Conservative challenger Duda wins Polish presidential vote
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Conservative challenger Andrzej Duda has won Poland's presidential election and ousted the incumbent in a runoff vote, according to official results Monday.
Duda, a right-wing member of the European Parliament, won with 51.55 percent of the vote, the State Electoral Commission said.
President Bronislaw Komorowski, allied with the ruling pro-business Civic Platform, garnered 48.45 percent in the second round of voting on Sunday.
Turnout was 55.34 percent in this nation of more than 37 million people. Duda, a 43-year-old lawyer with experience in the government, will be taking office in August, for a five-year term.
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Duda's win is a serious warning for the ruling pro-EU government, in power since 2007, before fall parliamentary elections. It could herald a major political shift in the European Union's sixth-largest economy, a country that has been able to punch above its weight in Europe without belonging to the 19-nation eurozone. Poland's influence is underlined by the fact that one of its own, Donald Tusk, now heads the European Council in Brussels.
Poland's president has limited powers, but is the head of the armed forces, and can propose and veto legislation. On foreign policy issues, the president's role is chiefly ceremonial.
The return of the Law and Justice party to power would cement Poland's turn to the right, create a new dynamic with other European countries ...
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