Who was the real winner of Poland’s presidential election?

The latest exit polls in Poland suggest that liberal Warsaw mayor, Rafal Trzaskowski, has won the first round of the presidential elections, with 31 per cent of the vote.

Trzaskowski is a career politician, the heart-throb son of a jazz musician. He ran on a pro-European platform and has pledged to defend the independence of the judiciary and rebuild Poland’s democratic institutions. He is the candidate for Donald Tusk’s Civic Platform party, and is seen as a progressive and a ‘moderniser’ who represents a more cosmopolitan and outward-facing Poland.

His rival, conservative candidate Karol Nawrocki, came in second with 29 per cent of the vote. Nawrocki, a historian with very little political experience, stood as an independent but is backed by the right-wing Law and Justice party. He is seen as the Eurosceptic ‘populist’ candidate, gaining votes for his anti-Ukrainian and patriotic rhetoric.

If the official result, not expected until later today, confirms the poll, the election will now go to a second round, a run-off between Nawrocki and Trzaskowski, which will take place on June 1.