Gender Queer: A Memoir into a paper shredder.^[54]

On 13 February 2025, Nawrocki was endorsed by Solidarity - Poland's largest trade union - as he, amongst other promises, pledged not to raise the age of retirement (in contrast to Prime Minister Tusk raising it by 2 years for men and 7 years for women during his first tenure^[55]) and defending the minimum wage.^[56] At the party conference on 2 March, Nawrocki declared the election a "referendum on rejecting Tusk".^[57]

Journalist Krzysztof Stanowski, himself a candidate, held interviews with the other candidates.^[58] Several debates were organized: TVP, TVN, and Polsat declared they will jointly hold a debate of all the candidates.^[59] TV Republika announced a debate on 14 April, inviting all candidates registered at the time except for Marek Woch, though Trzaskowski and Magdalena Biejat declined the invitation.^[60]

On 11 April 2025, two chaotic^{[61][62][63][64]} debates took place in Końskie. One, organized by TV Republika together with wPolsce24, and Telewizja Trwam, happened 18:50 at the market square, where 5 candidates (Hołownia, Jakubiak, Nawrocki, Senyszyn, Stanowski) appeared.^[62] Another one, organized by Trzaskowski's committee, with questions from journalists of TVP, TVN, and Polsat, which all broadcast the event, started at a sports hall when candidates from the former debate joined Biejat, Maciak and Trzaskowski.^[61] The former was initiated in opposition to the latter event,^[65] whose organization started on 9 April,^[63] - and where Trzaskowski invited other candidates than Nawrocki only 100 minutes before its planned beginning.^[61] The National Broadcasting Council accused TVP and TVN of supporting the Trzaskowski campaign, and TV Republika of supporting Nawrocki.^[66]

Debates

Date	Time (CEST)	Location	Hosted by	Host(s)	Participants	Ref
Past debates
11 April 2025	18:50	Końskie	TV Republika TV Trwam wPolsce24 [pl]	Katarzyna Gójska [pl] Jakub Więcław Michał Adamczyk	Szymon Hołownia Marek Jakubiak Karol Nawrocki Joanna Senyszyn Krzysztof Stanowski	[67]
11 April 2025	20:44	Końskie	TVP TVN Polsat [h]	Joanna Dunikowska-Paź Grzegorz Kajdanowicz Piotr Witwicki [pl]	Magdalena Biejat Szymon Hołownia Marek Jakubiak Maciej Maciak Karol Nawrocki Joanna Senyszyn Krzysztof Stanowski Rafał Trzaskowski	[68][69]
14 April 2025	20:03	Warsaw	TV Republika	Katarzyna Gójska [pl]	Artur Bartoszewicz Grzegorz Braun Szymon Hołownia Marek Jakubiak Sławomir Mentzen Karol Nawrocki Krzysztof Stanowski Joanna Senyszyn Marek Woch Adrian Zandberg	[70][71]
28 April 2025	18:00	Warsaw	Super Express	Jan Złotorowicz Jacek Prusinowski	All candidates present	[72][73][74][75]
30 April 2025	20:00	Gdynia	Campaign teams of Szymon Hołownia and Magdalena Biejat	Joanna Dzieniszewska Łukasz Michnik	Magdalena Biejat Szymon Hołownia	[76][77]
Planned debates
9 May 2025	Un­known	Un­known	TV Republika	Un­known	Un­known	[78]
12 May 2025	Un­known	Un­known	TVP	Un­known	All 13 registered candidates invited.	[79]

• 
  TV Republika, wPolsce24 and TV Trwam debate on 11 April in Końskie
• 
  TVP, TVN and Polsat debate on 11 April in Końskie.

Timeline

Marshal of the Sejm Szymon Hołownia announced the election day on 8 January 2025;^[1] the following schedule was approved by the National Electoral Commission on 15 January 2025:^[80]

Timeline of the 2025 Polish presidential election

Date Event description until 24 March 2025 Notifying the National Electoral Commission of setting up election committees for candidates for the Presidency of the Republic of Poland until 31 March 2025 The appointment of constituency electoral commissions until 4 April 2025 at 16:00 CEST Submitting to the National Electoral Commission candidates for the Presidency of the Republic of Poland from 4 April 2025 until 15 May 2025 Submitting by voters requests to: issue the certificate confirming the right to vote in the place of residence on election day, change the voting location, Submitting by soldiers performing basic military service or those performing military training and policemen serving in quarted units, officers of the State Security Service, the Border Guards, the State Fire Service and the Prison Service serving in quarted units, requests to change the voting location from 4 April 2025 until 15 May 2025 Local voting commissions are to be constituted Foreign voting districts and polling stations abroad are to be announced until 14 April 2025 Establishment of polling districts in medical facilities, social welfare facilities, penal institutions and detention centers, as well as in extramural departments of these establishments, dormitories and complexes of dormitories, as well as determination of their boundaries, consecutive number, as well as their locations until 18 April 2025 Providing public information on the consecutive numbers and boundaries of polling districts, as well as location of district electoral commissions, including premises adapted to the needs of disabled persons, as well as the possibility of postal voting and proxy voting, Submission of requests to establish polling districts aboard Polish ships by captains of ships, Nomination of candidates to district electoral commission by agents of election committees from 3 May 2025 until 17 May 2025 at 00:00 CEST Broadcast without payment of the election programmes, prepared by election committees by means of public radio and television broadcasters

Date Event description until 5 May 2025 Notice of the intention to vote by correspondence by disabled voters, including by means of overlays on ballot papers in Braille alphabet, and by voters who are 60 years of age or older on the day of voting, notice of the intention to exercise the right to free transportation to the polling station or free return transportation by disabled voters and by voters who are 60 years of age or older on the day of voting, in a commune where on the election day there is no communal passenger transport until 8 May 2025 Providing public information on the organization of free transportation in communes, rural or urban-rural communes, on the day referred to in the art. 37f § 1 of the Electoral Code until 9 May 2025 Submitting requests to draw up the power of attorney to vote by disabled voters and those who are 60 years of age or older on the day of voting until 13 May 2025 Submitting requests to be entered in the roll of voters in polling districts established abroad by voters staying abroad, Submitting requests to be entered in the roll of voters in polling districts established on Polish ships by voters present aboard those ships until 15 May 2025 Information for disabled voters and voters who are 60 years of age or older on the day of voting, who have noticed of their intention to exercise their right to transportation to the polling station, about the timing of transportation on the voting day . On 17 May 2025 at 00:00 CEST The electoral campaign is to formally conclude Election silence commences: no political broadcasts, social media posts, or issuing of new physical advertising materials is allowed On 18 May 2025 The vote takes place between 7:00–21:00 CEST Projected results of the exit poll are announced after 21:00 CEST

Opinion polls

Main article: Opinion polling for the 2025 Polish presidential election

LOESS curve for the 2025 Polish presidential election, first round.

Results

The results of the election will be published by the National Electoral Commission following their conclusion.

See also

• 2025 elections in the European Union

Notes

1. Independent; endorsed by the party or the political alliance.
2. The President of Poland traditionally resigns from party membership after taking office. Although Duda was officially an independent, his 2020 campaign was endorsed and funded by Law and Justice.
3. Party established by Janusz Korwin-Mikke after his split from Confederation Liberty and Independence, unaffiliated with New Hope, formerly also called KORWiN.
4. Denounced by Lower Silesian branch of the party^[22]
5. Withdrew to endorse Marek Woch.
6. Withdrew to endorse Marek Woch.
7. Withdrew to endorse Grzegorz Braun.
8. The debate was organised by Trzaskowski's campaign committee; TVP, TVN, and Polsat all agreed to conduct and transmit the debate. The TV signal was also available for other stations.