(ANSA-AFP) - WARSAW, MAY 15 - Poland's presidential election,
whose first round is on Sunday, could provide a boost for the
governing centrists of the NATO and EU member or continue their
difficult cohabitation with a conservative president. Outgoing
President Andrzej Duda, an ally of the main opposition party Law
and Justice (PiS), has not been shy with using his veto since
centrist Prime Minister Donald Tusk came to power in 2023. Under
Tusk's administration the country of 38 million people has
tightened its cooperation with the European Union and cemented
its staunch support of neighbouring Ukraine in the face of
Russia's aggression. With Duda winding down his second and final
term in office, Tusk's Civic Coalition (KO) is hoping its
candidate, pro-EU Warsaw mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, will win the
presidential election. Trzaskowski is currently the
front-runner, with around 32 percent of the vote in the latest
opinion polls. Next up is nationalist historian Karol Nawrocki,
backed by the PiS and Duda, who is polling at around 25 percent
-- and who scored a White House visit with US President Donald
Trump earlier this month. Polling in third is Slawomir Mentzen,
the candidate of the far-right Confederation party, who has
around 14 percent of the vote in opinion surveys. (ANSA-AFP).
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